In what department do you not wipe the backside?

DoeRN · Sep 20, 2009

Wow insult us please. I don't go to work saying yay I have to clean up poop. Don't you wipe your own backside. My goodness. I am there to take care of the patient. To give them some dignity. Plus I have seen much worse come out of the human body.

wooh, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2009

I always laugh at the idea the poo is the worst thing nurses have to deal with. Give me poop ANY day over pseudomonas sputum. And I much prefer wiping butts to kissing them :)

Flatbelly · Sep 20, 2009

I think myself compassionate, and am willing to help. I am very approachable. I do easily make friends. However I really don't wanna wipe the asses for my life. I regard myself too smart to wipe back.

While I understand many might not enjoy dealing with feces, I find your post insulting - not to nurses, but to patients. You don't wipe just every butt, you wipe the butts of people who can not do it themselves. It is not their fault, and they are often embarrassed by the fact.

loricatus · Sep 20, 2009

Hate to be the one to give you the bad news; but, in nursing school clinicals YOU will be the designated poop wiper for the nurses.

egglady, LPN · Sep 20, 2009

I do believe the OP is a TROLL!!! Get a life there bud. And I do hope you get a nurse to care for you someday when you need it that has your exact attitude, because, yes, you deserve it!

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Sep 20, 2009

I took offense to this as a CNA. I don't just wipes asses because I'm too stupid to do anything else.

I find it funny that you failed out of pharmacy school but you still think you're much too intelligent to wipe a butt.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Sep 20, 2009

Ok, so once you get into nursing school you will wipe butt and give bed baths almost on a daily basis. You will change diapers too! Your instructor and the nurses on the floor will be checking on you to make sure you are doing things. If you do not do these things you will get booted out. So no matter what, you will have two years of doing this, and by the end of it, you won't care anymore.

I never minded cleaning poop, but I hate doing oral care. I do it because I have to because the patient cannot, and I can't stand a dirty mouth. And yes, three years as an LVN, RN school and now 6 months almost in, I still get grossed out and gag when doing oral care/suctioning. I have learned that my best solution is to do oral care as often as possible because my patient's mouths are prettier that way and I gag less. Sometimes, every hour I will do oral care. I don't do it for me, I do it for the patient.

Oh, and one time I had a GI Bleed and I "wiped butt" probably no less than 20 times that shift and changed the chucks/linens almost as many.

By the way, I'm in ICU. My friend who is in OR doesn't have to as much, but yes he still cleans butt and I know my ER friends do.

Your only non-butt whipe jobs are going to be some clinic settings, administrative jobs. That sort of thing.

egglady, LPN · Sep 20, 2009

I dont think they "wipe asses" at Walmart-perhaps the OP should look into that career.....

DusktilDawn · Sep 20, 2009

yeah maybe I should go back to Asia where they don't tend to wipe the back once I get my degree here.
I will try to change all the policies and standards that nurses do have to wipe the back in future:yeah:
or else I will do something unrelated to wiping. I really see economical benefits towards changing this standard. How come few of current nurses here
don't see these benefits?

What the nurses on this board see is that there is NO BENEFIT for the patient to have to unnecessarily wait for someone else to provide proper skin care to incontinent patients.

Re: In what department do you not wipe the back?
If you are too smart to clean bottoms, I would suggest that you never marry or have children. My beloved husband has ALS. He can no longer clean his own bottom. He is very embarrassed and feels like a burden. I am grateful that he is here and have no problem cleaning his butt. I have made it clear that we all poop, all poop stinks, and we all need to be clean. It is that simple. I will NEVER be too smart or too ............anything, to wipe him. I am also not too smart to clean your butt if you are my patient.
Original Poster, I also hope your health never puts you in the situation where you require assistance with your activities of daily living. The day that he received the final diagnosis of ALS was the day that I got the diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma in my right breast. I was only 43 with no known risk factors or family history. I am almost 2 years out from my final treatment and believe that I am cancer free. You never know what life will bring to you, OP. Being a little humble is a good thing.
If you were serious that you cannot deal with poop, I hope you will again reconsider your choice of careers.
AlsGalRN

What you don't seem to grasp, mirgadia05, is that the majority of our patients were once fully functional and as independent as we are. Regardless of what circumstance has robbed them of that ability, or whether it is temporary or permant, part of our job is to maintain their dignity as human beings. If that person was your family member, HOW WOULD YOU WANT THEM TO BE TREATED when they are at their most helpless and vulnerable?

Frankly, as a nurse, sometimes you wish some of the issues you come across were as easy to deal with as wiping a bottom.

Sparrowhawk · Sep 20, 2009

Either the OP is a troll, flamer or someone just too arrogant and prideful for their own good. Get a life...and don't become a nurse with that attitude...you mean we've wasted six pages on this!? Seriously *fumes.*

topher-67 · Sep 20, 2009

"Used Car Salesperson" is best suited for you. Then the S*** will come out from the top! :vlin:

Suen · Sep 20, 2009

mirgadia05,

hey, where are you, "cat got your tongue?" we are nurses and pround of all aspects of our job. save your money and invest wisely. you gonna make one miserable nurse, no matter the type of nursing. nursing is not for all, and you don't sound like one of us. sorry.