Is there ANY department in nursing that I can avoid cleaning up poo?
What Members Are Saying (AI-Generated Summary)
Members are discussing the challenges and realities of cleaning up feces in healthcare settings, particularly in relation to different nursing roles. Some members express apprehension about this aspect of the job, while others share their experiences and offer advice to those new to the field. The discussion also touches on generational attitudes towards cleaning tasks and personal choices.
Sorry for the awkwardness but I looked through previous threads and read the stories and I think I would just lose it if I walked into a bathroom where the walls were covered with diarrhea and I had to clean it all up
My mom tries to tell me not to worry and "just get the LVN/CNA to clean it up" but for some reason I don't think that it works out that easily...
Is there any department in hospitals that wouldnt have to deal with this type of situation? psychiatric ward perhaps? working a job outside a hospital?
Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated :plsebeg:
On a lighter note, the funniest poo story I have ever heard, was about a sweet little old woman who had Alzheimer's/dementia, and she often liked to play with her poo. The aides were doing rounds on evening shift, and they found her quietly laying in bed, with perfectly rounded little balls of poo neatly lined up on her bed rail! :chuckle
Thank you everyone for sharing your poo (and other bodily functions) stories, it reminds me why I am going into nursing (no, not the poo part). Most nurses are fabulous human beings (CNA's, and tech's also), and I love the comradery!
Oh for goodness sake, Tazzi! I don't remember saying that I would call the CNA to do it. I did say Iwould explain to the patient that those types of requests are for the CNA, correct. But if I HAD to do it, I would. I know I'm not the only one that shares this sentiment by the way, but based on all of the attacks, I do believe I'm the only one with big enough balls to admit it.
None of my nurses have EVER had this attitude (I have had 12 surgeries 7 involved inpatient stays of at least 3 days)
School nurse, probably home health, Administration, probably Psych, OR, Recovery Room, and Correctional facilities, researchers, teaching of nursing students - these all probably see little, if any, poo. Or if they do, they get the janitor, students, or trustees to clean it.
If you do get the LVN or CNA to clean it, don't tell her your Mom had anything to do with it. The better thing might be to just pretend not to notice it. Just let them discover it on their own. I know that's maybe dishonest but it won't get people mad at you. And maybe it isn't really dishonest - it's just being silent.
I work in a Neuroscience unit at a local hospital. I have lost count of how many stroke patients have had a BM and played with it. I've lost count of how much poo I've had to clean. At first I was grossed out and kept thinking that someday I would do something "more dignified". But now I am used to it and I feel bad for most of the people who have pooed on themselves. Most of my nurses are awesome at helping me clean up a huge mess.
I hear the psych units are more likely to have pts. who smear poo all over the place. I've heard some bad stories from there.
I've floated to other units in the hosp. and just about everywhere I go I have had to clean up poo.
Don't pass the job on to your assistants if you can help it. They will resent you and somewhat loose some respect for you if you do that. Ask for assistance and do the job together however. There is strenght in numbers and the job gets done a whole lot faster.
Wisconsin, and we did clinicals in WI and MN. I have been responsible for TOTAL patient care in all of my clinicals so far. I'll start my final semester in the fall. My instructors are all NP's and this is their expectation. They lead by example and tell us if we need help to get THEM or a classmate, not a staff CNA. When I've only had 1-2 patients in clinical to care for, doing all the ADLs is not a problem. There is still plenty of time to pass meds, chart, complete my patho. assignments on these pts.
I've never been a CNA, but did have to take the class and complete a clinical rotation as a CNA, BTW.
Last week at work (LTC) I noticed that one of our hospice patients really needed a clean shirt. I didn't have time to do it, and went to find an aid. There was someone from Hospice sitting with him, I found out later she was an RN coming in to do his assessment. She took him to his room and changed his shirt. Later, she said she knew I was busy and so were the aids so she just did it. Her quote "I believe in leading by example. I don't expect my aids to do anything I'm not willing to do myself. Teamwork = better patient care".
When I'm available, I toilet my residents, get them water, change linens, etc. I pass trays in the dining room at dinner, I help feed residents, and I respond to the CNAs who ask "Can you help me?" When I have time, that is, and of course I didn't always have the time! However, I have established a good relationship with the CNA's in our facility, and they understand that sometimes I'm not available to help them.
To make a patient wait to go to the bathroom or get cleaned up because they are incontinent is, IMO, abusive and neglectful.
im sorry i have to chim in here again
but which states do you guys work at exactly??!!?
every hospital clinical i have done, i have never seen a nurse do the basic nursing stuff (ie changing and bathing) it is assinged to the CNA, that is part of their assignments, thats why they love us so much bc we take on their bathing and changing assignments...
even my clincial instructor said "second semester is about meds/patho/etc"
"bathing and changin are a second priority, and if you cannot do it, tell us so we can get the orignal CNA to do it"
even when i worked at a LTC, as a CNA, nurses never ever did any changing or bathing
Without reading through all 22 pages of the prior postings, my response is as follows:
Any type of hands on nursing care will be involved in some type of body fluids, smells, etc. , it's just the nature of the beast.
I work in dialysis......shouldn't be any "poo" there, right? Wrong ~ sometimes your patient is incontinent of stool...I've had patients poop on the floor, chair, etc. You clean it up, you do what you have to do.
Patients will poo, pee, throw up, etc. You will clean it. If you think you can delegate that type of task to someone else, you are mistaken.
i have to agree that if you are in the room you should clean it up, but to go out of your way and pretend there is no CNA there and do their work as well
I think that would make someone have very little time
question for you guys, Do CNAs have assigned patients to bath and ADL at your hospitals?
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
i have to agree that if you are in the room you should clean it up, but to go out of your way and pretend there is no CNA there and do their work as well
I think that would make someone have very little time
question for you guys, Do CNAs have assigned patients to bath and ADL at your hospitals?
We have CNAs assigned to certain rooms, say from 1-10, 11-20, something like that. The main point we are saying is that this nurse believes it is beneath her to clean someone and would rather wait for the CNA to drop what she/he is doing to clean the patient. I can see if the patient did not soil themselves and may be waiting to receive their routine ADLs, but to believe that it is not part of the nurses' job (may it be LPN or RN) is wrong.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I worked with the developmentally disabled patients when I was an aide, and we had a few that used to eat poo, and one character used to take it, make a patty and throw 'poo cakes' on the ceiling. We used to have to walk on the floor with surgical caps to avoid the brown shower. And, he used to just sit there smiling...
We would clean him up each and every time. Of course, we cursed under our breath, but we cleaned him and the parts of the walls we can reach.
Life-skill trainers? That is a new one to me. What type of facility do you work in? I would love to give my CNA'S that name. Please don't take this as a joke, I have never heard of that title. I find it very interesting.
I work at an adult day program and we have life skill coaches. Cathylpn may work in a simular field. Group home, adult daycare facilty ect. We tend to have smearers and alot of PICCA.
To op I would suggest pubic health teaching, Dialysis, if you can stand poo but just dont want to clean it off walls then L&D may be an option. And no I would not suggest telling the cna or the lpn to clean it up, its all about team work.
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ProLogic
121 Posts
I guess that made it easier to clean.