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:
you might try nicu (neo-natal intensive care). most people who don't like poop, seem not to mind it when it is a baby - and they almost always are not smearing it on the wall.
although as many have said, if you get through nursing school, trust me you will be over poop. you might never like it (I myself still get a bit queasy at vomit) but you get used to it and can work with it.
hope this helps
pat
I'm with ya there--poo's fine, but I tend to retch along with pt's! ditto that baby poo isn't as bad, and that you get over it all!
Specializes in Agency - Stepdown/Tele/Med Surg/Rehab.
That was beautifully put, "softstorms"! Although poo can be disgusting (and I have seen some disgusting poo!!! - wait 'till you get to wipe up a patient's poo who has a GI bleed!- sorry - excuse my "sick" sense of humor!) it's important to remember that cleaning up behind our patients is only a small part of what we do, and that we really have the opportunity to impact their lives in a positive way through taking care of them, even if it's only for 8 or 12 hours. When you become a nurse, try hard to focus on the big picture (providing therapeutic and necessary care to ill patients who need us), not just the menial details. Easier said than done, I know! (LOL!!!):chuckle:chuckle:chuckle
Future nurse--I dont know how old you are, but my daughter who is almost 17 is starting her CNA training, she too is kind of freaked out about the poo and the showers...it is normal at your age to be freaked about these things.
Once your working though you will realize the nasty and or naked stuff is such a small part of your job that it wont have much effect on you. I mean really which one of us likes dealing with the icky stuff?? None of us. but we know that is not our whole job--just a part of our job.
FYI you will need the help and support of your colleagues---Never ever ask someone to do your dirty work...you wouldnt like it and neither will they. You will need everyones help enough, the best thing you could do is volunteer to help someone else when they need help and the favors will come back to you ten fold.
In all the jobs that have been mentioned, except perhaps office nurse, you will have to work direct pt care and clean up a lot of poo before you can apply for those positions.
You are not the first person who has come here and talked about this, but I have to say this is the first time I've gotten angry at a poster's family member. Your mom was so wrong to tell you to get the LVN or CNA to clean it up. They are not our handmaidens, to handle the yucky stuff that you don't want to deal with. They are our team members. If you were to ever try what your mom suggested, I guarantee you that you will be cleaning the poo on your own pts for your entire career, because your team members will not appreciate it and will not help you beyond their assigned tasks if they can help it.
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 dont 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:
nursing admin...but the rest of the hospital has to clean up the poop left by them.
I hope you find what you are looking for, as for the poo, most of the pt. I have ever worked with are humiliated and embarrassed that someone has to clean up after them. Put yourself in that pt. position for a minute and imagine how you would feel. As for dumping your dirty work on another staff member, I wouldn't do it if I were you. LPN's and CNA's are NOT beneath you, they are part of your team, as is housekeeping, dietary, maintenance and all other entities that make up the big picture. Think about it.
i seriously would be all kinds of irritated if a charge nurse came up to me and asked me to go clean her pt and she just went and sat down or finished her med pass, etc.
i work in a nursing home and i don't *have* to do any of that because the CNAs kind of look crazy at you for helping w/pts but i do it anyway because if i act like its beneath me, that sends the wrong message to the CNAs. they (in a LTC setting) see those ppl more than the nurses do and when i was new, thats who helped me figure out how to manage those residents.
besides, you do so much poo-wiping in nursing school thats its nbd later. although i will say i wish we had gloves that went past my wrist.
i'm with the other ppl on trachs. those are far more revolting than poo. period.
When I started nursing school I became a CNA--I was in my 30s. One night we had a 12 year old kid vomit all over the floor and the bed, this 20something LPN called me into the room to clean up the puke, and I said OK and grabbed out 4 gloves, two for me and two for her, she didnt take them when I handed them to her and said in front of this kids parents, "I didnt go all the way through nursing school to clean vomit". I was about floored. Couldn't believe it!! She stood there talking to patients parents while I am cleaning vomit off the floor and changing the kid and his bed.....Had the parents not have been in the room I would have torn into her.
After that I started making her call me Mrs Racingmom as I was in fact her elder and deserved some respect.
Fast FWD 3 years I now have my RN and let me tell you, every patient/nurse and cleaning assignment had better be taken care of before I would ever volunteer to help Ms."I didnt go to nursing school to clean vomit" as she is still to this day last on my list of who I will ever volunteer to help.
BlueRidgeHomeRN
829 Posts
I'm with ya there--poo's fine, but I tend to retch along with pt's! ditto that baby poo isn't as bad, and that you get over it all!