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:
That happened to me too when I went to the ER. They kept asking time and again if I was pregnant and I kept assuring them I had never been sexually active. They then continued with the pregnancy questions anyway and added in STDs because I had abdominal pain. I finally called the doctor over privately and told him I really wasn't pregnant but was in a lot of pain and they were barking up the wrong tree. I think he finally got it. I didn't want my parents and insurance company paying for all these tests I knew were negative.
Unfortunately ERs have learned the hard way never to believe the pt until proven otherwise. We have seen way too many Immaculate Conceptions. Any female on her menses is considered pregnant until proven otherwise.
The worst poop I ever cleaned up was from the dog - slimy! Had to scrub the carpet. Would have got my but kicked if I left it there. I'll take a human any day.
Recently had a lol who was very demanding. After putting her on the bedpan she had a massive BM, got her cleaned up and she rolled over and went to sleep. Worth every bit of poop I wiped off her for the quiet!
I'm an LPN school currently in RN school. One comment I hear a lot is "remember what this is like when you become an RN and don't change."
I've seen the head of the ED nursing staff pushing stretchers. She wears scrubs to work and helps out. I've seen other nurse managers providing direct patient care. There is a lot to be said by leading by example. I will confess, I don't respect prissy nurses who won't get their hands dirty. Our nurse of the year does everything for her pts. No job is too small or too dirty. Hey, maybe thats why she is RN of the year!
I will freely admit that I hate the stuff.... hate it... hate it... every stinking thing about it.... BUT.... if my patient is bed deep in it, you can bet your bottom dollar I'm putting on gloves and cleaning. They're embarrassed that this happened and also embarrassed that you have to clean them up.
Had one patient's wife come out of the room and tell me he had an accident. I told her I'd be right there. Ran to the linen closet for a bed change, clean gown, towels, washcloths, etc. While I'm in there cleaning him up, she says she could never be a nurse because of this. Imagine my surprise when out of my mouth comes "It's just a small part of the job, and I don't mind doing it." WTH?
The reward in that is knowing that the family is appreciative of the little extra effort you took to make their loved one clean, comfortable, and respected as a human being.
About 2 weeks after this incident, he passed away. While I was sad, I was also happy that I could make one of his last days a little bit more comfortable.
The reward in that is knowing that the family is appreciative of the little extra effort you took to make their loved one clean, comfortable, and respected as a human being.
YES!!!!!!! At least from the other side of it. I am glad that the one day that this happened a few times the nurses I had were anazing, I had 2 because one was being oriented. Not sure what was happening only know one of them was the person answering the call lights just turned mine off didnt ask what I needed, just flipped it off. The nurses came through for me with cleaning me up, with me appologizing profusly, and they treated me amazing, gave me the stuff to wipe myself, made sure it was totally good, and put clean sheets on my bed for me.
Specializes in primary care, holistic health, integrated medicine.
I'm an NP, and I totally DON'T agree. I'm also a bedside nurse and a full time nursing instructor. Once, in my office while working AS AN NP, a young female patient came in with abdominal pain that ended up being an intestinal obstruction. But before we knew that, and as soon as she sat on the table, she began vomitting feces. NOW, do you think I said "ewwww, you need to wait for the tech before you start doing that.... gross!" No, without gloves - because there was no time, I first handed her a basin and then grabbed an NG tube AND a suction canister while yelling for someone to grab me a suction device for the wall. I then gloved and put an NG tube down the lady and THEN cleaned her up, all the while, focusing on HER pain. HER embarassment, HER disgust at her own body, and soothing HER. ALL I can say, is you better hope you are never THAT lady, and if you are you better hope that YOU or any of your cohorts are NOT YOUR NURSE.
I guess I stand alone! I will still ask the CNA to clean it up for me. Sorry, but I didn't spend all of this time in school and studying my butt off to clean up poop. If that makes me a bad nurse, then fine, i'm a bad nurse. But I haven't had any complaints so far.
And to all the nurses that would clean it up, that's fantastic!! Please come work where I work so that I have more people to clean it up for me :)
Out patient surgry, sounds safe? but they puke after surgery and one question you need to ask before they leave? ARE YOU ABLE TO VOID AND PASS A B.M? No matter where you work, a nurse isalways on the messy side of things
I guess I stand alone! I will still ask the CNA to clean it up for me. Sorry, but I didn't spend all of this time in school and studying my butt off to clean up poop. If that makes me a bad nurse, then fine, i'm a bad nurse. But I haven't had any complaints so far.
And to all the nurses that would clean it up, that's fantastic!! Please come work where I work so that I have more people to clean it up for me :)
When you restrict your practise as you have, it is the tip of an iceberg of limitations to what you will and will not do......... It is also your "holy grail", which if attained would free you from yourself. Then you'll be a Nurse, my dear.:redpinkhe The circle around the red heart shows it beating, restrained.
I imagine that you haven't received a complaint because your attitude (high and mighty) precludes one, or you haven't owned up to it with your co-workers. GET OVER IT!!!! Poop is simply undigested food and digestive enzymes - did you learn that while working your "butt" off to become the half fledged Nurse you are? Cleaning it up is a "right of passage" toward being a full professional who realizes (in the full sense of the word) all the duties entailed in caring for people who can't care for themselves.
Would you also say that you'd not start an IV, give a med, create a Care Plan, as those duties are also below you, if others with whom you work could do it? What do you consider worth your effort? Bodily functions are just that, and some smell and make a mess! So What?
The body does a magnificent job of maintaining health, and pooping is a healthy sign that digestion occurs unobstructed - and by observing its consistency, shape, contents and presence of undesirable substances (blood, mucous, bile, etc.) you make a contribution to that patient's well being by describing aberrance (s) in it accurately in your Nurses notes. Often NA's may overlook same, or not feel comfortable telling someone as lofty as you are, what was there.
Yes, your attitude isolates you and infuriates me (and probably others)!
Specializes in Assisted Living, Med-Surg/CVA specialty.
I guess I stand alone! I will still ask the CNA to clean it up for me. Sorry, but I didn't spend all of this time in school and studying my butt off to clean up poop. If that makes me a bad nurse, then fine, i'm a bad nurse. But I haven't had any complaints so far.
And to all the nurses that would clean it up, that's fantastic!! Please come work where I work so that I have more people to clean it up for me :)
Lol, I just had an image of a ****** off CNA taking a pile of crap and dumping it in your locker.
I work in postpartum. I deal with lots of baby poop, but hardly any mom poo. I find baby poo less offensive somehow.
I just want to add that I find nursing a very humbling profession. People with holier than thou attitudes, or who think that they are too good to do certain aspects of their job will eventually realize that they are no better (or worse!) than anyone else. I work with very talented, smart, educated nurses, none of whom refuse to help patients clean themselves up.
And I do have to say that every time I might be getting a little to big for my britches, something always happens to remind me that I'm only human too, and that I am not always right.
For example, a few months ago I had a patient who was not in the usual socio-economic class that comes to our hospital. She and her family were a bit odiferous, talking about smoking and drinking, and the whole family appeared a bit dirty and unwashed. I was nice to this young woman, but inside I cringed every time I went in to her room. I'm not proud of this, but I was not as attentive as I may have been to another patient. I did not neglect her, I made sure her needs were met, but I did not go the extra mile as I may have for someone else.
I had the same patient the next night. I wasn't looking forward to my assignment. But something happened when I went into her room. She started asking me questions, and we talked. Instead of seeing my perception, I saw a young woman concerned for her child, doing the best she could. And it's my job to do the best I can to educate her and give her tools and resources to help her raise her child. Not my job to judge. And I knew that my attitude was wrong. Here was a person looking to me for help. So I think of her whenever I start making assumptions, because I see that I was wrong.
So if someone doesn't want to clean poo, that's fine. It's not fine to refuse to clean a patient, no matter how 'politely' it is stated, or expect someone else to do the parts of our job that we don't like. No one likes poop. It doesn't make someone superior nurse to refuse to clean patients. It's just the attitude that has to change. The sarcasm and flip attitude are disrespectful to patients and coworkers.
I also wonder if this person is afraid of how she will and cleaning poop, and this is how she is coping.
I went to orientation yesterday for an RN program that I start this fall. One thing we were told is that there are a lot of sue-happy people in the world and it is becoming increasingly common to sue nurses, however when most of these cases go to Court, 9 times out of 10 the family states, "I just didn't feel like the nurse cared", or "It was just her flippant attitude towards my mom". Not only is it wrong to have an attitude that you are above cleaning poo because you are an RN. It is non-professional and goes against the nursing profession. Being a nurse means taking CARE of your patient no matter what dirty job that entails. So, not only is it wrong on this level.... just watch your back. You might end up eventually getting sued for having a non-caring attitude.
TazziRN, RN
6,487 Posts
Unfortunately ERs have learned the hard way never to believe the pt until proven otherwise. We have seen way too many Immaculate Conceptions. Any female on her menses is considered pregnant until proven otherwise.