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
OK you've never seen a baby whose saved meconuim for a week and spew it all over an isolette. Or a little boy who got lasix pee over the side of the warmer out of the side of his diaper. I have to admit though the messes are easier and smaller to clean. :chuckle
Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.
I hate suctioning trachs too, but not because the sputum bothers me... I think I must be one of the few people in this world that can kinda, sorta handle sputum... in fact, when I'm watching the RT suction my patient, I give a silent cheer when I see a big ol' bunch of sputum come up because I know that now my patient will breathe better for a little while and maybe won't ask to be suctioned again for at least a few more hours. =)
I hate suctioning trachs because doing it just scares the heck out of me. I'm afraid I'm not going to do it right.
(you can tell I haven't done it much!)
To answer the OP's question seriously, for a minute... if you get all the way through nursing school and STILL don't feel like you can handle cleaning up poo poo, pee pee, spit and vomit... you might try either OR, or *MAYBE* psych. I say *MAYBE* because... while you generally won't do nearly as much cleaning up of messes as you would in med-surge or LTC... there are still some pretty darn gross things that you might see, things that are WAY more gross and disgusting than poop or pee, that occurs naturally and the patients can't help. Psych patients sometimes tend to DO some nasty and gross things, and on PURPOSE. And even if you DON'T see these things first hand... sometimes you get to HEAR about them from co workers, and sometimes having to hear about it is just as disgusting.
Joolia is right - there are very few poo free jobs for a new grad. While I have known some people to get a job in a doctors office right out of nursing school, their clinical skills or lack there of really holds them back. So to be a good nurse, you unfortunately have to do some time in the trenches - which are sometimes filled with poop.
There is probably less of a chance of encountering a code brown in the OR rather than in a LTC unit. As far as getting a CNA or someone else to clean it - it is not realistic. You get one CNA per so many patients and it's not best practice to let someone stew in pooh while your CNA finishes vitals or AM care (on the otherhand - of the CNA had to drop what they were doing every time there was a code brown, they'd never get their work done on some floors. )
After a while poop becomes like every other fluid... i always think as long as i am gloved up and can scrub myself clean afterward then no big deal. And if it's the smell / gag factor that worries you... a little plastic container - such as a pill box filled with Vap-O-rub can work wonders in helping you not toss your cookies in front of the patients. Saved me on occasions from C. Diff infections or actively draining delights.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Sorry, mostly everywhere a nurse can possibly work that is related to patient care has the risk of encountering blood, poo, doo, and other rather unpleasenteries. And, I am an LPN who would not really be too thrilled that the RN thinks she is above cleaning it up.
You have to look at it from the prespective of the poor patient and the impression you may give the CNA, LPN (who is a fellow nurse) and other co-workers. Maybe the clinic or community health is better, but it doesn't mean that it won't happen.
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:
I would NEVER ask my CNA to clean up a bathroom if the walls were covered in feces! And forget about asking an LPN! How insulting to both of their professions!
In reality, this is where house-keeping comes in. Not to insinuate that they're "low" enough to perform this task, but they truly have the resources (specifically, cleaning materials) to perform this task. While a CNA may clean up a patient whose bed is moderately covered, a bathroom is an entirely different story!
Sorry, mostly everywhere a nurse can possibly work that is related to patient care has the risk of encountering blood, poo, doo, and other rather unpleasenteries. And, I am an LPN who would not really be too thrilled that the RN thinks she is above cleaning it up.
You have to look at it from the prespective of the poor patient and the impression you may give the CNA, LPN (who is a fellow nurse) and other co-workers. Maybe the clinic or community health is better, but it doesn't mean that it won't happen.
I am an RN, and I would NEVER think to ask a CNA (let alone an LPN!) to clean up bathroom covered in feces! I might as well ask another RN or my charge nurse!
I'm sorry, but this matter really gets to me. There was a BIG deal with one of the nurse educators at our county hospital saying she doesn't like hiring NGs from the university (where I attended) because "they think they're too good to clean up poo -- unlike the community college students." My clinical instructors spent a lot of time making sure we did TOTAL PATIENT CARE in clinicals -- and learned to clean up poo!
Just because we're RNs does NOT mean we're above cleaning our patients! And I ALWAYS offer to help my CNAs clean my patients -- even when they repeatedly tell me I don't have to help them.
Stop thinking about getting lpn/cna to clean up poops. Trust me junior staff can make your life miserable on the job if you don't treat them with respect and remember they are not environmental staff. If you a problem with poops, get an office job or home care nursing.
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:
Maybe rather than trying to find somewhere you can avoid poo you should embark on a poo resistance training or something. Working around horses and cattle might be good practice. With horses come horse poop but also horsey goodness. I know this sounds silly but as a girl I used to be poo-a-phobic until I started riding and now also nothing gross gets to me.
I'm an RN. I work in the SICU and sometimes we don't have CNAs. I do almost all of the patient care myself. I don't mind though. Poo doesn't bother me. In fact, no bodily fluids do.
On a side note, I think it is rather sad that the OP's mother thinks that being a CNA or an LVN is a lowly worthless job and at our beck and call.
It is not even a point of finding a job that does not deal with poop or other body fluids. You will have to actually get thru a nursing school program and you are going to see lots of everything.
If you are really concerned about this, then perhaps nursing is not for you.
Even to get a desk job in nursing, it requires one has actually worked in the role in most cases. And again, school is going to have every single little thing thrown your way.
And anything that a CNA or LPN is doing, you should be able to do it as well. And would be expected to do so.
Someone mentioned the Operating Room...just think about it: all your patient's muscles are relaxed. All of them. And the two day bowel prep?? Yea...think twice!
I was a circulator in the OR. There's nothing more humbling than the surgeons not being able to concentrate because the patient (under all the drapes) has had a Code Brown, and I've had to crawl under there (it's dark and smelly, mind you) and clean the patient up. Nothing beats some wintergreen oil in your mask for the rest of the case!
RNSC
147 Posts
OK you've never seen a baby whose saved meconuim for a week and spew it all over an isolette. Or a little boy who got lasix pee over the side of the warmer out of the side of his diaper. I have to admit though the messes are easier and smaller to clean. :chuckle