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:
I hope I don't sound too off saying this, but I am not sure that nursing would be a good field for you. All nursing jobs come with the expectation that we may end up being witness to extremely private acts that even their family members and loved ones may not be privy to. In our society, defecation is one of those acts. When an extremely ill patient ends up with "poo" on them, being a nurse means realizing that under normal circumstances, this person would not let anyone see this and understanding that we are being paid very well to assist them in this circumstance. As a NP, I am quite a ways away from my days as a nursing student, and am responsible for the adminstration of my facility, however, I am never too far away to be above helping someone when this kind of thing happens, and I would never expect my nursing staff to do something that I am unwilling to do!
If you have that much of an aversion to cleaning up poo, are you sure that Nursing is the right profession for you?
If the answer is 'yes', maybe you can focus on Nursing Research only.
BTW, I work in an NICU. It's true that babies' poo is easier to clean up. But what if your baby has had surgery; has a colostomy, multiple drains, is vomiting, has diarrhea, etc?
AND....do you have the compassion and empathy to offer support, and work with parents who's baby is dying? Because the success rate of NICU's is not 100%....
If I walked into a bathroom covered with poo, I would ask for help. I'm an LPN (should have my RN early next year) and work in long term care. We all help each other. Period.
Do you have kids? That's a good way to get used to poo too. I get that you have an issue with it, phlegm is the thing I have a hard time with. But put your big girl panties and get a grip.
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 am sure school nurses do, and camp nurses do. I know that camp nurses do becase I was at camp one year and had an accident, who cleaned me up? the nurse.
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...
I am an LPN (LVN in some area's of the country), I am Charge Nurse on my unit in a LTC (lots of poo here!!) On my floor if you find it, you clean it! That includes me, so if you came running to me to clean a mess you found......
For some strange reason, I'd rather clean lots of poo than have a bunch of constipated patients. I'd just appreciate it if people who just meet me, and find out I'm a Nurse, would just not tell me about thier latest poo. Happens all the time.
NICU has smaller poo and pee and vomit. Very rewarding too. Babies can take a lot and come out great. Relationships with families can be memories that last for ever. Some sad times, but overall for the 25 years I did it, it was amazing!!!:redbeathe
Funny poo story! my shift supervisor, co-worker and I went in to assess a rather large patients bottom. upon turning pt over we discovered...poo! so the 3 of us rolled up our sleeves and went to work. needless to say each CNA had to come look in the room and left LOL! somehow we managed to get poo everywhere and ended up doing a complete bed change. the CNA's still talk about that day, and they are quick to "assist" us when the 3 of us enter a room.
Can't think of any department that doesn't deal with the accidental poo; including day surgery. I'd rather clean poo than slimy vomit or stringy phlegm.
There are a few places within the hospital in nursing where you may be able to avoid cleaning...and the first that comes to mind is nursing education. There are also jobs like diabetic educator, case management, utilization review, and others you can consider.
I'm really surprised at the.... anger or lashing out or other "pick a new profession" responses.
I'm just a student, but I avoided nursing like the plague for the first part of my life, because I didn't want to get my hands dirty. I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it. I didn't even want to have kids when I was young because I didn't want to clean up the mess. And then something happened....
I had children. Not only did I have children, but my 2nd and 3rd were born at home, in a water birth. My first birth was very sterile (cesarean) and my second for some reason was incredibly clean, but my 3rd.... Here I was.... "pristine princess" sitting in a pool of water, covered from top to bottom in pretty much every bodily fluid imaginable, but ya know what? none of it mattered to me at all. Later, looking at the mess we made before it was cleaned up, it dawned on me for the first time in my life that those things were really and truly unimportant. It was like being instantaneously desensitized to bodily fluids. That was 8 months ago, and I am now going to nursing school at 31 yrs old.
I think the reason that people, in general, fear body fluids and "poo" is because its such a private thing that we are not often in contact with it. I mean sure its unpleasant, but if we see it day in and day out, or if we survive an 'experience' with it, it takes on a different meaning. Sure cleaning ourselves can be unpleasant, but its not horrible because we do it all the time. I think the same can be said, to some degree, about others' body fluids.
Hopefully for the OP, she can see her patients as people in need, and not as "poo factories" and that will make all the difference. I never thought I could do what I have, in regards to my childrens' births and day to day care, but looking back, very few times has it ever really been a big deal and even then, only in situations where there was nothing more critical going on - like a fever w/ vomiting and watery stool...all I thought of was the fever and how to make my little one feel more at ease. (once, my 9 yr old hid a sandwich in his closet and it most definitely trumps my gross clean up card!) I even cloth diapered my 2 youngest for about 2 years.
NurseNancyNP
17 Posts
I hope I don't sound too off saying this, but I am not sure that nursing would be a good field for you. All nursing jobs come with the expectation that we may end up being witness to extremely private acts that even their family members and loved ones may not be privy to. In our society, defecation is one of those acts. When an extremely ill patient ends up with "poo" on them, being a nurse means realizing that under normal circumstances, this person would not let anyone see this and understanding that we are being paid very well to assist them in this circumstance. As a NP, I am quite a ways away from my days as a nursing student, and am responsible for the adminstration of my facility, however, I am never too far away to be above helping someone when this kind of thing happens, and I would never expect my nursing staff to do something that I am unwilling to do!