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:
oh, and I saw a research study on Discovery Health where research nurses basically tore down poo to its very base components and analyzed the entire amt for fat content... so not sure that would count either. :)
Poo is everywhere. It's a fact of life and we need to accept it. Would you want your loved one sitting in it because the nurse was too good to clean it up?
Any RN who sends us in to clean up because she is too good to do it gets a reality check real fast. I'm not going to stop inserting an IV in a patient to clean up your pts poop (had an RN to this, she had to clean it up herself, possible MI trumps poo).
The other day, a new nurse's preceptor told her to clean up any mess, because it was wrong to leave it all for the other staff, that nothing is beneath you.
As for major poop incidents, if it's smeared all over the place, call environmental services. They have the training and equipment to safely clean and disinfect the area. Thank goodness for those wonderful folks! Believe me, they see worse that poop! Who do you think cleans up the blood soaked OR?
Lastly, how do you explain that your pt now has an infected bed sore because you were too good to clean them up and everyone else was busy? Medicare won't pay for it and when it comes to money, no facility will defend you over this. Would you or your mom appreciate having your/her sacrum eaten away because cleaning you/her up was beneath the nurse? Somehow I don't think so.
I understand your response, however, I still feel that as complicated and difficult a nursing job can be, if you have a serious problem with dealing with bodily functions, it may not be the place for you. For one, you will not make it through nursing school without dealing with it. And afterwards, you will need to deal with other more life-threatening issues, getting hung up on "poo" will limit your ability to proper care for your patients... It is not that others are "lashing out" it is that we have the experience to know that this type of attitude can cause serious problems later..
Yes! Think PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING! In some states it requires a batchelor degree, some do not. Most also require at least one year of clinical experience. I have worked in Public Health for the last 11 years and have not had to clean 'poo' even once! Public Health does not always pay as much as hospitals, but the perks usually make up for it. Perks like; no weekends or major holidays, mostly all first shift, good health insurance and retirement. Because it is goverenment, some times you can transfer to other gov. jobs and keep your retirement. If you like to do health education, it is also a great job. When you work in a hospital, you usually have little time to actually do the teaching that we were told was a part of nursing. A PHN does a lot of education and I feel we really make a difference in the health of the county/city that we work in.
I agree that 'handing off to lower beings' is pretty shoddy, but that sounds like something her mom put in her head, not her own issue. As the OP said, it doesnt sound quite that simple.
I guess I just assume the OP is young, and is 'afraid of the unknown'. Its hard to know what you will do until you're in a situation, IMO. How can you look at a person, who is asking for your help and unable to do for themselves, and think "oh gross, poo!". But how can you explain that feeling of responsibility and desire to help to someone who has never looked at that person before?
Suggesting someone will "eat poop" before they get a poop free position because their mother suggested they have someone else do the part of their job that they don't want to do, is a huge /shame on the mother, but without knowing more, I just assume the OP doesnt know any better... or I don't think she'd be brave enough to come post that here given the (very expected) responses.
Surprisingly, colonoscopy Nurses don't need to deal with large poops, as only prep'd patients are done, and they're squeaky clean after swallowing all that "Go Lightly" and the aftermath it causes.
Nope. I work in a doctor's office. People with diarrhea drop off stool cultures all the time (yipee).
Isn't it fun when they bring it in a paper bag all wrapped up in tin foil just like a Christmas present and then they expect you to transfer it to a transport container for them because it's just too gross and makes them gag?
I've had people with diarrhea drop off "samples" all over the bathroom, on the exam room floor, in a chair... and the receptionist certainly won't clean it up.
I've worked adults and peds... babies poo is definitely easier to deal with.
well, i have to say that i got transferred to the colorectal unit one night and was quite fearful of what i may be dealing with. the nurses there gave me a whole new perspective as they feel that as long as their pt's are using colostomy bags, they aren't cleaning butts. they said they couldn't handle cleaning poo in beds. of course, you do have the bags popping off on occasion and the gas seems to be far worse. that's all i can think of.
well, i guess it depends on the person.. i'm one of those "lowly" cnas, and have mostly worked in ltc. the smell of a colostomy is one thing i have not been able to get used to... you do what you have to do for your pt, of course, :heartbeatbut for me the smell is much more... concentrated? pure? i'm not sure what the right description would be, but it's worse for me. right up there with c. diff. poop or gi bleed poop. when i first was becoming a cna i was worried about my reaction to bodily fluids/functions, but i knew i wanted to help people, so i went ahead. like others have said, you don't grow to like it, but you get used to that being something you may have to do. after gaining experience from ltc, i've been able to get a job in a hospital, where there is less poop to clean! :yeah:while establishing our skills, we have to realize we may have to put time in some less than ideal situations, but you get back what you put in, i find. i try to treat all my patients like family, and they love being loved. nursing is about loving people (to me), not so much the "dirty aspects." :redbeathe
Specializes in Accepted...Master's Entry Program, 2008!.
It's already been said, but I'm going to say it again anyway.
By the time you get through nursing school, you'll have TONS of experience with poop and I suspect it won't bother you in the least. Or at least not as much as it does now.
when i first was becoming a cna i was worried about my reaction to bodily fluids/functions, but i knew i wanted to help people, so i went ahead. like others have said, you don't grow to like it, but you get used to that being something you may have to do. after gaining experience from ltc, i've been able to get a job in a hospital, where there is less poop to clean! :yeah:while establishing our skills, we have to realize we may have to put time in some less than ideal situations, but you get back what you put in, i find. i try to treat all my patients like family, and they love being loved. nursing is about loving people (to me), not so much the "dirty aspects." :redbeathe
missjennmb
932 Posts
oh, and I saw a research study on Discovery Health where research nurses basically tore down poo to its very base components and analyzed the entire amt for fat content... so not sure that would count either. :)