Is this the career of an RN?!

[DGDreamGirl]

TO start off, I KNOW nursing isn't glamorous and pretty.... you will have to deal with vomit, and poop, etc.

Yesterday I had my first clinical... and of course I get put on a floor where no one ideally wants to be - the GI floor (aka, the poop floor). I knew that NS and being an RN wasn't a glamorous or pretty job.... yes, you will have to deal with bodily functions and "accidents", etc... but I'm totally daunted! I didn't even go to clinical today (which is/would have been my second time for clinicals) because we were told yesterday that we'd be by ourselves with our own patients.

I'm totally freaked out and I don't know if I can actually do this as a student. I know you can't tell me if I can do it or not, but I was wondering if you ever felt the same way? Ever? Or anything close?

Our patient yesterday was so nice, but my god when our teacher had to get a "sample" from her adult diaper, and used a spoon, and her bowels were covering her front to back... I don't know how I didn't throw up! Yesterday just makes me want to not do this.

My teacher told me that RN's (nurses in general I guess) don't have someone (help) to clean up a patient's "backside" or stuff like that...THEY do it. I don't believe CNA's or nurses's aid's, etc. are "below nurses" or anything like that at all! It's just, I thought it would be more about giving shots, checking vitals, relieving pain, not mostly about POOP.

I know everyone's human, and poop happens. It's 100% different when it's not your own family you're cleaning after. I didn't think I would feel this way but I do. I never thought poop would be so discouraging.

Do RN's mostly just clean up poop?!

[llg, PhD, RN]

Being bothered by the poop is understandable. Fortunately, there are a lot of jobs in nursing that don't involve much poop. You can choose a career path that suits you better and still be a nurse.

However, simply skipping out of clinical is a more serious matter. If you read the responses you got carefully, you'll see that a lot of people understood your dislike of poop. But the "abandonment" of your role as nursing student is something that hit a nerve with a lot of people. Part of the nursing culture is that you must have a certain amount of strength to take care of the patient even when it is unpleasant. Any nursing job brings with it a responsibility to the patient that supercedes our personal preferences -- and we never know when we will be called upon to do something we don't really want to do. But a nurse "rolls up her sleaves and does whatever needs to be done."

Nurses need to know they can count on their fellow nurses when the going gets tough. If people don't feel they can count on you, they won't want to work with you. That's the nerve you hit.

So ... no ... not all nurses deal with poop regularly. However, maybe nursing is not for you, anyway ... because you never know when you may have to deal with poop and other things you may not want to deal with.

[Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN]

My mother is a home-care RN and sometimes I went to work with her. She does not clean up poop at all. I noticed many people here said that when they becoem full fledged nurses they will do the nasty stuff themself and not call the CNA, but I can assure you that you will be calling the CNA the first chance you get. RNs are just too busy to do the mundane things that a CNA can do. When I took my father to the hospital a few weeks ago, one of the nurses was working so hard, he almost fainted.

I sure hope your mother, the RN, doesn't just leave a home patient in need of cleaning for the CNA. I work in home hospice and believe me, I've changed my share of briefs (poop included). Even in the LTC setting, you don't always have a CNA handy, so the nurse is going to clean the patient. Just because a person changes the letters behind their name doesn't mean they will be beyond cleaning pts.

[TerpGal02, ASN]

I can totally understand being scared to death of being alone with a pt without your instructor there to help you. My second clinical day (my first was just a basic unit orientation) I was all alone with my pt too. And mostly all of my pts last semester were elderly. Frankly, before last semester, I was kind of afraid of elderly people, esp those with dementia due to some traumatic experiences I had as a little kid visiting nursing home patients on community service day with my GS Troop. Heck, it took me a good 15 minutes to get up the nerve to walk into the pts room and say good morning. But I did, and each time it got easier and easier. The third pt I had had c diff and was incontinent of stools and urine. And c diff is not like any normal poop either. I'm sure you will find out if you stick with nursing. I had to deal with a few smells last summer where I felt my lunch rising in my throat, but you know what, I kept a smile on my face and kept chugging along. I def agree it was NOT a good move to skip your clinicals today. If you just run away from anything you are afraid of/find unpleasant, first you will probably NOT make it through NS, and running away from things you find unpleasant isnt really the best way to live your life either. You are going to miss out on a lot doing that.

[BanoraWhite]

Don't be too daunted. It's ok to dislike some areas of nursing.

My teacher was telling us she absolutely hated her peds rotation when she did it. She HATED it (unsure why..). But she stuck through it, and did what needed to be done, and now she is an incredible nurse working in a different area.

As a nurse yes, you will be cleaning up poop, but no, your not going to be doing it every minute of every shift. And yes you do get used to it !

Just try soldier on. Don't focus on how gross it might be. Focus on how much better this patient is going to feel after being cleaned up. How you are going to do the best job you can. How you are helping someone.

Maybe if it is really bad you could have a chat to your teacher and work out some strategies? Or just relay your feelings to her/him. You might just need some extra support for a bit.

[Streamline2010]

I sure hope your mother, the RN, doesn't just leave a home patient in need of cleaning for the CNA. I work in home hospice and believe me, I've changed my share of briefs (poop included). Even in the LTC setting, you don't always have a CNA handy, so the nurse is going to clean the patient. Just because a person changes the letters behind their name doesn't mean they will be beyond cleaning pts.

Any of my relatives who had home health or hospice nurses services, already had full-time caregivers at the house. The RN or LPN came, did only her RN or LPN job, and left. The routine care and "upkeep" was done by the aides.

I used to Vicks-Vaporub my nose when I had to seal with some smelly and shockingly disgusting injuries the horses got. ;-)

[kcochrane]

My mother is a home-care RN and sometimes I went to work with her. She does not clean up poop at all. I noticed many people here said that when they becoem full fledged nurses they will do the nasty stuff themself and not call the CNA, but I can assure you that you will be calling the CNA the first chance you get. RNs are just too busy to do the mundane things that a CNA can do. When I took my father to the hospital a few weeks ago, one of the nurses was working so hard, he almost fainted.

Unfortunately CNAs and Techs have enough to do themselves. And in most cases we often are short. Last week we had no Techs after 3am. That's 4.5 hours without help. So you do what you have to do to make sure that patient is clean. Most nights we only have 2 Techs for 40 patients.

In a perfect world we would be fully staffed with enough CNAs/Techs, but I have yet in 5 years to see that happen. I am so grateful for the help I do get from them. :) I average about 1/4 of the patent care for my patients on a good night.

To the op...poop takes awhile to get used to. I know you understand that not going to clinicals the next day was a bonehead move . But hopefully it won't screw things up for you. You need some more time to see if this is really not for you. One day with a stinky blowout isn't a good judge. Even today I can get the BM that just makes me want to gag. But it is not that often. My biggest hurdle was getting over secretions from trachs. I got a job on a floor filled with trachs and it honestly doesn't bother me anymore.

So take it one day at a time. See if things improve.

[Intern67]

I didn't even go to clinical today (which is/would have been my second time for clinicals) because we were told yesterday that we'd be by ourselves with our own patients.

VENT WARNING....

Wow.

I know this doesn't address the OP's question or situation, but I wanted to ask others reading this board: Is it just me or are you also fed up with posts like this?

I almost wonder if some of them are just putting us on. I mean, some of the things people ask!

I'm talking about students *currently in* nursing programs who:

1. Don't want to clean up poop or are surprised the job involves cleaning up poop.

2. Blow off clinical.

3. Lie about/cover up/not report med errors.

4. Openly defy school and clinical policies.

5. Insist they failed because the "instructor was unfair to them" or "hated them".

6. Wonder if nursing school is too easy so should they make it interesting by having a baby.

7. Walk off of jobs and wonder what it will do to their career.

8. Refuse to look up very simple data or procedures in their drug or Med/Surg books.

9. Defy instructors/preceptors because, "They just don't like me" (Often because the student is "Just too pretty")

Go ahead and make the "eating our young" accusation if you want, but clearly for the sake of patients some of these young need to be eaten, chewed up, and spit out.

[DayDreamin ER CRNP]

You get no argument from me sister. Not sure the rest of the community will agree but you have said what a lot of others probably wish they could say and might be more interesting in its own thread.

[sserrn, BSN]

Well, I am not a nurse yet, and in fact will not be starting NS for ab another 3 weeks. I'm not thrilled by the prospect of cleaning of poop either, and while I agree with most of the other posters that you shouldn't've skipped clinical (which you already know), I think your aversion to others' body fluids and your nervousness ab being alone with a patient is probably pretty normal.

I would also say ignore those that are telling you to change your major, grow up, etc., etc. What's it to them if you are not cut out for NS? They should probably get over it. To you, I would say stick with it, and, like others have mentioned, try to look for a job/dept. where you don't have to do a lot of stuff like that: psych, surgery (I think), OB (possibly?)--I'm sure there are several fields where you wouldn't have to do a lot of stuff like that.

[KristeyK]

What's it to them if she's not cut out for NS? Not being cut out for NS pretty much means not being cut out for nursing. What on Earth is going to happen if she NEVER gets over the fear of poop or other bodily fluids that NO ONE enjoys cleaning up, and someone poops or vomits and SHE has to clean it up? If the pt. going to have to sit in his own mess? What happens if she finds out the she doesn't like dealing with other potentially messy things? I am not trying to sound mean, but seriously- that didn't make you the LEAST bit mad that she blew off her SECOND day of clinicals because of a little poop?

[RossayRN]

I don't think this that is the career of an RN but I do think that RNs will have to do it sometimes. Especially Nursing students. First clinical rotation, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up to the RN level stuff. We didn't get into RN level stuff till the 2nd year of nursing school. You have to advance in levels after you've learned other skills, how to assess and take care of patients, they don't take you straight into the more complicated stuff. By my senior year of nursing school, I hardly had to change any poop (Some but not a lot) because then you have more responsibilities and like RNs, you have other things to tend to and the Tech take care of this if you don't have the time. Good Luck, there is a whole world of nursing to be experienced and you haven't even scraped the surface of things that are done. If you stick pass this first phase, you might even find something that you really like about it and hence the birth of what area you want to specialize, or work in .

[DayDreamin ER CRNP]

because then you have more responsibilities and like RNs, you have other things to tend to and the Tech take care of this if you don't have the time.

I totally disagree with this statement. Not all units employ techs or CNAs and taking care of patient's is EVERYONE'S responsibility even if there is a tech. The nurses I work with always clean up their own patients. Sll but one and even the nurses can't stand her and how she treats techs. They often call the tech in to help roll and hold the patient and each person cleans the side she is on. As a PCA/tech myself, I can tell you that more often it is the nurse that is changing patients because I am passing drinks and snacks and taking patients to the restroom, taking vitals, taking blood sugars, etc.

Just because you have RN after your name doesn't automatically spring you from dooty duty.