Is clinic nursing a dirty job?

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Hello. I was curious as to whether clinic nursing is a dirty job. I have no issues with blood, but I'm wondering if any of you clinic nurses have to deal with other unpleasant things. I still believe nurses are amazing given all the responsibilities they have. Thank you for all you advice!

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Nurses are underemployed too. The job market is generally not great. Nursing is not " perfect" for you if you are worried about bodily fluids.

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Yes, I did a lot of research into what it takes to become a CRNA so I know that you need ICU experience. Plus, to even be considered to work in the ICU, you would definitely need to work with less sick patients. I have realized that it's better to start off with a small goal. I'm considering doing cosmetic nursing, as it pertains to my experience working in the spa industry.

ICU patients are mostly total care, so there is lots and lots of dirty stuff coming from just about every place imaginable.

Cosmetic nursing is a good thing, but be mindful and careful. There are lot of less than stellar places that don't use best practice. Get , and be sure that you are not the only licensed person in the place.

The patient population wants miracles. And when those miracles don't occur, someone takes a fall for it. Just make sure it is not you.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

How do you think cosmetic nursing is a step towards CRNA? You need critical care experience.

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Specializes in ICU.
Plus, to even be considered to work in the ICU, you would definitely need to work with less sick patients.

I wish people would stop spouting off all this misinformation. I started out in ICU and I did just fine. The only med/surg experience I have was the couple of times I got floated there at my first job.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

NURSING is a dirty job.

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Not sure what cosmetic nursing is....not sure what you mean by "dirty" nursing, really can't think of any nursing that wouldn't be. Maybe telehealth? But you will need some experience to do that. Case management is usually somewhat not quite in the line of fire, but you need several years of experience to do that too. I'm a new nurse on a med/surg floor, and it worries me how many posts on this site show a lack of understanding about qualifications for NP or CRNA. This may not be anyone's fault but I think there is a perception that NP and CRNA are existing in some weird bubble away from the rest of nursing...we need to bring people up to speed.

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Since the OP is obviously not yet a nursing student, she has PLENTY of time to find out that there is LOTS of dirty work to be done before ever getting anywhere near her dream job.

OP, there will be YEARS of bodily fluids and detritus you cannot even begin to imagine waiting for you to clean up before you will even be able to consider what kind of employment you would most like to have. :)

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Specializes in peds, allergy-asthma, ob/gyn office.

Probably the least dirty job I had was in allergy clinic. OB/gyn definitely had some grossness to it... patients or visitors who left the patient bathroom gross... women with heavy bleeding who bled on the exam table or in the patient bathroom. Pelvic exams ladies who don't bathe... or their partners who don't bathe. After one recent such visit the room still stunk 20 minutes after Lysol...

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I really appreciate it. Yeah, when I said that you have to take care of less sick patients to get into ICU, I was referring to med/surg. I'm pretty sure that's where everyone starts out from if they want to get into ICU. So, I'm assuming all of you have learned to adapt to the environment of working with bodily fluids? I know all of you are probably thinking I should just forget about nursing but I have done massive amounts of career researching and I really cannot find anything else that suits me better. I mean, I was looking into business as well but realistically speaking, if you don't go into either finance or accounting, it's difficult to find a job in business. A lot of them are underemployed.

What is wrong with finance or accounting? You are right there are many underemployed college grads these days of all different degrees floating around. Even the head of StudentLoanJustice.org, who was an engineering grad, aerospace I believe, was unable to get a job in his field anymore and defaulted on his student loans. So even all the marketing of the STEM fields is no guarantee of a good job anymore!

Bedside nursing involves bodily fluids no way around this and ICU especially does as most places have no CNA and you are doing both jobs with copious amounts of body fluids. If you are lucky you will be able to use a foley and rectal tube to contain some of the mess, but the hospitals have been pushing for foley free so don't count on it!

You have to prove yourself in ICU before you can get into a CRNA program and they are very expensive and you may have to relocate. You have to be good at putting in IV's, being able to intubate people and handle stress well. There is a huge difference between ICU and CRNA vs the spa industry and being a cosmetic nurse! It doesn't sound like you know what you want to do and that's understandable because you are young and only know what you've been exposed to.

If you like the spa industry find out how much of a difference in pay there would be as an RN vs asthetician before pursuing this. As far as clinic nursing pay is less than bedside and many places are using MA's for $10/hr vs even LPN's let alone RN's. If you were able to get a job as a cardiac clinic nurse that might be body fluid free.

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Specializes in Corrections, Psych, Public Health.
Yes, I did a lot of research into what it takes to become a CRNA so I know that you need ICU experience. Plus, to even be considered to work in the ICU, you would definitely need to work with less sick patients. I have realized that it's better to start off with a small goal. I'm considering doing cosmetic nursing, as it pertains to my experience working in the spa industry.

Then take my advice and stick to the cosmetic nursing as you call it cause giving Botox injections, doing laser lipo and laser hair removal is the complete opposite of clinic nursing because trust me you will see everything and more as a clinic nurse and some of your patients you will be able to smell from a mile away (ok exaggerating)...but you get the point. As someone who has worked a county jail (mostly same customers as a clinic nurse) and also work in a spa on the side, I should know. So if you can't do "dirty nursing" as you call it stick to the spa, but honestly if you can't handle "dirty'" at all please don't consider being a nurse.

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Hello. I was curious as to whether clinic nursing is a dirty job. I have no issues with blood, but I'm wondering if any of you clinic nurses have to deal with other unpleasant things. I still believe nurses are amazing given all the responsibilities they have. Thank you for all you advice!

I worked in a Women's OB/GYN Clinic, so...kinda?

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

Maybe becoming a nurse injector would be a good career for you. It won't be a stepping stone to CRNA but sounds like you could enjoy it and the pay is good.

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