Nasty homes

[SDALPN]

I've been doing this for a while. I've seen a lot. But wondering if maybe it's the area I live in or if it's typical in other parts of the country. But do you encounter more filthy homes than clean?

I was floated to a home where one toilet was clogged, the other had stool smeared on the back of the toilet. Dead bugs in the tubs/showers. Lots of clutter (normally I can deal with that if it's clean otherwise). Dishes piled in the sink while the entire family of 6 kids and two adults is sitting around playing video games or watching TV. The microwave covered in burned cheese. Trash cans overflowing. The list goes on, but you get the idea.

But I see more homes like that than clean homes. I don't get it. How do they live like that?

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

I've had my fair share of both (clean & dirty). You never know what kinda house you're gonna walk into.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Oh, I could tell you stories.......

Had a case where there were four cats, two seldom cleaned litter boxes- which were adjacent to the kitchen counter. In other words, the cats could jump directly onto the counter from the litter box. One day, grandma came over and was going to make chicken pot pie for the family. She swooped a cat off the counter, (didn't wash it down), plopped down the pie dough and rolled it out. Yes, they offered me some when it came out of the oven. I managed a "No thanks, not really hungry" all the time fighting off a gag.

Same family was without a nurse for a week for various reasons. I showed up and found that in that week it had never occurred to anyone to empty the suction canister. Or the diaper pail.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Oh, I could tell you stories.......

Had a case where there were four cats, two seldom cleaned litter boxes- which were adjacent to the kitchen counter. In other words, the cats could jump directly onto the counter from the litter box. One day, grandma came over and was going to make chicken pot pie for the family. She swooped a cat off the counter, (didn't wash it down), plopped down the pie dough and rolled it out. Yes, they offered me some when it came out of the oven. I managed a "No thanks, not really hungry" all the time fighting off a gag.

Same family was without a nurse for a week for various reasons. I showed up and found that in that week it had never occurred to anyone to empty the suction canister. Or the diaper pail.

That's absolutely disgusting. We have a bunch of cats but we empty the litter boxes more than once a day. As my best friend says to her cats "keep your poo paws out of my drink/food". I feel so bad for that child since they didn't empty the sx canister or garbage.

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

She swooped a cat off the counter, (didn't wash it down), plopped down the pie dough and rolled it out.

*barf*barf*barf*

[CloudySue]

I've been pretty lucky, not too many yukky places for me, and I've been to about 25 homes, by my count. There's one place that's new construction, quite nice, but cluttered and messy. The sink p-trap doesn't seem to be working, there's always a sewer gas stench in the kitchen.

I did have one that I remember where the older foster mom's kitchen was horrific, remnants of several pots' worth of meals left on countertops, unwashed. This mom cut up an onion and put pieces in the 4 corners of the great room (where I was w client) and her rationale was, "the onions absorb the germs in the air." These onions would sit for days and get really rank. I'd have to collect them up and bag them tightly to avoid the stench, and put them all back in the morning so she wouldn't know I was messing with her health regulations!

[nekozuki, LPN]

Most of my patient homes have been cluttered but very, very clean. One was an apartment that was immaculate, but the building itself was old, so roaches sometimes skittered across the kitchen floor. Another home had a screened in porch hastily sealed and converted into a patient room, and was pretty disgusting with unwashed pets running around and bugs crawling in.

I made a thread about the nastiest apartment I've ever encountered a couple months ago - walk into disgusting trashpit and had to brush roaches off a premature vent-dependent baby who was fresh out of NICU. Roaches were in the equipment, tubing, swimming in the "sterile" water and running up and down the enteral feed pole. No toilet paper in the house, the family just slung a SHARED washcloth over the side of the tub and used that. No soap, no paper towels, no supplies, sink clogged, floors filthy, another unsupervised toddler with no diaper, barefoot, but mom had her hair and nails done professionally and was too busy playing on her iPhone to clean. I had to go to my company's HR before they intervened and tried to help organize/clean. Thankfully, the child was removed into medical foster care.

On the bright side, it's now almost impossible to gross me out.

[Adele_Michal7, ASN, RN]

Ugh I def need to come in after my shift and write out some stories. I have good ones. But in the meantime I will say about 40% of the homes I have been to are nasty.

[caliotter3]

Way more nasty than clean; usually with matching client attitudes. Definitely contributes to decreased job satisfaction.

[ceebeejay]

So far so good; 100% clean. Spotless, actually. But, I am new to this game.

[KATRN78]

It is easy for me to forget that not everyone lives the way I do. I like a nice clean, tidy home and sometimes have a little mess but never filth.

I have seen rotting dish water sitting in sinks with mold, piles of dishes on counters, dirty, moldy, etc.

Oh the best was one family had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner and never cleared the table afterwards, for weeks.

[eeffoc_emmig]

I have been in ONE clean home since starting PDN. I can deal with clutter... filth is another thing. What I still cannot understand is respiratory patients whose families insist on having animals. Dog fur everywhere!