Areas of Nursing

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Hey there, I was wondering if anyone could tell me which areas of nursing require little to none "cleaning" ie. bodily fluids etc. I know of public health, any others?

I will appreciate it!

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Um. You can't get to work in those areas without first doing the dirty work. It's part and parcel of nursing education. Sick people make messes. Even public health nurses are required to clean up after other people on occasion. About the only groups I can think of that are exempt are research nurses and nursing administrators.

Specializes in Cardiology.

Not to mention (if you aren't already an RN) the years of clinicals you'll need to do in school where you pretty much will see some form of "cleaning" every shift.

Thank you for your replies!

I was telling my friend the same thing (Asking on her behalf).

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Oh one of those " I wanna be a nurse but not actually touch a patient" people?

She loves to help people (I know her very well), she just feels queezy around those situations. Might be just a beginning feeling, that will take time to get used to. I apoligize if the question came out in a negative way.

Thanks again for the replies!

Sounds like she's meant to be a Social Worker or PT, OT

I'll admit I gaged my first ever clinical day. But not since! Okay, maybe once...

Hey Fiona, she has always wanted to be a nurse, but I will tell her your suggestions!

Daisy, thank you for being honest! haha I shall pass that along as well :)

She needs to re-evaluate her dream.

People always say there are many jobs in nursing that don't involve the "gross stuff". The reality is you have to make it through nursing school and your attitude towards providing care is evaluated. Patients can sense who is just going through the motions.

Then there are the "you go girl" posters who list tons of jobs that don't involve direct patient care. Yes, those jobs exist but not everywhere. Hospitals are unionized and seniority plays a big part in who gets what job. Then there the need to accomodate injured nurses who can't work the floor and guess where those nurses go?

Reality checks suck. If she wants to invest two or four years of her life to become a nurse, she has to be able to face the nasty bits. There is no shame or disgrace in admitting you rethought your plans. Looking back, I wanted to be a nurse right out of Grade 12. My Mum talked me out of it and I came to it late in life when it was time to retrain after raising my family. Know what? My Mum was right, I couldn't have done it in my early 20s but the life experience I gained by my 40s got me through it.

Dreams change, I wanted to be a stewardess, a ballerina, a nurse, a librarian, and a teacher. I've done 3 out of 4.

I've accepted I'll never get my dream job in nursing because I'll never have enough seniority and I pray that I don't get injured to get it.

Specializes in General Internal Medicine, ICU.

As others have said, yes, there are jobs in nursing where there is no contact with bodily fluids...but to get to those jobs, you must pay your dues by starting out in bedside nursing. Any type of bedside nursing will have bodily fluids involve; different specialties may have more of one type of bodily fluids than another (If your work in GI, there will be more bodily fluids related to GI)...but you can't get away from it. Everything from pediatrics to the elderly. If your friend likes to help other people, there are other options in healthcare that doesn't deal with bodily fluids--OT, PT, SW, SLP, Pharmacist, for example. And if your friend really wants to be a nurse...she'll have to either get over the bodily fluids thing. Maybe she can try working as a NA first and see what it's like?

Hey there, I was wondering if anyone could tell me which areas of nursing require little to none "cleaning" ie. bodily fluids etc. I know of public health, any others?

I will appreciate it!

Without trying to sound condescending this is actually kind of funny as it takes me back to my first semester of Nursing School...

I, along with my 47 other class mates chose to enter the RPN program. Most of us were aware that even as RPN's, students or Graduates, we would be "cleaning" as you put it.... Or at the very least bare witness to bodily fluids in our day to day practice... But as I said above that foresight only rang true for "most of us"...

Okay.. Now ill cut to the chase but let me set the scene first

Semester 1... Geriatric rotation at a long term care facility... Day 2 Peri care and digital dis impaction...

My peer... Walked out of the room.. Clearly distraught.. Wasn't what she signed up for... She wasn't there to "clean **** and ****"... She signed up to be a Psych Nurse cause "they don't do that... That's what care aides and LPN's do"

Outcome...

Two days later... She worked through he disgust and since grad works in a Long Term Care facility where she deals with all the things she said she wouldn't do...

Why?

She recognized that those things, the cleaning.. a part of her job she could do without... Just as we all could.. Brought comfort to her patients. She learned that it was a part of "CARING" Sister Roaches 5 C's comes to mind. Providing comfort, dignity, compassion...

I guess what I'm saying in my VERY long winded fashion is, before you knock it... Try it.. You may find out your biggest dislikes become some of your favorite :)

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