"Ew, I don't want to wipe butts all day"

Nursing Students Technicians

Published

So just a little funny scenario. I'm currently in nursing school. 2nd semester in an RN program. 3 weeks ago, I had a fellow student talk about how she wants to get a new job while in school. I had suggested becoming a PCT. I explained how it builds confidence in caring for others and building basic skills you need as a nurse. I even stated how I've learned so much.

You know what her response was? " I don't want to wipe BUTTS all day!" I listed out everything I did. "But all's you do is wipe butts."

Fast forward to last week. My fellow classmate and friend (who is also a PCT) was able to do an ECG without any problems. Aforementioned classmate asked, "Where did you learn how to do that!?" My friend responds with, "PCTs don't JUST wipe butts!"

Has anyone else had similar experiences in clinical? I find it frustrating when students believe they never have to give a bed bath or clean up after a bowel prep disaster once they have RN in their title. I also find it funny when these same darn students ask for help on simple things like changing linens and bathing after insulting my current job.

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I am not a nursing student yet , but I find it funny that, everyone's greatest fear is wiping butts and bathing people while mine is having to lift people all by myself . :laugh:

I've actually seen , PCTs take vital signs , do an EKG ( I was actually taught by that PCT how to do EKG on my clinical ) . Yes ,people do believe that when they become an RN they will never have to bath people or wipe their butts again, which is not true, that's why nursing school still teaches future nurses these skills . I'm surprised they don't even know how to make the beds ;I work in home health and I still remember how to do it that I can even do it in my sleep .

By the way I love your friend's come back .

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I am not a nursing student yet , but I find it funny that, everyone's greatest fear is wiping butts and bathing people while mine is having to lift people all by myself . :laugh:

I've actually seen , PCTs take vital signs , do an EKG ( I was actually taught by that PCT how to do EKG on my clinical ) . Yes ,people do believe that when they become an RN they will never have to bath people or wipe their butts again, which is not true, that's why nursing school still teaches future nurses these skills . I'm surprised they don't even know how to make the beds ;I work in home health and I still remember how to do it that I can even do it in my sleep .

By the way I love your friend's come back .

Yeah it was pretty halarious! Theres nurses on the floor I'm a PCT on that will walk to the other side of the floor just to tell me that theres a patient who needs to use the bathroom..... when they just CAME FROM THAT ROOM! Then they get irritated when I'm in the middle of toileting someone else and I tell them I cant help with that at this moment! When I graduate with my RN I will remember to never treat my aides (and patient) this way!

1 Votes
Yeah it was pretty halarious! Theres nurses on the floor I'm a PCT on that will walk to the other side of the floor just to tell me that theres a patient who needs to use the bathroom..... when they just CAME FROM THAT ROOM! Then they get irritated when I'm in the middle of toileting someone else and I tell them I cant help with that at this moment! When I graduate with my RN I will remember to never treat my aides (and patient) this way!

Me too

0 Votes
Specializes in Telemetry, IMCU.
Yeah it was pretty halarious! Theres nurses on the floor I'm a PCT on that will walk to the other side of the floor just to tell me that theres a patient who needs to use the bathroom..... when they just CAME FROM THAT ROOM! Then they get irritated when I'm in the middle of toileting someone else and I tell them I cant help with that at this moment! When I graduate with my RN I will remember to never treat my aides (and patient) this way!

PCTs or PCAs need to always remember that while we RNs CAN clean up after a patient and make beds, it is not our ONLY duty. That's why we delegate. When I ask you to help a patient to the restroom it's because I have 4-5 other patients. 3 are pressing the call light for their meds, 1 is vomiting all over the floor, all of them have their meds due, the pyxis is missing a patient's vanco which we can't give anyway because a peak and trough wasn't done on time. So now, I have to do all of this, plus draw a vanco level, and hope to God I can get 2 minutes to chart something. We're supposed to be a team. Had a PCA give me a HUGE attitude when I asked her to help move a patient to the chair while I was swamped. "Can't you do THAT!?" My response: "Yes, I CAN, however you CANNOT do MY job, so I cannot delegate MY responsibilities to you and you are DEFINITELY not going to ADD to my overflowing list. So do your job or I will speak to the NM." Don't roll your eyes to the nurse who's trying not to drown and give attitude because she asked you to help a patient to the restroom. Come on now.

1 Votes
PCTs or PCAs need to always remember that while we RNs CAN clean up after a patient and make beds, it is not our ONLY duty. That's why we delegate. When I ask you to help a patient to the restroom it's because I have 4-5 other patients. 3 are pressing the call light for their meds, 1 is vomiting all over the floor, all of them have their meds due, the pyxis is missing a patient's vanco which we can't give anyway because a peak and trough wasn't done on time. So now, I have to do all of this, plus draw a vanco level, and hope to God I can get 2 minutes to chart something. We're supposed to be a team. Had a PCA give me a HUGE attitude when I asked her to help move a patient to the chair while I was swamped. "Can't you do THAT!?" My response: "Yes, I CAN, however you CANNOT do MY job, so I cannot delegate MY responsibilities to you and you are DEFINITELY not going to ADD to my overflowing list. So do your job or I will speak to the NM." Don't roll your eyes to the nurse who's trying not to drown and give attitude because she asked you to help a patient to the restroom. Come on now.

Thank you.

As a CNA, I know that sometimes it's just not possible for a nurse to take care of ADLs. I give people the benefit of the doubt as I never know how their day is going - most won't say "Oh hey, stuff's hitting the fan right now" because they take it in their stride and just get on with things. What nurses can do though, as Butterfly said, is delegate.

Doesn't matter if a nurse just came out of a patient's room - toileting a pt etc can take anywhere from 5-20 minutes, depending on the severity of things (I say 20 as some pts can't be left alone). That's still time that a nurse may not have if there's more emergent stuff coming up.

Team work makes the dream work~

0 Votes
PCTs or PCAs need to always remember that while we RNs CAN clean up after a patient and make beds, it is not our ONLY duty. That's why we delegate. When I ask you to help a patient to the restroom it's because I have 4-5 other patients. 3 are pressing the call light for their meds, 1 is vomiting all over the floor, all of them have their meds due, the pyxis is missing a patient's vanco which we can't give anyway because a peak and trough wasn't done on time. So now, I have to do all of this, plus draw a vanco level, and hope to God I can get 2 minutes to chart something. We're supposed to be a team. Had a PCA give me a HUGE attitude when I asked her to help move a patient to the chair while I was swamped. "Can't you do THAT!?" My response: "Yes, I CAN, however you CANNOT do MY job, so I cannot delegate MY responsibilities to you and you are DEFINITELY not going to ADD to my overflowing list. So do your job or I will speak to the NM." Don't roll your eyes to the nurse who's trying not to drown and give attitude because she asked you to help a patient to the restroom. Come on now.

yes and as a PCT I tend to have 2 to 3 times as many patients. If a patient needs to use the bathroom right now, coming to the other end of the floor while I am with a fall risk patient on the toilet to tell me that I need to toilet a patient is a little ridiculous. If a nurse asks for help I am 100% happy to help out. However, when a nurse CONSISTENTLY gives me patients to put on the toilet when I clearly state, "I am with this patient now, I don't think I can at this moment" it's irritating and unrealistic as I am not the only one who has the capability to do this. The nurse may have A LOT of **** to do, however I easily have 10 to 15 (one night even 20!) patients to bathe, toilet, ambulate, etc myself.

Here's another example. I had a SEVERELY obese patient that took 3 to 4 people to boost. I was trying to collect 2 other people to boost and the patient's ASSIGNED NURSE walked by. I kindly ask if she would help me and the other floor PCT boost. It literally takes 30 seconds. I had a grown woman, professional nurse, throw A FIT in front of a patient and her family because I needed help taking care of HER ASSIGNED PATIENT. Literally, she took her anger out on me because she had "better things to do" than to boost this patient. IT took 30 seconds.

My problem is that there's way too many nurses and nursing students who stick their nose up to basic care. A PCT with 10 to 15 patients is NOT going to be able to toilet 3 people at once, especially if one is a fall risk. At the end of the day, it is the nurse's responsibility to ensure that the patient is well taken care of. If a patient needs to go to the bathroom or needs repositioning right that second, you need to stop being lazy and do it instead of spending 10 minutes hunting down an already swamped aide to do it.

Also, my other problem is that nursing students think that they will always have some sort of aide to do that job for them. Which is NOT true. If my floor is short an aide or PCT, the nurses get put to "aide only" status and help out with basic care. The sad part is, many of them who are delegating these tasks don't know how to do it themselves. Which is embarrassing and annoying. Many of the larger hospitals in my area are phasing out PCTs and aides. They're opting for smaller nurse to patient ratios, and the nurses are doing basic care along with meds, etc.

1 Votes
Thank you.

As a CNA, I know that sometimes it's just not possible for a nurse to take care of ADLs. I give people the benefit of the doubt as I never know how their day is going - most won't say "Oh hey, stuff's hitting the fan right now" because they take it in their stride and just get on with things. What nurses can do though, as Butterfly said, is delegate.

Doesn't matter if a nurse just came out of a patient's room - toileting a pt etc can take anywhere from 5-20 minutes, depending on the severity of things (I say 20 as some pts can't be left alone). That's still time that a nurse may not have if there's more emergent stuff coming up.

Team work makes the dream work~

And I agree. I am not annoyed with the delegation. What I am annoyed with this whole "teamwork" thing includes the nurses stepping up and wiping a butt once in awhile. I as a PCT can only be in one place at once. If I am toileting a fall risk at the other end of the unit, I kinda CANT toilet someone else. So, either the nurse needs to do it herself or find someone available to do it. Research has shown that when we delay taking care of patients the risk for falls increases immensely (or so my nursing instructor states). Not my hospital, but other hospitals have put more emphasis on nurses doing basic care along with PCTs, and even getting rid of UAPs altogether. The hospital I had clinical this semester for actually only has 2 PCTs for a unit of up to 20-25 patients (and is typically full all year round). In this hospital, the nurses were by far much more involved with their patients and thus had a lot less incidents and missed details in assessments.

1 Votes
Specializes in Telemetry, IMCU.
yes and as a PCT I tend to have 2 to 3 times as many patients. If a patient needs to use the bathroom right now, coming to the other end of the floor while I am with a fall risk patient on the toilet to tell me that I need to toilet a patient is a little ridiculous. If a nurse asks for help I am 100% happy to help out. However, when a nurse CONSISTENTLY gives me patients to put on the toilet when I clearly state, "I am with this patient now, I don't think I can at this moment" it's irritating and unrealistic as I am not the only one who has the capability to do this. The nurse may have A LOT of **** to do, however I easily have 10 to 15 (one night even 20!) patients to bathe, toilet, ambulate, etc myself.

Here's another example. I had a SEVERELY obese patient that took 3 to 4 people to boost. I was trying to collect 2 other people to boost and the patient's ASSIGNED NURSE walked by. I kindly ask if she would help me and the other floor PCT boost. It literally takes 30 seconds. I had a grown woman, professional nurse, throw A FIT in front of a patient and her family because I needed help taking care of HER ASSIGNED PATIENT. Literally, she took her anger out on me because she had "better things to do" than to boost this patient. IT took 30 seconds.

My problem is that there's way too many nurses and nursing students who stick their nose up to basic care. A PCT with 10 to 15 patients is NOT going to be able to toilet 3 people at once, especially if one is a fall risk. At the end of the day, it is the nurse's responsibility to ensure that the patient is well taken care of. If a patient needs to go to the bathroom or needs repositioning right that second, you need to stop being lazy and do it instead of spending 10 minutes hunting down an already swamped aide to do it.

Also, my other problem is that nursing students think that they will always have some sort of aide to do that job for them. Which is NOT true. If my floor is short an aide or PCT, the nurses get put to "aide only" status and help out with basic care. The sad part is, many of them who are delegating these tasks don't know how to do it themselves. Which is embarrassing and annoying. Many of the larger hospitals in my area are phasing out PCTs and aides. They're opting for smaller nurse to patient ratios, and the nurses are doing basic care along with meds, etc.

Stop being LAZY? Are you kidding me? Let's see how many nurses you just pissed off with that comment. We DO basic care as well, however getting annoyed and rolling your eyes over a nurse asking for your help is ridiculous. Lazy indeed! :mad:

0 Votes
And I agree. I am not annoyed with the delegation. What I am annoyed with this whole "teamwork" thing includes the nurses stepping up and wiping a butt once in awhile. I as a PCT can only be in one place at once. If I am toileting a fall risk at the other end of the unit, I kinda CANT toilet someone else. So, either the nurse needs to do it herself or find someone available to do it. Research has shown that when we delay taking care of patients the risk for falls increases immensely (or so my nursing instructor states). Not my hospital, but other hospitals have put more emphasis on nurses doing basic care along with PCTs, and even getting rid of UAPs altogether. The hospital I had clinical this semester for actually only has 2 PCTs for a unit of up to 20-25 patients (and is typically full all year round). In this hospital, the nurses were by far much more involved with their patients and thus had a lot less incidents and missed details in assessments.

Maybe you're super unlucky at your current place? I've only ever really had 2 nurses in my entire career that wouldn't do basic tasks and would go out of their way to make sure they never had to do ADLs, pts be damned. The rest (read: vast majority) have been super awesome, helped where they can, and haven't been afraid to ask me for help when they need it.

As per your original post - I feel like some new nurses will have a rude awakening when they realize what their full scope of practice is. I remember one new LPN I worked with who balked at the idea of having to help with such tasks and claimed that 'she wasn't hired for that'. Thankfully, a wonderful seasoned nurse gave her a firm reminder that she was indeed 'hired for that' and so much more ;).

If you're having trouble with a particular nurse, can you go up the chain of command and file a complaint?

I understand how crazy things can get sometimes, and how unrealistic workloads tend to be - I've juggled a 30pt load before after a bunch of callouts and that was NOT fun. It's a shame that some of your classmates and workmates believe that they won't need to do ADLs once they graduate - I think some folks need a gentle reminder that patient care really does mean 'caring for the patient' not 'doing what's most convenient for you.'

0 Votes
Stop being LAZY? Are you kidding me? Let's see how many nurses you just pissed off with that comment. We DO basic care as well, however getting annoyed and rolling your eyes over a nurse asking for your help is ridiculous. Lazy indeed! :mad:

Majority of nurses are not lazy. I even said that they get busy too. I have ALWAYS done my part to help them out as they have a lot on their plates. Even when they're not busy, I do my part and try not to bother them. However, there are nurses who do act that they are above the basic care and helping ME out when I'm swamped. You'd be lying if you said there isnt any of these type of nurses. Every hospitals has at least one or two.

Also, I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that I rolled my eyes ever? Because I havent. I keep my mouth shut and continue my job. The nurses on my shift enjoy having me as I do a lot of little things to help them out. If I'm the only PCT I cant do everything myself.

I dont think its unrealistic that as a UAP that I ask for help once in awhile too!

What IS lazy is spending 10 minutes to find a PCT in a room with other patients just to say "oh can you put this person on the toilet". THATS what I'm referring to. Not only is it lazy, but also risky as patients are more apt to get up on their own and fall. If I'm stuck with a patient whether if they're on the toilet, showering, or ambulating, I cant just drop what I'm doing. But nurses do it, then a patient who is normally continent wets themselves or tries to get up and go on their own. I'm not talking about one nurse, this is 3 or 4 from all different shifts I experience this with.

1 Votes
Maybe you're super unlucky at your current place? I've only ever really had 2 nurses in my entire career that wouldn't do basic tasks and would go out of their way to make sure they never had to do ADLs, pts be damned. The rest (read: vast majority) have been super awesome, helped where they can, and haven't been afraid to ask me for help when they need it.

As per your original post - I feel like some new nurses will have a rude awakening when they realize what their full scope of practice is. I remember one new LPN I worked with who balked at the idea of having to help with such tasks and claimed that 'she wasn't hired for that'. Thankfully, a wonderful seasoned nurse gave her a firm reminder that she was indeed 'hired for that' and so much more ;).

If you're having trouble with a particular nurse, can you go up the chain of command and file a complaint?

I understand how crazy things can get sometimes, and how unrealistic workloads tend to be - I've juggled a 30pt load before after a bunch of callouts and that was NOT fun. It's a shame that some of your classmates and workmates believe that they won't need to do ADLs once they graduate - I think some folks need a gentle reminder that patient care really does mean 'caring for the patient' not 'doing what's most convenient for you.'

I know its partially the atmosphere my hospital has set. I find that one particular shift of nurses are AWESOME and treat me very well. But the other shifts seem to like to bombard me with every single little task. We've had people leave over it.

I find that every hospital I've been to has at least one nurse like this on their units. Like in clinical the other day. A PCT was called in due to someone else's no call no show. Majority of the nurses were awesome and tried to help out. One nurse stood at her WOW and literally stated "it's their job, I'm not bathing my patients". Seriously? Theres ONE PCT for like 15 patients. While she was sitting and chatting up a storm with our instructor, the PCT was going nuts because patients were getting irritated for not being able to bathe first thing in the morning. When my patient was settled, I personally jumped in as well as a couple other classmates (all to which have been PCTs or CNAs before). This same nurse also barked at me because I need to "turn and position a patient" and "noone has been doing that" none of the students were even ASSIGNED.

In regards to my classmate who thinks shes above bathing..... shes not the only one! And yet I dont think they realize that when they become nurses they might not always have any sort of UAP in the hospital setting. They ARE getting phased out in the major hospitals in my area.

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