what percentage of your job involves poop?

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Also what percentage of your job do you have to use critical thinking skills; assessing a patient, acting fast, anything other than routine, nothing to learn type of situations (that you might or might not enjoy as well)

Just wondering. Just a pre-nursing student that wants to change change careers, but once in a while questions myself.

Thanks!

Specializes in cardiology/oncology/MICU.

I am not shocked that a person not yet in nursing would have the hugh fear of POOP!!! When I worked as a CNA, which I highly recommend to anyonw interested in nursing, I did 2.5 years in LTC. There was a lot of personal care given to patients (residents) that were total care. If we were diligent and toileted on time, there was usually not as many problems with wiping butts. Now in critical care, there is not that much. What I will say is this: If your decision to be a nurse could be changed by the question you asked, you should probably reconsider. The simple things about nursing are what make it great. Yes I love codes and emergent situations and that is why I am in critical care now, but there is something wonderful about helping a sick person feel better just by allowing them the chance to bath and shave or whatever it is they need. The things that I thought would really bother me, like poo, really do not. Nurses get used to some really nasty things, the least of which is probably feces.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Better than the Vicks in my opinion is the migraine stick that you can get from stores like Sprouts. It is like a small roll on applicator that you can keep in your pocket and has peppermint and lavender oil. It is basically all you can smell and really helps with nausea as well. I've also found that putting some in my N-95 mask helps me from feeling too claustrophobic.

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to OP -

I totally agree with Five&Two Will Do...Please, please, please - seriously consider taking a nurse assistant course BEFORE you decide to dedicate all the time and long hours it will take you to become a nurse. You'll learn so much more about what it takes to care for your patients than you will in posting questions like this on AN.

Not that I'm telling you not to post, but the job that a nurse assistant does is most definitely part of what most nurses do on a daily/hourly basis. It will give you a much clearer view of a small portion of what nurses do.

I've learned that a good nurse assistant can make your shift - and a poor one can make your shifts torture... Treasure the good ones!

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I'm in LTC its full of it. Both literally and figuratively.

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After awhile, you'll be delighted if poop is the only sh*t in your day...

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

When I work in the NICU, about 50% :clown:

lol

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Better than the Vicks in my opinion is the migraine stick that you can get from stores like Sprouts. It is like a small roll on applicator that you can keep in your pocket and has peppermint and lavender oil. It is basically all you can smell and really helps with nausea as well. I've also found that putting some in my N-95 mask helps me from feeling too claustrophobic.

Hmmm, never heard of that. I'll have to stop by Whole Foods and see if they have that. Worth a try! I second the GI bleed being in your skin in your hair, you feel that you can't get rid of it even if none of it ever got on you.

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Specializes in ER/Trauma.

OP:: like others have mentioned, it depends. It's a little un predicatable in the ED. 20% sounds about right - but beware! Sometimes, all it takes is one patient [it's usually my drug overdose patients] and you'll come away from that shift feeling like all you ever did for 12 straight hours was clean **** and poop and vomit over and over and over and over .....

Cleaning poop is like learning to drive stick shift. Soon enough, you're doing it without even thinking about it :D

But tell you what? Puke and pee don't bother me. Nor does poop - heck, not even melena or C-Diff.

Know what I have a real hard time dealing with?

6 month old (or greater!) unwashed cooch!

Gawd! Bad enough you gotta clean it... then you gotta get personal to throw that foley in... :uhoh3:

And naturally, most of these pts. are demented LOLs with altered anatomy and the strength and resistance requiring the services of a football team to hold 'em down!

Are we talking actual poop or poop as a euphemism for dealing with doctors, families, and piles of paperwork? :rotfl:
Beat me to it...

You eventually don't care about it at all anymore.
Yep. I don't even think about it any more - unless it's abnormal of course (like melena or cDiffy etc.)

cheers,

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Specializes in NICU.

~5%. My poop is very small :) and when it's from breastmilk, it doesn't even hardly smell!

I also have many patients who I am encouraging to poop even though they won't...post bowel surgery and re-anastomosis...

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in my present nursing job, no poop. in my secondary positions as pet owner and grandmother, some. not too bad, really, is it?

in all things i do, including all my past and my present nursing job, 100% of the time using critical thinking and knowledge (some hard-earned).

come to think of it, even excreta has a lot to tell you in terms of critical thinking. the distinctive odor of clostridium diffficile (the cdiff you see mentioned) or melena (blood in the gut) gives you a head-start on your plan of care and sugests avenues for further investigation. constipation/diarrhea can prompt a discussion of eating habits, allergy, family history of gut problems, medication use/overuse, and all sorts of things related to lifestyle changes a patient may need to consider integrating into his life.

i know that for non-nurses, the very first thing they think about when the word "nursing" comes up is "bedpans." those crappy tv shows that diss nurses evry chance they get (by omission or comission) always manage to get a s*** joke in there. i dont know why that is, but honestly, it's such a minor part of the day and even when i was a fulltime bedside nurse i didn't give it a lot of thought.

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Specializes in Step-down, cardiac.
Just a pre-nursing student that wants to change change careers, but once in a while questions myself.

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to know this--better to ask early then to find out later that it's not for you! I'm a second-career nursing student, and I just finished the first year of a two-year program. Honestly, after about two months of clinicals, you won't even notice poop anymore. That is such an easy, basic thing that it's a wonderful change from the stress of assessing your patient's breathing, heart sounds, skin color, and muscle strength and trying to figure out whether any of that stuff means they're having an allergic reaction to a medication you just gave them! :)

Honestly, if you are genuinely interested in nursing and find the subject interesting, you'll probably have no problem dealing with poop, puke, pee, and any of the many other things that most people would find gross. You'll be having long, hysterically funny debates about whose patient had the most infected wound over lunch with the other nursing students before you know it!

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Wow, this thread was immensely helpful. I have been researching CNA courses, and have to take the plunge. The thing holding me back is I am working 50+ hours per week with 2 five year olds at home. I can't do evening courses as I get out of work too late and the weekend would mean full days on the weekend for 6 weeks. I'll have to bite the bullet and do this, then I'll have to figure out how to work part time as a CNA with my current job. Trying to save as much money as possible before i plunge into full time nursing school.

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