Poop Free Nursing Jobs in the Hospital?

[IcySageNurse]

Okay, before anyone starts the insane spamming, please READ THE POST. This is not meant to demean or attack any nurses. I am an RN and I love nursing - and I respect everything that nurses do. I know that some people are also better at some things than others. This is meant to be a very respectful post simply asking for some help and advice, so please do not start attacking and saying that I don't "understand" what nursing is. Thank you in advance! :)

Here's the issue: I started a job right out of nursing school with a hospital. I stayed for a few months, but I literally used to want to cry every day that I went. I wasn't overwhelmed by the responsibility or the new things I needed to learn (I actually enjoyed that)...it was the "cleaning" part of our job description. I know it's part of nursing, and I certainly cleaned my patients quickly and extremely well, but not without gagging. I can't help it. I truly find it very disgusting cleaning someones watery feces off of their back, butt, and bed. Everytime I smelled that horrible smell I became sick to my stomach knowing what I was about to have to do. It controlled my life and I was so unhappy I quit.

Fast forward: I work in a primary care office. I love it! No poop, normal hours, etc. I also have developed a passion for family practice, and with so many physicians choosing to specialize instead of work in FP, I see how important NPs will be as more and more Americans are insured under current laws. I want to help fill that void. I could easily go to NP school now, but I feel NPs were developed to expand on their current clinical experience. While I love my job, I honestly don't learn much about medicine, it's mainly vitals and scheduling, etc. I feel to truly become a competent NP and provide high quality care to my patients, I need to work in a hospital environment for a few years so that I can manage my own patients and learn about their conditions and treatments. This of course is an issue considering my previous experience with this...so what can I do??

Any advice? I really need some help here, not 3-4 pages of insults about how I should just learn to love cleaning up poop. I will never love it, and I don't have to love it to be a good nurse. I do respect all of you that do, however, and I'm sure your patients do too! :)

[AZ_LPN_8_26_13]

I am a newly graduated LPN but have been an aide for the past three and a half years. A lot of the "poop jobs" end up falling to the aides although I've seen nurses do it. If you have good aides to help you it isn't so bad. Two people working on an incontinent patient who cannot move on their own can cut the time you have to spend in the room in half. My advice is to get to know your CNAs and NAs well and treat them nice (lots of nurses don't). It will help cut down on the "poop cleanup time". On those occasions when you absolutely have to go into a room either by yourself or with an aide do what I do - spray the room with lots of M9 odor killer (we use it all the time at the hospital where I work) and then while you are working don't breath through your nose but mouth breathe the whole time. Try to work fast but be thorough at the same time. Don't forget to spray your scrubs afterward too so you aren't walking around smelling like poop or going home afterward smelling like it. I hope this helped you a bit. I will be working as a nurse soon and will continue to do these things myself...

[WondeRNurse]

Maybe you should consider a different vocation. People have poop. They give stool specimens, at the very least, when at a doctor's office. And who is it that takes that poo and puts it on a stick, or digs it out with a stick, and puts drops on it, or spreads it on a card for labs? Usually, the nurse. I most certainly would not want to go to ANY facility where the NP that shows up to be my medical care experience has less experience, and even less heart than experience, than the average two year RN. Believe me, going through school will get a degree, but it will bring you nowhere close to having good nursing judgment. Why are you in nursing? This makes as much sense as having a pilot who's afraid of heights. Yeah- fly THAT plane, why don't ya?!

[OCNRN63, RN]

I got through nursing school because I always asked a classmate to help me with the messes if I helped him/her in exchange - doing two clean ups with help was easier than one alone. Often my classmate could see my discomfort and would do most of the cleaning while I would talk to the patient, gather supplies, hold trashcan open, etc. I also always requested clinical sites where I assumed I would see the least poop (ambulatory vs acute for example).

I cannot and will not clean up poop - it's not just the smell, but the sight, the feel, EVERYTHING.

It seems all the poop free jobs require poop experience...can't get PACU without ICU, etc. If I can't find a PACU or similar job I suppose I will just go to NP school directly and do a residency if it isn't enough.

I hope you don't take this suggestion the wrong way, because it's meant purely in the spirit of meaning to help. The way you describe your aversion seems to go beyond what many people feel; it almost sounds like a phobia. If it was that bad that you were getting your fellow classmates to help you and choosing clinical experiences where you thought you wouldn't be exposed to feces...that's a lot, you must admit.

So if you find that your aversion to feces is getting in the way of your professional goals, perhaps you should think about some short-term counseling, not so that you get to love poo, but so that you don't let that derail what you want to do. If it sounds stupid to go for counseling for that, well, I worked in psych for four years, so you'd be surprised what people want to talk about in therapy.

Just don't let it limit you.

[FredaRN]

I've worked on Med-Surg, CCU, ICU, ER, OB/Gyn, Home Care, Palliative. All had poop. One job that didn't was Interventional Radiology, but you won't get much medical learning there. I don't think you have the experience to get that sort of job either.

My worst poop experience was in ER, elderly woman had filled her hands with it and rubbed it all over the side rails and tried to get me too. I don't think you would be able to get a nursing job that will provide you with clinical experience that will meet your need to get into Nurse Practitioner Program. I'm pretty sure doctor's office nurse experience wouldn't be enough. Probably why you are looking for an answer here.

Most experience that has value comes with difficult experiences. Most nurses find some aspect of caring for sick people difficult to cope with. What makes a great nurse is moving past our personal feelings and taking care of the person.

[ANNA HALL]

AS an NP, you won't have to deal with poop. You can tell staff nurse about that. I have been a nurse for 34 years. I worked in the OR and didn't have much poop but nasty wound infections are pretty bad as well. I currently work as a nurse case manager for a managed care company and I work at home so there are other jobs out there that don't involve feces. Also, I did occupational medicine as well and that was pretty interesting.

[chrisrn24]

I hope you don't take this suggestion the wrong way, because it's meant purely in the spirit of meaning to help. The way you describe your aversion seems to go beyond what many people feel; it almost sounds like a phobia. If it was that bad that you were getting your fellow classmates to help you and choosing clinical experiences where you thought you wouldn't be exposed to feces...that's a lot, you must admit.

So if you find that your aversion to feces is getting in the way of your professional goals, perhaps you should think about some short-term counseling, not so that you get to love poo, but so that you don't let that derail what you want to do. If it sounds stupid to go for counseling for that, well, I worked in psych for four years, so you'd be surprised what people want to talk about in therapy.

Just don't let it limit you.

I agree. This is a lot more than "poop is gross."

[okilokiRN]

If you end up working on a floor where poop is common, you may get used to it after a while. When I started clinicals I had the same aversion to mucus as you have to poop... but then I landed a job in ICU as a CNA and got over it pretty fast. The first few months were sketchy, but over time, keep telling yourself it's not so bad... I am learning from this experience. If you look at it without seeing the poop it's not so bad. You're not cleaning poop - you're cleaning a person.

[MoopleRN]

... I cannot and will not clean up poop - it's not just the smell, but the sight, the feel, EVERYTHING...

It's good to ask for help with a task you have trouble with r/t inexperience or a physical aversion. You have a poop thang, I have a trach thang... but I do it, gagging all the way when I have to. Your statement that you "cannot and will not clean up poop" strikes a chord with me. It's very difficult for me, personally, as a nurse to flat out declare I "will not" do something to provide care to my patients. I may not like it, I may gag/vomit/ask for help, I may have to turn my head and suffer dry heaves etc.... but I have NEVER declared I "will not" provide care.

Let's not forget we're talking about POOP here. There is no moral/ethical issue involved that would prevent providing care. Am I judging you on this particular point?

Yes, I am. Feel free to roll your eyes at me and get on with your career/education. May you never have diarrhea or involuntary BMs and have a nurse that mirrors your refusal if you do.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

I am curious. Can you get into NP school without any acute care experience or is it required?

[vintage_RN, BSN, RN]

It's good to ask for help with a task you have trouble with r/t inexperience or a physical aversion. You have a poop thang, I have a trach thang... but I do it, gagging all the way when I have to. Your statement that you "cannot and will not clean up poop" strikes a chord with me. It's very difficult for me, personally, as a nurse to flat out declare I "will not" do something to provide care to my patients. I may not like it, I may gag/vomit/ask for help, I may have to turn my head and suffer dry heaves etc.... but I have NEVER declared I "will not" provide care.

Let's not forget we're talking about POOP here. There is no moral/ethical issue involved that would prevent providing care. Am I judging you on this particular point?

Yes, I am. Feel free to roll your eyes at me and get on with your career/education. May you never have diarrhea or involuntary BMs and have a nurse that mirrors your refusal if you do.

Gotta agree 100% with this post. No matter how much I hated something, I would never refuse to provide care for my patients. I don't enjoy cleaning up poop either, but I'm sure my patient would also rather not have me clean it even more. I wouldn't want an NP looking after me who had that attitude.

[IcySageNurse]

It's good to ask for help with a task you have trouble with r/t inexperience or a physical aversion. You have a poop thang, I have a trach thang... but I do it, gagging all the way when I have to. Your statement that you "cannot and will not clean up poop" strikes a chord with me. It's very difficult for me, personally, as a nurse to flat out declare I "will not" do something to provide care to my patients. I may not like it, I may gag/vomit/ask for help, I may have to turn my head and suffer dry heaves etc.... but I have NEVER declared I "will not" provide care.

Let's not forget we're talking about POOP here. There is no moral/ethical issue involved that would prevent providing care. Am I judging you on this particular point?

Yes, I am. Feel free to roll your eyes at me and get on with your career/education. May you never have diarrhea or involuntary BMs and have a nurse that mirrors your refusal if you do.

Let me say this: you also struck a chord with me. You see - this is exactly the kind of post that really irritates me. Did I ever state anywhere that I will not provide care? If you bothered to read my posts on here, you would see that I said that I would never not provide care to my patient and would do whatever I needed (grab a partner to help, find a CNA, do it myself if no one was around, etc). I, as a nurse, would never let someone sit around in their own feces. It's morally wrong. That is why I am on here trying to find "poop free" job advice - that way I can do my job and provide the best care possible without being unhappy in the process. So save your judgement, Moople, because you're way off base with that comment.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

There are lots of tasks in nursing that make me unhappy. That make make me gag. Because of said job, however, I needed to make some alterations in the way I handle stuff....vicks is good, a altoid is better, aversion therapy ideal.

Any case managment job will get you the least likely to encounter poop. A job in an MD's office as a practioner will more than likely be poop free. A master's in something other than an NP would also be a thought--ie: LICSW which could allow you to work on a unit, but in an alternate way. Day surgeries. And no one can assume that everyone one encounters as a nurse will be incontinent. But some will be, and you have to decide if you can find a way to cope.

Sometimes, we all encounter things that could make us ill. (see former thread, mucus makes me gag--for real--and I have altoids and a lot of mind over matter.)

It takes a great deal of courage to state that you have such an aversion that you just don't want to deal anymore. I get that. However, what your goal currently is it may not be possible. And like anything, it does take getting used to. Because you are morally and ethically objected to someone "sitting in poop", then sometimes you gotta do what is best for your patient. And I am sure you do. However, to be an effective bedside practioner/nurse you have to expect the unexpected. And you may have to develop some sort of coping skills. Otherwise, I would think long and hard about if your aversions are more important to your practice than dealing, however that may be.

I am being honest. And mindful. And depending on what patient population your end goal of practicing will be, the smell of poop will be the farthest thing from your mind, as complexities of the human condition can have far more worse smells, consistencies, and feels.