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! :)
Surprised that so many of you STILL couldn't hold back your insistence that OP MUST learn to deal with poop despite her very clear and decent expression of her strong desire to avoid it.
OP, infusion clinics are certainly an option but I feel like home health would get you more hands on with frequent and varied assessments. Someone mentioned radiology areas (like interventional radiology, cath lab, nuclear medicine, but definitely not endoscopy haha)... these are also great but they'd probably like you to get your ACLS. It's not a huge hurdle, just giving you a heads up. A few people mentioned informatics but my understanding is that you're not getting anywhere in that without an advanced degree and that's not going to inform your future NP practice anyway.
Again to address the non-believers, there are PLENTY of direct care nursing careers that should reasonably expect to not encounter poop. I began listing them but erased it because most I believed wouldn't actually help OP with her intent to get the broad and in-depth knowledge she's looking for.
Many cath labs require ICU experience first, or at least some telemetry. No escaping poop there.
Well, the thing of it is that youi're looking for two opposite things: A job which will provide a lot of clinical experience but sans stool. That's pretty tough to come by. Sure, being in the OR or PACU might limit you're exposure but you'd be missing out on one of your stated goals.
Were I to share your ambition, I'd get a job in a large, urban ER, especially at a teaching hospital. In the ED, you see everything...
e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g
And at a teaching hospital, the attendings and residents are generally pretty happy to teach.
The code browns aren't (usually) a several-per-shift phenomenon but they do happen.
With an end-game in mind, I'd suck it up and do what needs doing in order to achieve your goals. I would never let something like a 'poop-a-phobia' stand between me and my ambitions. I'd gack and gag through each one, just knowing that I was one code brown closer to my goal.
I would like to know have any cna's had any success with as private duty nurse aides. If so how did you get started and what salary can one expect. I am interested in this occupation because i find that the ratio in nursing homes are not always compatable to state expectations.
I disagree with the suggestion that Peds is a good area for someone who doesn't want to deal with poop. Total care kids tend to never leave pediatrics (have taken care of adults older than me in a pediatric hospital) and, when you get them, you're not only cleaning poop but you're dealing with a whole big mess of poop, period blood and pubic hair. Not to mention many of these patients have chronic constipation so you spend a lot of time TRYING to get them to poop and then when they finally do, it's an explosion. Baby poop may be benign and there may be parents at the bedside who will change them... but then again, there may not be.
Of course I didnt like cleaning poop on med/surg tele floor either, I was disgusted with C.diff , gagged a few times. I made sure not to breath deeply while cleaning. In my case , I always felt dirty after going into isolation rooms, especially C.diff. That's what surprised me the most when I began working in med/surg, 1/3 of the unit on isolation. Then, I worked gynecology/postpartum floor and was relieved to not have to deal isolations or poop. The only cleaning I did was peri care, but I could handle that.
My last clinical during nursing school was on a floor like someone had mentioned before, it was a telemetry floor with post-cath , post pacemakers, most patients were well enough to go to a bedside commode or with assistance to bathroom. However it seems that these floors only exist in large hospitals. Bottom line , do what makes you happy!
Poop is not my favorite. Infected sputum gags me every time. Slimly and smelly. My side job is on a resp unit. Go figure. A dab of Vicks to the nose? No job is perfect and has ups and downs. L&D? Most are able to use bedpan in earlier stages. Come push goes to shove the rest lands in a basin. Course it has been almost 30 years since I worked that area. Things change I still remember doing a S&A instead of fingersticks. Hate poop that much? Teaching? Good thing about nursing is so many different areas.
Not to be rude, but how on Earth did you get through clinicals? If you didn't like the "dirty" part of nursing, then why did you bother to, I don't know, become a nurse?
Feces, blood, vomit, spit...it is all apart of the job. You take the good with the bad, and if you can't tolerate the bad, find another profession.
I have days when I just want to cry because i feel up to my ears in poop but unfortunately that's just the way nursing goes. Just wear an isolation gown, gloves, and a mask and try not to think about it.
usually if I can bring in a co-worker to help me with my incontinent patients and I'll help her with hers it goes faster and we can squeeze a few laughs in. makes it much more bearable.
Not to be rude, but how on Earth did you get through clinicals? If you didn't like the "dirty" part of nursing, then why did you bother to, I don't know, become a nurse?
Feces, blood, vomit, spit...it is all apart of the job. You take the good with the bad, and if you can't tolerate the bad, find another profession.
My previous career, law enforcement, wasn't completely devoid of bodily fluids so I was well aware of my issues regarding smell/feces going into the nursing profession.
Despite my nose troubles I'm really good at my job. I got through clinicals just fine. There are so many differents job opportunities in the nursing professions, not every single nurse will be cut out for every single specialty. I think the key is to know your own strengths and weaknesses and choose your area of practice accordingly.
I don't see why I, OP or anyone else should have to find another profession.
go to NP school if that is your career goal. You will learn more about medicine in NP school. Do a residency when you graduate if you want more clinical training, these are gaining in popularity. That makes far more sense than returning to a job you despise.
Horseshoe, BSN, RN
5,879 Posts
Many cath labs require ICU experience first, or at least some telemetry. No escaping poop there.