cherryames2008

That's a pretty bad poop story. In nursing school, I had to help turn a 600 lb patient while the doctor digitally removed stool. The pt's son was wondering why their home health care CNA (who worked alone) didn't use the same measures to get poop out that we were doing at the hospital, like suppositories, enemas, and digital removal. The doctor looked up and made some comment, like, "it takes at least 3 people to move her, that's why." What an afternoon! Fortunately, the patient felt much better afterwards.

Ronnie, I have changed so many diapers I don't even know if I could give you an estimate. If I have kids, I'm totally hiring a nanny because between babysitting and working peds, I have changed enough diapers for one lifetime. Actually, let's see: if I have at least one patient per week who needs a diaper change for an 8 hour shift, no parents or CNAs around to help (believe it or not, it happens more than you think), and I change them at least every 2 hours (provided that they don't have some crazy diarrhea, DI or are on diuretics), then that's 4 diapers. But, I work 3-12 hour shifts per week, so it's usually more. And even if I don't change them, I still have to open them up and look at the contents, then weigh them. And if it's the hem/onc floor, then I have to dip the urine and check stool for occult blood. But when you get to play with kids and rock babies to sleep, you forget about all of those dirty messes.

Background: I have been a nurse for slightly over a year. I am on a float team and sometimes have to switch floors during my shift. For that reason, sometimes the first few hours of my night shift are busy, since I may get moved. Three days ago, I made a series of mistakes. I'm not going to go on about the details, because I know many reading it would think "what the heck is wrong with her?!" I know that if I read it, I would think the same thing. I was on one very busy floor and had to be moved to the ICU (also very busy). It was my third 12-hour night shift in a row. My mistakes involved not going with my nursing judgment, sterile technique, and rushing through a procedure. So far, think the patient is okay (my first concern), but I am so embarrassed because a CNA and newer nurse were in the room to witness the debacle. I haven't been able to sleep, eat, concentrate, or anything for the past 3 days. I am worried about the patient, my job, my license, my reputation, etc. I feel horrible. So, moral of the story: 1.) NEVER GO AGAINST YOUR NURSING JUDGMENT. 2.) If you have a question, ask or look up the protocol. Have someone help you. 3.) Don't rush. I should have passed on the task to the next nurse and got my butt to the ICU, but I hate passing off work (because I hate it when someone does it to me). Wouldn't you know that I got to the ICU and got 2 patients who were recent admissions with NO paperwork done. Talk about passing off work. 4.) Don't try to have superhuman powers. We are all human and make mistakes.

Diversity only strengthens us as a profession. Think of how great and different your experience is and how that will be an asset to your profession. Of course, there are some people who will point and whisper (not really, but let's face it, there are crabby people everywhere). Just smile, do your best, and be yourself.

We do the live, face-to-face reports. My orientation was 5 months and I don't think I did my own complete report for at least the first two months. My preceptor was way to nice and I was a nervous wreck. Even now, a year later, I still feel like half of my reports go well and half are not as great. It's hard in the first year of nursing. If you get a crappy report or super complicated patient (or both), then you feel like you have to catch up throughout the shift with figuring out what's wrong with the patient and what you're supposed to do.

Two words for you: Student Loans. Take them. Your new job after nursing school may give you a sign on bonus (put it towards the loans) and my have some kind of loan repayment program. Just ask yourself this: when you're making more money as a nurse, are you going to help him out when he decides to go to (or go back to) school? Didn't think so.

Nobody likes poop. It smells and it comes from people's butts. But, it's a part of life. If you really hate it that much, there are many types of nurses and maybe you'll just be one that has a job that doesn't involve physical contact with patient's poop. But to reach that goal, you'll have to make it through nursing school first, which is bound to involve some poop. I had a nursing teacher that said everyone has that one thing that totally grosses them out. For her, it was emesis. For another teacher, it was sputum. So I thought, for me, it's going to be poop (I've babysat since I was 13--18 years--and have gagged through many diaper changes). But guess what? Poop isn't so bad (well, it is, but here's my warm/fuzzy nursing philosphy on it). If you don't like poop, imagine how your patient feels sitting in it. They are probably embarrassed and/or uncomfortable. So, being a good nurse who wants their patient to be comfortable and also wants to avoid skin breakdown, you'll change it (and fast at that!). You'll be so wrapped up in how to clean it up quickly and without making a bigger mess, that you probably won't be so bothered by it. At least that's how it worked for me. I had a patient in nursing school with super smelly C.diff poop, but also had the biggest sacral pressure ulcer in the world. So naturally, during dressing changes, there was poop (and lots of it). But I was so caught up in the dressing change, keeping the wound clean, and being fast/efficient that the poop never bothered me. I still gag every now and again, but only after I've left the bedside to flush it, when the patient/family members can't see me.

I'm a first year nurse (almost at that one year mark--one more month to go). I work on the float team, so I go to all of the floors, except ED and ICUs. Last night, I thought everything was going well. And it was. Except that I did an enema wrong. Probably one of the easiest things you can do and I managed to do it wrong. Here's what happened: the equipment to do the enema was in the bathroom and was the same equipment that we use for rectal irrigations (big red rubber catheter, bulb syringe, bottle of sterile saline, small basin to collect what comes out). The parents were concerned, because some nurses had infused the saline and left it there (which is what happens with an enema) and some nurses had done more of a rectal-irrigation-type procedure, where you put in a little, let it come out, put in some more, let it come out...until you're done. They prefered the latter method. So that's how I did it. It's a stupid mistake, but what's stupider is that I charted it as a rectal irrigation. And when I was giving report and I told the next nurse, she looked at me horrified and like I was an idiot. The real kicker is that I had to give an enema to another patient (and did it right). Needless to say, it ended up being a crappy night, both literally and figuratively. I hate feeling like I an idiot.