"I don't want to clean up dirt!"

[narcissistic]

I have a friend who's schooling to be a Physical Therapist. I randomly told him that maybe he should go for nursing since most of his classes pertain to the program. To my surprise, he replied, "Sorry but I don't want to clean up dirt." Which means that he thinks nursing's just all about cleaning the feces. As somebody who's doing his prerequisites for nursing, I was tremendously offended by how ignorant his comments were. He even continued, "Well I don't want to seem biased, and I know it's not what you want to hear, but it is the truth." It's clear to me now that not alot of people think of this job as being reputable. How would y'all reply to this offensive comment? I just wanted to smack his face because he obviously tried to degrade the nursing profession. He made it sound like cleaning after poop is the primary duty of a nurse.

[AdelaideChic]

Few months ago when i was still very new in the ICU, i had a little old lady who had been admitted with CAP and general respiratory failure.

We (the physio and I) soon also learnt that she had eruptive explosive diarrhorea.

We learnt this, as when we stood her, the plug musta come out.... I was most bemused and also frustrated when the physio flopped her (his side of her anyway) onto the bed, and walked out the room to wipe his shoes... meanwhile I am holding her, comforting and reassuring, making sure she doesnt slip straight off the bed...

I managed to heave her bottom back, meaning she is kinda splayed in all her bareness across the bed... but i was fixing her up, with as much dignity as possibly, and she was having a giggle...when the co-ordinator walks in, sees the physio wiping his shoes, and asks if i need a hand.

I havent seen him again.

I was so shocked that he blatantly abandoned his patient!!! Obviously he was shocked that little old ladies can have not so little bowel actions!

[luvschoolnursing, LPN]

Off the topic of poop but, since I switched to school nursing I hear all the time how I'm not a "real" nurse anymore and I get paid to put on bandaids. I just smile and tell them I'm one lucky gal to fall into a well paid position where I all I have to do is decide it I should use the little bandaid or the big one!

[AdelaideChic]

Maybe also a gentle reminder that cleaning a bum or putting on bandaids can be learnt in minutes... yet (here in Australia anyway) nursing is a 3 year degree (for registered anyway)... so clearly we are either really dumb (in which case, they better hope none of their loved ones get sick) or learn a lot more.

[fultzymom]

You're taking this waaay too personally. What does an ignorant opinion mean? It means the person expressing it doesn't get it. The only response you need to make, if you really need to make one at all, is, "Wow. I thought you were smarter than that." Then just let it go.

Good advice!! I like that!!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I think that you are really over-reacting to comments made by someone who does NOT want to be a nurse. The reality is that we do deal with cleaning up feces, urine, blood, sweat, doing bed changes - and that is not "disreputable," but certainly not something everyone wants to do.

Chill. He can walk the old folks down the hall while holding onto their gait belts. That's ever so much more palatable and interesting.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

"Sorry but I don't want to clean up dirt."

Is he wrong? If someone absolutely, positively isn't willing to clean up someone else's bowel movements, then he shouldn't be a nurse, because like it or not it's part of the job. It isn't the biggest part of the job, or the most important, but the fact of the matter is that there are very few nurses who get through a career without wiping someone else's butt. Heck, there are very few nurses that get through SCHOOL without wiping someone else's butt.

It isn't belittling to nurses to say that we clean up poop - it's an accurate description of part of our job. It's only belittling when people act like that's ALL we do, that's ALL we're good for.

So if this guy can't stomach the idea of cleaning up stool, then it really does mean that nursing isn't for him.

I was thinking the same thing. If someone said, "I could never stick a needle in someone," we wouldn't be offended, even though venapuncture is a fairly small part of the job.

Of course, it's hard to judge from a post whether he meant he had a weak stomach or he meant it was beneath his dignity.

One thing I've noticed is that I'm a lot less inclined to encourage people to enter nursing than I was, initially. I love my stupid job, but it isn't for everybody, so I tend to recommend it only to people I think would make a good nurse.

[VinoLover2030]

Yeah well just tell him, " yeah I will remember that......when you break your leg or have a collapsed lung to just roll you over and see if you need to have your a** wiped!"

LOL:P

[Bluehair]

Use many big words in quick succession. It frightens the Lilliputians.

:rotfl:

[leslie :-D]

i agree with miranda all the way.

nobody can make you feel inferior unless you let them.

if one is truly at peace with themself, then ignorance remains the burden of the offender.

the irony is that a good number of those people will be hospitalized or placed in a snf someday.

they will either have periods of incontinence, become totally incontinet, or depend on devices such as bedpans, commodes, catheters.

it's not when a nurse cleans their bottom, but saves their bottom, is when they will understand the scope of a nurse's practice.

leslie

[rn/writer, RN]

i agree with miranda all the way.

nobody can make you feel inferior unless you let them.

if one is truly at peace with themself, then ignorance remains the burden of the offender.

the irony is that a good number of those people will be hospitalized or placed in a snf someday.

they will either have periods of incontinence, become totally incontinet, or depend on devices such as bedpans, commodes, catheters.

it's not when a nurse cleans their bottom, but saves their bottom, is when they will understand the scope of a nurse's practice.

leslie

Well put, Leslie. I also like your statement that ignorance is the burden of the offender.

[Sassybottom]

A friend's husband basically said to me "so, what is there really to do at your job? you just take vital signs, right?"

And, he didn't even say it in a respectful (truthfully ignorant ) way - he meant it as a slam. But then again this guy has issues. I have a feeling he feels inferior to his wife and is insecure. He doesn't have a very high paying job and he works for a small non-profit organization. Large doses of him can get annoying very quickly.

He has tried slamming me before and this time I didn't even bother to respond ... just kind of laughed and was like "ooohkay"

[Debra ACRN]

I have this come up from time to time too. Here is my standard answer:

I think it is an honor to clean someone. Think about it, being so helpless and vulnerable you can't even clean yourself. In that place, patients look to nurses to provide the most intimate care conceivable. To provide for privacy, and help the patients in a respectful and dignified way is a priviledge. I try my hardest to imagine myself, my father or mother in that place and try to care for my patients as I would want them to be cared for.

To see inside another human beings most tender, vulnerable places and to value it is truely the art of nursing!