A few questions... I have looked around the forums but I want to ask specifically about Ontario/Canada. I've heard people say that they got 'suckered' into nursing and the reality is you have to clean peoples messes (of different kinds) regularly. I've also heard people say they rarely have to do it as a RN (BSN).
For those who have an aversion to poop, and cleaning up after people, what roles or careers as an RN have minimal exposure to fecis and cleaning patients ? Operating room ? Cardiac ? Flight nursing ? How easy is it to specialise like this ?
In Ontario are RN's the grunts dealing with bedpans etc.. in hospitals? What are the realities of this?
For those interested in a career that has more to do with diagnoses, treatment, and science is RN a good way to go or not?
I'm sure when I start attending school I will have to deal with cleaning up more then once... which I dont mind, but I would like to move myself away from it once ive graduated if possible.
I am interested in cardiac care, assisting in operations, flight nursing, oncology, emergency room, pediatrics maybe, and options internationally or locally helping in communities, also with disease control centres and research.
who knows though I might change my mind while in school, or I may end up in med school
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Flight nursing I should image they will want x amount of years experience in a critical care area. International will vary depending on where as their requirements will vary. You my find whilst going through school that things change whilst you work in the different areas. Good luck and I hope you find what you are looking for
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
A few questions... I have looked around the forums but I want to ask specifically about Ontario/Canada. I've heard people say that they got 'suckered' into nursing and the reality is you have to clean peoples messes (of different kinds) regularly. I've also heard people say they rarely have to do it as a RN (BSN).
For those who have an aversion to poop, and cleaning up after people, what roles or careers as an RN have minimal exposure to fecis and cleaning patients ? Operating room ? Cardiac ? Flight nursing ? How easy is it to specialise like this ?
In Ontario are RN's the grunts dealing with bedpans etc.. in hospitals? What are the realities of this?
The direct care provider RNs who work in an inpatient setting of any sort most definitely clean people's messes. I work with diploma RNs, BScNs and MScNs and we ALL do what is required for our patients. That includes cleaning up poop, emptying ostomy appliances, managing vomit, emptying bags full of pee, cleaning dentures, suctioning up mucus, changing dressings on infected and draining wounds, mopping up blood and any number of other unpleasant but necessary tasks. Nurses in the OR deal with all of the above, and a few others, like handling pathology specimens and cleaning the patient up once the surgeons are done... whatever needs cleaning. If I transferred a patient to recovery or an ICU covered in stool, I'd be written up so fast my head would spin. Cardiac nurses who work in the cath lab may not have to deal with feces often, but it does happen; they also deal with blood, vomit and urine. Cardiac nurses who work in CCUs, CVICUs and step-down or telemetry units are as likely as any other hosptial nurse to be dealing with all that, while nurses who work in clinics generally escape. Flight nursing often involves picking up severely injured people from the side of the road, or picking up people who have already been picked up from the side of the road and stabilized, but they're still a bloody mess. Head injuries cause vomiting. And spinal cord injuries cause a relaxation of all voluntary muscles below the injury, including the rectal sphincter. Other patients a flight nurse might transport would be patients in active labour delivering a fetus with anomalies or prematurity... there's often poop and barf involved there as well as amniotic fluid. Stroke patients need emergent treatment and they are often incontinent. So flight nursing is out.
The realities of working in hospitals anywhere, even in that rarified air in Ontario, are that staffing is inadequate, people are sicker than ever and are living longer with many more issues than they ever have before and someone has to do the nasty parts. RNs are expected to care for the total patient, and if there are no nursing assistants where one works, then the job falls where it must.
For those interested in a career that has more to do with diagnoses, treatment, and science is RN a good way to go or not?
Absolutely it is. But not if you're not willing to do the dirty work as well as the more interesting stuff. As I said, nurses care for the total patient. They get their hands dirty.
I'm sure when I start attending school I will have to deal with cleaning up more then once... which I dont mind, but I would like to move myself away from it once ive graduated if possible.
need educated responses asap! :)
Of course there are areas of nursing where one does not ever have to soil one's hands. Nursing research is one, but in order to do quality nursing research, one should have some experience with providing nursing care. Without that it would be difficult to discern the issues that need to be examined and the processes that coud be improved upon. Nursing informatics is another, but the same caveat applies. For computerized record keeping and resource access to be useful they should follow the workflow of the people who will be using it. Who better to understand what will be the best design than someone who does or has done the job? Case managers don't provide hands-on care, but they're usually people who have walked to walk first. Education cannot replace experience.
any more positive objective input on the original questions would be great, I dont want this to turn into poop wars!
I'm sorry, but the thrust of your original post was that you want to be a nurse but don't want to clean poop. How were people to react?
i think some people are missing the point of my post and questions
Actually I think your questions have been answered quite well. Again, the point of your original post was to find out how you could be a nurse and avoid doing what most nurses do.
I am interested in cardiac care, assisting in operations, flight nursing, oncology, emergency room, pediatrics maybe, and options internationally or locally helping in communities, also with disease control centres and research.
Well, I've already covered cardiac care, flight nursing and the OR.
Oncology... Hmm. Chemo and radiation make people vomit up the soles of their feet, and makes them so weak that they can't hold their heads up. Do you think they can manage their own toileting needs? They may also have some very nasty dressings on cancers that have eaten through the skin... plus they may have lumbar punctures and bone marrow aspirates done at the bedside. Ew gross! The crunching sound when the needle goes through the bone. Ouch. Plus you'd be handling all sorts of highly poisonous substances that could affect your own health if you're not careful.
Emergency. Lots of blood, puke, pee, poop, pus, foul odors, maggots, severed body parts, brain tissue, bone fragments, foreign bodies and assorted other special things there. I had to give a patient a soap suds enema the other day and had never done one before (very old school stuff, that) so I asked my manager. She said, "I've given a million of them in emergency. It's really easy." Guess what follows a soap suds enema?
Pediatrics involves LOTS of diaper changes. Most little children aren't toilet trained, and a lot of the ones who are lose that when they're sick. They're also uninhibited when it comes to vomiting. When it needs to come out, it comes out wherever it comes out. No asking for a basin, or turning their heads. I've had a puke shower more times than I care to think about.
Community nursing might not involve much messy stuff. But it depends on what you do in the community. If you go to the third world, the biggest killer of children there is diarrhea. Disaster relief nursing includes raw sewage and unsanitary water supplies. Infectious disease control may involve handling specimens of every sort, or it could be strictly surveillance paperwork. That kind of job is usually awarded based on seniority though, as are hospital-based clinic jobs and administrative work.
I'm thinking that nursing might not be the best choice for you because there are no guarantees that you'll graduate into a position where you won't have to do dirty jobs.
I also have to comment on your requests for "educated responses". The members of this community at allnurses.com are among the best educated and most intellectually superior people there are. To insult their intelligence after essentially denigrating what they do for a living was a misstep. For those of us who have chosen nursing and are passionate about what we do, hearing time and again, "I don't want to clean poop, I don't want to work nights, I don't want to work holidays, I want the whole summer off" becomes a burr under our saddles. That would explain why you got some of the responses you got.
I am constantly amazed at these" I wanna be a nurse but I don't want to touch the icky sick people" threads.
By the way, I did not get "suckered" into being a nurse.This was my lifelong dream and I am proud of the job I do. (Even last night when i had to clean up a pt that had been "painting" with you know what.:chuckle
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
Well, my first ever soap suds enema did not have the desired effect and I ended up mining for poop. Poor kid was impacted right to the cecum, mostly with barium. And SO uncomfortable. I could see that abdomen expanding in front of me. It was so awful for the poor youngster so I did what needed doing and gave some relief. (Gave me tendinitis, but that's another story!)
Thank you, there is lots of good info in your response. However, I have never stated that I will not clean poop, believe i am 'above' it, or have a problem with helping 'icky' patients, or believe that nurses have been 'suckered' into being a nurse, or doing the hard messy work that nurses generally do...
What I am looking for is the reality of the job... thats why I have asked the questions. I do understand where you are coming from, and the paragraph of information is great.
Educated responses, as in you have experience with these situations and you know the reality of the job. Obviously you do.
And is there really a problem with moving away from dealing with poop and enema's during ones nursing career?
Better to not become a nurse? Or become a nurse and not direct your nursing career to areas that you are interested in, poop or no poop?
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
I will provide a full response tomorrow, my wrist (the one with the tendinitis) is just too sore from typing the first one and I have to work a 12 hour day tomorrow. They'll expect me to be able to move my fingers.
You did say we got suckered into nursing, right in your first post.
The reality of the job is what we have been telling you. Nurses clean up poop and much worse whatever your designation is. Even MSNs get their hands dirty.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
Thanks linzz. Unfortunately it's still really sore. We've got a collection of immobile teenagers in the unit right now and the perennial no-staff situation, so I turned, lifted, wiped, boosted and held c-spines all day. It's funny that the tendon I can see bulging along the back of my wrist is not where it hurts... Putting my brace back on and going to bed now.
"I've heard people say that they got 'suckered' into nursing and the reality is you have to clean peoples messes (of different kinds) regularly. I've also heard people say they rarely have to do it as a RN (BSN)."
please do not cut and paste half of my quote to make it sound like I personally stated that you or anyone else got 'suckered' into nursing, if you misunderstood my post I am sorry
:yeah:
codeblue20
27 Posts
I am interested in cardiac care, assisting in operations, flight nursing, oncology, emergency room, pediatrics maybe, and options internationally or locally helping in communities, also with disease control centres and research.
who knows though I might change my mind while in school, or I may end up in med school
any insights into my interests?