Scared Of Poop!!!!!!!!! Help!!!!!!!

Rook · Feb 21, 2009

Poop is nothing. I worked in the lab. Sputum is alot more disgusting too look at. But the absolute worst was every once in a while you would get these RN home urines with a UTI that from what I gather have been ignored for a long time. Anyway these urines smell so bad that if you open the cup you could clear out a large room if you leave it open for 15 seconds. Plus to top it off these urines are so thick with mucous that they don't pour, they just plop into the testing vial. I don't know these individuals are able to excrete it. A couple techs in the lab I worked at threw up the second they opened up the urine.

I do have a fear of anything sharp around my neck so I'm deathly afraid of seeing an emergency trache so i know where you are coming from though.

joyce294 · Feb 21, 2009

I have the same "phobia" as you are, so what took my CNA license to desentized myself. I love nursing and I would not let any "stool" stop me from reaching my dreams :)...not even the green ones.

moseshopper · Feb 24, 2009

gag and be done, is sometimes all you can do, but i can tell you that regular poo smells no where near :sniff: as bad as a gi bleed, lord lord what a smell :sniff:

LPNChris · Feb 28, 2009

I think at first everyone is scared of that, I know I was.....but you know what, as with everything you build up a tolerance for it and it just becomes one of those things that you do and don't even think about....everyone poops, you included and it really is not as bad you imagine it in your head, don't get too scared cause you are building it up to be something horrible before you even get your hands in there so you already are assuming it is going to be awful so then when you do encounter it (and you will) you already have that negative thought in your head. Nurisng gets so medical sometimes that we all forget the basics are sometimes the most important.....

WestWingFan · Feb 28, 2009

Poop's fine--- I'm over that. Big bad smelly wounds, now that's gross LOL

Fundie · Mar 11, 2009

My advice, work as a nurse assistant, care partner, and you will eventually get over the "poop" thing. You will do all the dirty work as a nurse assistant, but you will soon learn to accept the "poop" thing, and learn to understand the patient is just unable to control their bowel movements or are embarrassed of their inability to control it. Just don't breathe, when you change a patient, breathe through your mouth, but please don't pass out..

Carliestarling · Apr 4, 2009

Get a job in the OR--Where the occasional "code browns" are few and far between. Although it does happen--watch, I probably just jinxed myself and will encounter a huge one tomorrow.

Carliestarling · Apr 4, 2009

Poop is nothing. I worked in the lab. Sputum is alot more disgusting too look at. But the absolute worst was every once in a while you would get these RN home urines with a UTI that from what I gather have been ignored for a long time. Anyway these urines smell so bad that if you open the cup you could clear out a large room if you leave it open for 15 seconds. Plus to top it off these urines are so thick with mucous that they don't pour, they just plop into the testing vial. I don't know these individuals are able to excrete it. A couple techs in the lab I worked at threw up the second they opened up the urine.
I do have a fear of anything sharp around my neck so I'm deathly afraid of seeing an emergency trache so i know where you are coming from though.

Ummm. what do you mean by RN home urine? And why would an RN's urine be worse than anyone else with a UTI's urine??

bethh1970 · May 11, 2009

I hate poop as well. I normally put a mask on to make myself feel better. I also like to hide the fact that I'm gagging underneath the mask. The more I "play in poo" the less it effects me. I'd bet you'll be the same way. Oh, and since everyone else is sharing a gross story, I'll add mine. You haven't seen or smelled anything until the renal team makes you straight cath an anuric pt. HOLY COW! Words cannot describe the odor nor the color. I'll take poo all day, anyday!

meluhn · May 11, 2009

What are you going to do if you ever have to disimpact someone? If poop bothers you, how about screaming, and lots of big messy poop simultaneously?

If this is a real issue for you, you might want to reconsider your career choice, only you can decide that. There may be times you get grossed out but if you think about your pts as people like your mom/dad/gramma/granpa or whatever, you start to see things differently. No nurse is like "Yay, I cant wait to change an old man's poopy diaper", we just do it and move on.

csleepykitty · May 13, 2009

Everyone has their thing they don't like or are afraid of. Don't give up on your dream if you want to be a nurse. I was scared of vomit, but when my first patient got sick I quickly cleaned it like I would for my kid and did not even think twice about it. FOR THE POOPY SMELL WHICH NO ONE LIKES, GET SOME BABY VICKS SALVE FROM THE PHARMACY before clinicals, rub a little under your nostrils before you walk in a room and it helps.

muesli · May 17, 2009

Everybody has at least one particular challenge which they have to overcome as they become nurses. Mine was anxiety/confidence. NSG school goes a long way to help you with that. Don't let anyone discourage you from being a nurse because of it. (Ironically, it was because I had an instructor who discouraged me from becoming a nurse that I became stronger and more confident).

Here's my advice: think about how the person who you're cleaning up feels. Put yourself in their shoes: how disempowering and humiliating must it potentially be to have to have your butt wiped for you? Also, it's sad but I think in some nursing homes patients get treated with disrespect and anger when they must be cleaned up - I say this because at the med/surg floor at the hospital where I work, some older folks will apologize and ask me not to be mad at them for making a bm!!! You can make such a difference in this person's life by treating them with dignity and respect while you perform these undignified tasks. You can re-affirm their humanity. When you focus on the person instead of the task, it becomes more bearable. Also, and you may or may not feel the same way, but for me personally, whenever I am doing a really dirty, humble, unglamorous task for a patient, I think about how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and humbled himself so much just to serve us, and I consider it a priviledge to be able to serve others the way he did. This is for me personally what gets me through! I wish you the best of luck in your nursing career. You can do it.