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

Nurses New Nurse

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I'm starting my nursing program on Jan.25th, and i'm really, really excited. Ever since I can remember I've always dreamed about being a nurse. I'm a medical assitant at a cardiologist office and I love working hands on and I love my patients to the point that I can't wait until I become a RN and work at a hospital. During orientation we were told that our first practice cite will be at a nursing home :uhoh3:. One thing I'm actually not looking forward to doing is looking at poop!!! I could deal with blood, I can deal with pee, but i'm actually scared of my reaction to looking at poop and changing patients, I'm scared I might:barf01:

I've changed a childs diaper before and i've had no problem...but I have never changed a adults diaper nor smelled or been up close and personal to it. I'm so afraid of how i'm going to react to it...does anyone ever felt this way? Does anyone have some advice or suggestions??? Is it true that it's just like changing a child. I'm scared of the smell and how i would react to it. HELP!!!! i feel recidiculous...:trout:

I'm not full of it...that's just the way I feel. I've been a CNA and I have two children so I have wiped plenty of poopy bottoms in my time.

I think it's a only a big deal if you make it out to be one.

I meant no offense by "full of it"...just that not everyone is the same. I also have 2 children and worked in childcare for many years before going into nursing so baby diapers are no big deal. Now even after all this time in nursing there are still adult diapers that get to me from time to time. When I was a new nursing student I was told the same thing by a well meaning long time CNA. I went into change my first one with that attitude and it really threw me for a loop. It was NOT the same thing to me and I'm sure others feel the same. I just don't want new students to be thrown off like I was. I thought there was something wrong with me b/c it bothered me so much.

TO ALL NEW STUDENTS: As I said before, each nurse has that one button, that one thing, that bothers them and that's perfectly ok. In time and with a little experience you learn to adjust and deal with it in your own way. This doesn't mean you shouldn't be a nurse. The best nurses out there have something that gets to them. Just know everyone is different and until you are actually in a situation you don't know what your reaction will be. Take it one day at a time and you'll be fine. Good Luck!

Poop is one of the 3 P's of nursing Poop, Puke and Pee. I too was a little afraid of the whole poop thing at first, but I kept reminding myself that I had gloves on so I wasn't actually "touching" the poop and sometimes I breath through my mouth to reduce the smell. If that doesn't work wear a mask and feign a cold. It is definitely worse for the patient. Just yesterday it was discovered that the patient in the bed next to my patient has c-diff. He is a younger guy who is completely capable to do for himself. However, he does have other psych issues and after going to the bathroom he left the room a complete disaster. There was poop everywhere, in the sink, on the soap dispenser, on his chair, the bed and all over his clothes (which he did not mind in the least and refused to change). We did move my patient out of the room and put both on isolation. Even the most seasoned nurses were afraid to walk into that room and the whole unit had that unmistakeable stench. We all had to laugh or we would have cried. Good luck!!!!!:idea::balloons:

I was just like you, and maybe im still a little like you. Im in my second year of nursing school, but when I first started my first semester, I was terrified of poop!!!! I had never changed a diaper or smelled anyone else's pooh. But as i began my clinicals, I did come across alot of butt cleaning and it was the sickest thing...... and then reality hit me. I told myself ," Elena this is part of being a nurse, get with it and suck it up". From that point on I try to ignore the smell and just do the best I can for my patient. Believe me you just need to get used to it. I still have my moments when i say "OMG!!! What the heck is that smell" but i remember this is just part of nursing. ;)

Ok, maybe someone here can help me with my poop problem. ;)

I am almost always totally fine with cleaning poop of off people, changing diapers, beds, whatnot. Just doesn't bother me that much.

But when I have to take a bedpan/commode into the bathroom and clean it, i am gagging and even puking on a regular basis. It's something about the splashing, needing to scrub, etc, without the distraction of a patient who needs me, that just sets it off.

I admit to sometimes just bagging the mess and throwing it in biohazard because I cannot deal with it.

So... any suggestions for making it easier to clean poopy objects? (rather than poopy patients?)

thanks!

laura

i did clinicals last june in a nursing home and the poop was awfull i can not deal with that now i'm in for my LPNs and still i hate poop it's prob one the hardest grosses things to deal with i can handle blood and snot but not poop!:trout::down:

I told myself ," Elena this is part of being a nurse, get with it and suck it up".

I don't think I'd have chosen quite that turn of phrase... ;)

Specializes in Certified Wound Care Nurse.

For my entire life, I was petrified by the sound, smell and sight of emesis. I would physically run away when anyone was barfing. Eww... I ended up in nursing school - my choice... I had a woman with a bowel obstruction that had been vomiting persistently. I volunteered to "assess" and measure the output. I did - all 650 mLs. Somehow I'd become more detached - and the event more "clinical" in nature. I viewed it as intake in reverse - no more, no less. The smell? Just acids and fluids.

Don't know if this will help you - but just my experience in overcoming a phobia of sorts.

Take care.

This is really good advice guys! Haha this whole forum just made me feel a lot better about it too. thanks!

Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

call me weird, but i totally dont mind cleaning poopy diapers. its natural. we all need to poop. i am happy for my patients when they poop.

now after working in GI for almost a year, i am surrounded by poop all day long. and after the procedures over, i actually have to force my patients to pass gas. the smell doesnt even bother me, i think i'm immune.

now toenails.... gross. give me poop anyday.

anyways, i posted this in another thread, but if vicks is too strong, i told my classmates my two tricks from paramedic school: burt's bees and listerine pocket packs. put a little burt's bees under your nose or on your lips and put a listerine strip in your mouth and you dont smell anything but menthol.

always remember to do some PLB too. that helps.

face your fears. you will do fine. poop is not the worst thing in nursing school, i promise you. if you have to clean a patient and you feel like you are going to lose it, just excuse yourself for a minute, breathe, and remember that its not just poopy diaper, its a human being who needs care because they can no longer help themselves. it might be embarassing for you to get sick over poop, but think of how embarrassed your patient is, too.

good luck. :)

Poop...it's something you get used to...it may sicken you now, but if you face your fear...and most likely poop won't bother you...adults are harder to clean up than a child, but once you get a system, it isn't that bad.

haha i'm glad to know i'm not the only person freaked out by the thought of cleaning up someone elses poopy.

To be honest my lovely - the person that is in that awful situation of having to rely on you to clear him/her up could very well be you. If you think about it that way and the reason you really wanted to nurse - there's nothing to scare you. Just remember why you're doing what you're doing - put yourself in their position - how would you feel - how would you want to be treated?? you'll be fantastic - just need to prove it to yourself ..xx

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