Student in need of some pearls of wisdom

[MJane29]

Nursing educators and faculty,

I don't want to come across as negative, but I have a serious question to ask. I am curious as to whether the majority of patients in the hospital setting are incontinent of stool? I am in my second semester of nursing clinicals (in an accelerated BS program at a magnet hospital, level 1 trauma center) and am currently rotating through the trauma unit. I have worked with a approximately 11 patients thus far. Of these 11 patients, only one was continent. All of my other patients have been incontinent of stool/total care. My previous clinical rotation was women's med/surg. I certainly do not have a problem with preserving a patients dignity and helping them to get cleaned up. However, at the end of each clinical day, when I reflect on the things that I accomplished and what I learned about nursing, I find that I am disappointed by the fact that the experience that I reflect upon remains the same. More specifically, I am always reflecting on the fact that I provided a bed bath and helped out my patient who was incontinent of stool. I am at a bit of a loss. I feel like a terrible person even entertaining the thought...but is it asking too much to want a little bit more? Is this all that there is? Any words of wisdom or advice would be very much appreciated.

[BonnieSc]

Is that really all you're doing, or are you just focusing on that? In my experience no, most patients aren't incontinent of stool, but I don't really think about it much... they just are or they aren't, and I forget about it as soon as I'm done working with the patient.

If you're really only doing bedbaths, talk to your clinical instructor and let him/her know you're having trouble meeting your clinical objectives. But if your patients are total care, you're doing a lot more than that!

No patient is in the hospital simply from a self-care deficit. Why are these patients there? What are their goals, what is the plan of care? Are you involved in helping them meet those goals? What about medications? Disease process? What are YOUR goals for your clinical day?