Student Nurse with a poop problem

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Ok, please don't laugh or deride me, but I'm wrapping up my first semester in an accelerated second degree BSN program. I've had four clinical days so far and in our program we fly solo from day one with one instructor for every 8 students backing us up if we have questions. On my fourth day working with patients, I had to walk out when another student asked for an assist cleaning up her patient who had a huge watery BM that was up his back, down his legs, up between his thighs and all over his genitals. I had just completely my third bedpan/clean up on my assigned patient, and the smell of my co-students patient was just too much. I turned green, nearly vomitted and walked out and found another student to help her. I knew poop was going to be a part of nursing and nursing school prior to starting this, but I didn't think the smell would kick my ass like it did on Wednesday. Does it get easier to deal with? It's not the sight, idea, or concept of cleaning it up, I don't feel gross, dirty or shameful like some people have said on this forum after cleaning up a patient. The smell just kicks my ass after a while. The three bedpans earlier that day were a cake walk, but something about this one was just too much. I need some advice and pointers. Thanks!

Specializes in ICU.
I'll take a C. diff over a GI bleed any day... just saying...

I'll second this. GI bleeds are the WORST. Ileostomy output is pretty bad too, but it still doesn't compare to a bleed!

Next time it may be your patient and you will have to deal with it professionally and with or without help. So yes i agree with the above posts of what helps. Take the Vicks, pepper mint in your purse to work or keep it in your locker. When cleaning foul smells breathe through the mouth not the nose. There are going to be allot of days of foul smelling poop, vomit urine etc. You will learn to tolerate it long enough to get the job done

Specializes in ER, ICU.

It never gets better. Show empathy for the patient, focus on the job at hand, and git'er done. You can't walk out once you're a nurse, by the way. It's a tough job for tough men and women...

Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I imagine that the person who needs help is my mom or my grandma. But poop doesn't gross me out.

When I had to catch emesis and measure the output as I held the bin up to her face I almost threw up myself.

But that patient later on asked me to rub her head so she could go to sleep. (She was cognitively delayed, about 20 years old and had bipolar or schizophrenia) Then when I went on break she went ballistic and kept asking for her nurse (me). Though I was not her nurse, just a CNA.

So I truly believe that we are helping vulnerable people retain some dignity in a situation where they have little control.

Specializes in Hospice.

If you are going to breathe through your mouth you may want to put on a mask. Don't ask how I know.

Once you graduate, you can choose to work in a setting where you aren't responsible for cleaning poo. You could even choose a setting where there is little to no patient contact whatsoever. Having your BSN is a VIP pass in this game.

If you are going to breathe through your mouth you may want to put on a mask. Don't ask how I know.

My thoughts exactly, BE CAREFUL if you breathe through your mouth! I will take the smell over the taste every day of the week.

oh god. this is exactly what I fear. blood/vomit, open fractures, im completely fine with. but poop. I don't know why freaks me out.

im starting in the fall and im just wondering if i'll have to deal with it in the first semester or all 4 semesters lol, anyone know? :x

Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

Had a pt with C diff the other day....holy moly, I had almost forgotten what that smells like! Don't fear, that smell

was seared into my brain for the next few years again.

As long as I have enough linens, wipes, etc. I'm good for poop. Now thick, sucking phlegm on the other hand....

:barf02:

My thoughts exactly, BE CAREFUL if you breathe through your mouth! I will take the smell over the taste every day of the week.

Awww man.. can you believe what we nurses talk about?

I , personally.. never got a "taste" instead of a smell. Thinking perception/anatomies are different?

Also think any actually exposure risks is minimally lost by bypassing the nasal cilia.

Mask can't hurt... but never found them effective, rather they seemed to gather the odor , rather than mask it.

Happy cleanups, my fellow nurses!

Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.

You know, many people say that with time you grow accustomed to a big, stinky pile of poop so that it doesn't bother you. For me it was reverse. When I first started, it didn't bother me in the least. People crap. Sick people often crap more. It's part of life. After a few months of exposure to it, I started to become bothered by it. First it was seeing it. I was sick and tired of seeing human poop. The change was subtle, but insidiously I started to get bothered by the smell evolving from "oh yuck" to "OMG this is NASTY!" to "I gotta get the H.E.double hockey sticks outta here!" As unfair as it might be, when I didn't have a CNA to pawn it off on I'd hurriedly wash their backsides, change their diapers, and go out to the smoker's area for a while. I didn't smoke, but getting out of the environment was how I coped.

I should note that I worked in a dump of a facility, excuse the pun, and a lot of what I dealt with administratively, compounded with my increasing exposure to stinky, little things to magnify and made me grow to absolutely hate hospital nursing in general.

Specializes in Med-Surg ICU.

What I do sometimes is put on 2 masks with a mint teabag in between.

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