The dirty work?

ChristinaDCS · Feb 14, 2009

It doesn't matter where you go in nursing, you are always going to be cleaning up the disgusting... If that isn't something that you are willing and able to do, then you probably shouldn't be in nursing... As a side note, when I was a CNA/CMA, I had much more respect and appreciation to nurses that were willing to assist with the day to day items that you list above. Yes, you will have paperwork, but patient care is every nurses first responsibility. I hope that if you are unwilling to participate in this care that you decide to stay away from this field.

Chixie · Feb 14, 2009

Hmmm.... let me think about it. i will use my last shift as an example. I am a year one nursing student but the nurses that i work with all pitch in when they can.

I washed 9 patients and remade those beds

Cleaned up 8 inco pads whilst doing the washes

Walked one lady to toilet and helped her to wipe afterwards X4

Emptied 2 cath bags

Wiped a bed down due to a 'poo artist' X2

Suctioned a gunky trach

Washed and degunked 3 patients feet

Fetched 6 bed pans and 8 commodes and then washed all the commodes/pans after each use

Mopped up 2 puddles of urine

Cleaned up one puddle of vomit,showered the patient

I removed soiled clothes at least 4 times

Fetched and assisted at least 5 urinals

oh and cleaned up after an enema 'worked'

And this was all between 7am and 1pm

Thankfully there was no blood involved on that shift but thats a quiet shift for me and you know what? i love it

Koyaanisqatsi-RN · Feb 14, 2009

you will encounter poop, vomit, etc here and there. honestly, though, the CNAs take care all of that. the hospital does not pay an RN to do the "dirty work" persay. You'll be consumed by mostly paperwork.

They take care of *most* of it. But at some point you are going to have to deal with this stuff. Keep in mind it's also a good opportunity to assess.

Most nurses do not have feces and urine flying at their faces most of the time. (although for some reason some nurses love keeping that stereotype alive...maybe to have some sort of martyr complex, I don't know) But there are definitely bodily fluids involved, and at some point you'll have to have a pretty stable comfort level regarding that.

TinkerNurse · Feb 14, 2009

Hmmm.... let me think about it. i will use my last shift as an example. I am a year one nursing student but the nurses that i work with all pitch in when they can.
I washed 9 patients and remade those beds
Cleaned up 8 inco pads whilst doing the washes
Walked one lady to toilet and helped her to wipe afterwards X4
Emptied 2 cath bags
Wiped a bed down due to a 'poo artist' X2
Suctioned a gunky trach
Washed and degunked 3 patients feet
Fetched 6 bed pans and 8 commodes and then washed all the commodes/pans after each use
Mopped up 2 puddles of urine
Cleaned up one puddle of vomit,showered the patient
I removed soiled clothes at least 4 times
Fetched and assisted at least 5 urinals
oh and cleaned up after an enema 'worked'
And this was all between 7am and 1pm
Thankfully there was no blood involved on that shift but thats a quiet shift for me and you know what? i love it

That seems a wee bit exaggerated to me. I know we nurses are very busy but come on...you're saying you did that all in 4 hours? If you had young active people you were assisting sure, but with the kind of care you are describing you actually had time to go at the patients pace and do all that you just posted adequately in four short hours? hmmm Also, while it is important to learn all that, why is that kind of care the only things you are doing at the one year mark? The only thing I saw you post that wasn't simple was the suctioning. I mean there are 240 minutes in four hours divide that by 9 patients that is 26 minutes per patient for the bed bath and linen change, which isn't hard to do at all but once you factor in all the other things you said that you did...

Koyaanisqatsi-RN · Feb 15, 2009

That seems a wee bit exaggerated to me. I know we nurses are very busy but come on...you're saying you did that all in 4 hours?

This is what I was talking about with some nurses who exaggerate and describe a bunch of ridiculous scenarios about all the stuff they do. I think it's bad because all it does is encourage the stereotype of nursing being nothing but butt-wiping, rather than being the evidence based practice that it is.

Nurses deal with unpleasant stuff yeah, but there is so much more to the job than that.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Feb 15, 2009

you will encounter poop, vomit, etc here and there. honestly, though, the CNAs take care all of that. the hospital does not pay an RN to do the "dirty work" persay. You'll be consumed by mostly paperwork.

Wow, you're hospital must adequately staff for CNA's for them to be able to do all of that. IMO nurses often should and do do the dirty work. Many a time I'm doing "CNA work." Not because the CNA is busy or lazy, but because I can. I didn't become a nurse to sit at a desk, I became a nurse to take care of patients, and that includes the "dirty work."

study2Bnurse · Feb 15, 2009

nursing is a calling, and a privilege. the first time i saw a patient come back from the or, still woozy, and extremely vulnerable, i was overwhelmed by the understanding that patients are literally placing their lives in our hands and it is a true privilege to have that trust. but the trust comes with all the warts and bumps, including the bodily fluids.

serlait,

very well said. i'm in my last semester of school and have come to appreciate the fact that the patient's really do depend on us, often it is at a very low point in their day/life. we can make the difference in how their experience impacts them.

:heartbeat:d:heartbeat:d:heartbeat

513misslady · Feb 15, 2009

There is often a misconception that nursing is just cleaning of stool,emesis and blood. What you have to realize to field is rewarding, yet fullfilling to those who dedicate their lives to taking care of people. Remember you or a family member may be a patient, what if the nurse refuse to clean you up or do the dirty work. I am a second year nursing student and I have been a PCA for seven years and I hear nurses say that's not my job to clean up patients, it's the PCA's job it makes me angry. If you don't want to clean poop and deal with poopy people I recommend a different field for you!

Later Good Luck on your decision

Misslady

viablecalifornialove · Feb 15, 2009

You all seem to take pride on cleaning poop. I mean, did you all/we really go to college to learn to clean up vomit and poop? You all make it sound as if RNs spend the majority of their shifts wiping butts. Is this how it really is? because in that case I will choose a different field.

Cathyxis · Feb 15, 2009

Contact your local hospital's nurse recruiter and ask if you can schedule a shadow with a nurse on a Gen Med floor. This will give you an idea of how much "dirty work" they have to handle. I'm in nursing school, but work as an NA on a Cardiac floor. I think a great NA shift is when I can actually talking to my clients and not go from Code Brown to Code Brown.

513misslady · Feb 15, 2009

RN's don't spend their whole shift cleaning poop, but I am a person with pride and I am a firm believer that you have to experinece the basic fundamentals of nusring before you can go on to be a nurse. Oh and the poop cleaning you will have to experience one way or the other esepecially when you are a nursing student. You have to do total care on your one patient and yes that means cleaning up poop! If you want to work in a nursing home you will pass meds all day and do a lot of paperwork. The good thing about nursing is you don't have to always do floor nursing you can do administrative, insurance, case managment and advance practice nursing. My motto is never forget where you come from and just because you have RN behind your name does not make you any better than the next person, when you die you will be remember by your name. Also nurses are deserving to have a PCA or nurse assistant to help them or otherwise they would lose their minds, one thing to keep in mind you will never really know who has your back. Just because someone does not go to college does not make them any lesser of a person, you be surprise how many intelligent people you meet, and if you want to become a Pediatric Nurse!!!

cursedandblessed · Feb 15, 2009

I love taking care of hospital patients, I'm in my 2nd semester, third rotation. I hated the nursing home. Not because of the poop and pee, but because I absolutely could not get a brief on. My clients were unable to help in any way and turning them was almost impossible. I'm in maternity right now, I don't mind emptying foley bags, or changing the bloody pads or the pericare. I did feel a little weak when our instructor decided that 3:30 pm was a great time to show us a placenta in a pan, but I think my blood sugar was a little low, and I was over it in a few minutes. Some of my fellow students seem to think if a little drop of pee gets on the floor when you empty the foley bag they need to call housekeeping, instead of getting the super wipes (I can't remember the name, but they kill everything and we use them to wipe down the IV machines and such) and wiping it up. I've also been criticized for stocking the cups at the patient/family ice/water and coffee/tea service area. IMO they're the ones with the problem, certainly CNA's and housekeeping are there for a reason, but we're the ones who only have one patient(or two in the case of the mother/baby) per shift right now. Why shouldn't I help out where I can?