The HARD Truth for most nurses

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Mar 18, 2015

I have a couple of months of bedside experience so is there anything else I can do besides bedside care? If not I have no choice to move on.
There is no way I can pursue marriage a family by bringing home income this way. Just not going to happen.

What did you think nursing was about? It seems that you have already wasted several years of your life in nursing school. Why didn't you drop out once you had to wipe your first patient's butt or noticed that the nurses during clinical seemed to be "running like a chicken with their head cut off".

You act like you had no clue that you would have to wipe butts and be busy.

That is why I chose NICU (besides loving the babies). I have a maximum of 3 patients (all 3 within 10 feet of me) and wiping their butts takes 2 minutes.

BlueChocolateCat · Mar 18, 2015

I have to say right off from the beginning that I am rather confused by your thread here.

You are saying that you are currently interested in pursuing a nursing career but are concerned that all you will be doing is "poop cleaning and urine collection"?

As a new grad nurse, yes, your job options will be limited. Many new nurses need to take work where it will take them, often on med surg floors or the hospital environment. Chances of finding yourself in a position that does not include direct patient care directly out of nursing school would be extremely rare. It sounds to me like you need to spent more time investigating first hand, the work of a nurse.

JoseQuinones · Mar 18, 2015

Yikes. Take a look at your post and think, "Would I hire this nurse?"

loriangel14, RN · Mar 18, 2015

Did you even investigate what nursing involved before you started school? Yes patient care and being busy is what we do. What did you expect?

lisacoll2 · Mar 18, 2015

Is this a career change for you or did you go straight to nursing school after high school?

Humaneclowninscrubs · Mar 18, 2015

I do love public health nursing which is impossible to get. I will try again at the health department when positions show up, but I am also going to attempt another degree program.

The reason I did not quit is because I would not be able to apply to other programs. I would look like a quitter. Also I saw that there were clinical jobs in nursing too, not all bedside care. But seems I need at least 2 year experience to be safe and find something else.

Sorry to have come off as if I completely hate nursing. I do not. I think it is an honorable job, but not respected by many, low recognition, random hours, and over worked and at times not enough support.

As far as cleaning poop, babies is a joke, try it on an adult all day long. You seem to be very arrogant to say it is easy to clean butts. Think before you speak. Adults and peds is different. At times I get obese patients too. What about those? Is that cake for you to do too? You have such a cocky absolute response.

OVerall I was hoping to find some constructive responses to help me find somethign else besides bedside nursing. I see that there is nothing else. I pretty much have the answer.

Medical labor is all we do, but we are also not in debt like docs :)

Take care all.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 18, 2015

OP, I'm not sure I'm understanding you: you say you know what nursing was about when getting into it....but now that you're doing it you seem surprised that you are doing it.

You already KNOW that you cannot find employment in areas that require experience....yet you seek to find such employment with all of...what, two months?.....into this career.

You don't want to "look like a quitter" but that is exactly what you will be doing, by leaving employers in quick succession. I'm not sure what you mean by "another degree program" or "applying to another program"; are you already DONE with a nursing program, and are an RN or LPN now... or IN a nursing program?

"Medical labor is all we do, but we are not in debt like docs". Is this REALLY how you see your position? If so....that's pretty odd.

Is it possible there is a language barrier in play here? Don1984 tells you that he works in NICU where his patients are small, accessible, and (tongue-in-cheek) told you that butt-wiping takes all of two minutes. He wasn't being cocky, he was TELLING you that after putting in enough time to become worth something as a nurse, you too might find a niche for yourself that suits---like he has. But instead you went off on him. :no:

Until you have skills that are worth more than where you are now, you should expect to stay put until you gain enough experience to merit being hired for an area you prefer.

cynmrn · Mar 18, 2015

While cleaning up incontinent patients is obviously part of the job description, and not my favorite thing to do by any means, I think you should give it some time. I didn't have any experience prior to my med/surg bedside nursing job and it was kind of a learning curve when changing patients--how to do it quickly, effectively, etc. Because of this, I felt kind of awkward, and dreaded it. Nearly two years later, it is still not my favorite thing to do, but it is definitely not even close to my main duty and more just part of the package deal of caring for people at their most vulnerable time. As nurses, we take the good with the bad.

With this being said, I am working full time as a school nurse (PRN bedside) because the schedule is better (no weekends/holidays!) and I feel like public/community health is where my heart lies rather than the acute illness. Still, there are the times when I'm still cleaning up body fluids! There are options out there besides bedside nursing, but there are unpleasant aspects to every job.

toomuchbaloney · Mar 18, 2015

IS the hard truth for most nurses definitely new grads is that poop cleaning and urine collection RN jobs are all that is open?
Pretty much bedside care, running around like a chicken with your head cutoff.
I don't think ICU solves the issue either.
Definitely thinking about different degree, since experience is the only way to open up other nursing positions, but I am not about to work bedside for 10 years. I would rather go back to school.
I have a couple of months of bedside experience so is there anything else I can do besides bedside care? If not I have no choice to move on.
There is no way I can pursue marriage a family by bringing home income this way. Just not going to happen.

I wonder what your work environment is.

I have never spent the bulk of my time wiping butts and collecting urine...NEVER in almost 4 decades of direct nursing care as an RN.

I have often completed such tasks and frequently assist in their completion, but outside of the ICU setting, most care of that nature is tasked to the nursing assistants.

Your relative lack of information regarding the role of nurses in a variety of health care settings really has me wondering what sort of nursing education you actually have.

SierraBravo · Mar 18, 2015

OP - why don't you try putting yourself in your patient's shoes? Do you think they enjoy having a stranger wipe their butts? Probably not. Do you think they would prefer to do it if they could by themselves? Probably so.

You really need to put things in perspective and find a way to be compassionate. Don't get me wrong, I would not prefer to wipe butts all day, I'd primarily rather do what I was educated and trained to do. But the reality is that part of caring for patients is helping them in their times of need, and that includes when they are incontinent.

Don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you need a real attitude adjustment.

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · Mar 18, 2015

As far as cleaning poop, babies is a joke, try it on an adult all day long. You seem to be very arrogant to say it is easy to clean butts. Think before you speak. Adults and peds is different. At times I get obese patients too. What about those? Is that cake for you to do too? You have such a cocky absolute response.

My point was not to be arrogant or cocky. I was well aware in nursing school that I did not want to be running around like a chicken with it's head cut off and I definitely did not want to be wiping adults' butts. That is why I chose NICU. I get the high tech of adult ICU without the adult body in the bed. Maybe you need to find a different career because you seem to be very bitter about nursing and have no respect for those of us who found our niche in nursing.