This is not my job?!?

[Ally0981]

I am a student and my pt couldn't make it to the bathroom. Poop all over the floor. I went out in the hall and told a housekeeper staff member what had happened and asked her to clean it very politely. I also suggested a mop would be useful (wet poop). She caught the biggest attitude and asked me why I couldn't do it. I said if I had the cleaning materials I'd have no problem. Then her friend (male) told her to calm down, which made her even more enraged. Long story short, it took her 4.5 hrs to finally clean it up.

First of all, that really isn't an rn's job, or should I say priority. Second of all, that is why she gets paid, or a tech's job? How should I have handled this?:confused:

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

Oh, I'm confused by the post I quoted below-- who uses paper towels to bathe a resident?

I was referring to the poster who said they used regular towels as well as paper towels to clean up poop.

However good a laundry is, I wouldn't feel comfortable using a towel that had been used a day prior to wipe poopie off the floor. Would you?

[RNKel, ASN, RN]

I am a student and my pt couldn't make it to the bathroom. Poop all over the floor. I went out in the hall and told a housekeeper staff member what had happened and asked her to clean it very politely. I also suggested a mop would be useful (wet poop). She caught the biggest attitude and asked me why I couldn't do it. I said if I had the cleaning materials I'd have no problem. Then her friend (male) told her to calm down, which made her even more enraged. Long story short, it took her 4.5 hrs to finally clean it up.

First of all, that really isn't an rn's job, or should I say priority. Second of all, that is why she gets paid, or a tech's job? How should I have handled this?:confused:

Wow... I'm a senior year student and if I or any of my classmates would have done this, we'd be in for some SERIOUS trouble. It IS our job as student nurses to clean up messes like this, and it isn't our job to delegate something like this to housekeeping. I probably would've asked to borrow a mop or asked where I could find one, but no way in HECK would I have ever thought it was appropriate for me to ask them to do it.

[pielęgniarka, RN]

My facility doesn't allow staff to use cloth towels to clean up a soiled patient or soiled whatevah, gotta use the disposable wipes.

I was referring to the poster who said they used regular towels as well as paper towels to clean up poop.

However good a laundry is, I wouldn't feel comfortable using a towel that had been used a day prior to wipe poopie off the floor. Would you?

[bagladyrn, RN]

I don't think anyone is being overly harsh with the OP - just realistic. No matter who you are and what your "job description", it is totally unacceptable for feces to sit on the floor in the patient's room for 4 1/2 hours. Yes the housekeeping staff was inaapropriate, but you can't control other people's behavior, only your own. The student, or nurse should have cleaned it up in the interests of patient comfort (how horrible for them to know this was there for all that time!), safety and sanitation. If there was concern about "job description" that could be handled later with the housekeeper's supervisor.

I think over the years I've cleaned about anything the human body could expel off floors, walls, patients and myself and my first thought was always to do it in such a matter of fact way that it would minimize the embarassment and discomfort the patient was feeling.

[RNKel, ASN, RN]

Could any of the "professional" nurses in this thread been a bit nicer to the OP, who is a student and not an employee of the facility she was at today?

Seriously?

Do you think one of you could have been just a bit less judgmental and a little bit nicer?

Honestly, I think people were very kind and forgiving to her... I kept reading because I sure expected to read some pretty heated replies, but there weren't any. I've seen a LOT worse flamings on here.

[lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN]

Pt safety and promoting their dignity IS the nurse's job. A big pile of crap on the floor doesn't promote either one. If I were the pt's family member, I'd be ******.

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

When that happens on my unit, the techs and/or nurse clean it up...usually one person is in the bathroom or assisting the patient to the BSC while the other cleans up the floor/changes linens etc. We clean it up with towels and then wipe down the area with germicidal wipes. If it's a major mess, other nurses will jump in and help, usually without even being asked. I would NEVER tell housekeeping that they needed to get in there and do it. They're too needed for cleaning d/c rooms so we can get new admits in.

For what it's worth, I've been a nurse for over eight years.

[Eirene, ASN, RN]

Could any of the "professional" nurses in this thread been a bit nicer to the OP, who is a student and not an employee of the facility she was at today?

Seriously?

Do you think one of you could have been just a bit less judgmental and a little bit nicer?

The OP opened a thread and asked us how we would have handled it. A majority of us all agreed how it should have been handled.

Common sense is common sense. Allowing stool to be on the floor for 4.5 hours is not practicing common sense.

[Annisme]

I am also a student who would have been in some serious trouble with my CI in this situation. I also work as an extern and would never consider calling housekeeping to expect them to do this.

Your patient, your responsibility. period. If they need a bath, give it; if they need water, get it; if they poop on the floor, clean it up.

Sorry if you think these answers are harsh, but you did ask what everyone else would do.

[NursingAgainstdaOdds]

Well, at this point in the thread, you've already learned how most nurses would react to a similar situation. No need to rehash that! Rough day at clinical. I am concerned as to what your instructor had to say? They are either not paying enough attention to what is going on, or setting a very bad example (with the "not your job" business). Here's the thing - our first priority is essential safety. Part of safety is cleanliness (paging Ms. Nightingale...), and this particular situation poses inherent safety and health risks (in addition to being yucky). From my perspective, one will earn far much more respect and admiration of co-workers by being the nurse who will jump-in and clean-up the biggest mess, rather than being the nurse who is too respectful or qualified to do so.

So, lesson learned. Chalk it up to experience and move on. If your instructor had any part in this, I highly suggest you speak with their superior.

[Midwest4me]

I'm in agreement with some of the other posters here: you should've cleaned up the mess....just as you should take the extra time to set a pt on a bedpan or commode if you're within just a few feet of the pt--yes I KNOW there i a reason for housekeeping and nursing aides---but in nursing, you HAVE nursing

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

No doubt you are all the same nurses who run to get the call light ahead of the aide every time there is one of those type of threads.

When can I meet one of you in real life? I've never worked with a single one of you.

And please tell me what is wrong with wanting access to a mop and bucket if I'm really expected to do this? And yes, I've been a nurse for five years and obviously I have done this cleaning with the paper towels and finding hand sanitizer to wipe the floor with afterwards.

Yes, I find it disgusting that I've seen people use regular towels to wipe up excrement off the floor because they have nothing else to do it with.

And yes, you could have been nicer to the student. Wiping-up-poop 101 probably wasn't on the test, and I'm sure she didn't know.