This is not my job?!?

Nurses General Nursing

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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::confused::confused:

At my facility housekeeping probably would have been pretty upset too. Our housekeepers cannot clean up two things: feces and blood. They can mop over these things after we've already cleaned it, but that's about it.

ALL of our nursing staff knows they are not above cleaning poop. I'm a CNA and a nursing student and would probably have been rubbed the wrong way about you leaving the feces there for 4.5 hours. Usually the one who is there when it happens starts cleanup and gets help as needed and then housekeeping will come and mop up later.

As others have said, paper towels and gloves. Even damp washcloths and towels. There was no reason for this to be as big of a deal as it was.

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.
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?

Well, I know I am probably opening a can of worms here, but I have to agree with Mommyof2sons that I read through all the replies, and I do not see any replies that were overly harsh, but didn't really see any except for the ones that you posted.

IMO, other posters seemed to be answering the OP's question as matter of factly, cutting to the chase. And, yes, the OP is a student, but I would rather find out those answers when I was a student than after I hit the floor as a nurse. Staff on the floor/unit would be a little more receptive to her with this as a student, some may look at a new nurse in this situation as having "RNitis" and wrongly assuming that she had an attitude.

I am glad that I am not the only responder that felt that the replies were informing the OP, being professional at the same time. I have been there, done that, seeing firsthand some of the remarks made to new nurses with similar situations, and some of them were less than pleasant. I would rather be informed as a student, than after I hit the floor. I worked as a CNA, ward clerk, and switchboard operator before and during LPN school, and then as an LPN while in RN school, so fortunately I had some ideas regarding these types of duties before irritating another staff member.

I am sure that you will flame me nicely for my opinion, but that's all it is, just one nurses opinion. I have been a nurse for 17 yrs, and my dh has been a nursing supervisor for almost 20 yrs, and we have both seen episodes on the floor where someone got angry regarding duties of this sort. If it were me, I would rather be informed as a student. And, like I said, that's just me.

Anne, RNC :banghead::banghead:

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Specializes in long term care, alzheimer's, ltc rehab.
I would have cleaned as much up as possible then had it wet mopped. I wouldn't want it left on the pt's floor for 4.5 hours. It only takes a few minutes to clean it up so I probably would have done it myself.

I totally second this...if i see a mess like that anywhere i clean it up myself...it's a HUGE dignity issue for the patient.

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Specializes in Stepdown progressive care.

I usually end up cleaning things like blood, poop, etc up myself because if we don't get the majority of it up, our housekeeping staff won't mop it up. Housekeeping has refused in the past to clean up stuff that we haven't already attempted to get up. Plus they take so long to come, it's faster to do it myself.

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Sorry,but it is your job to get the "doo-doo" off of the floor and to clean

any substantial mess.The housekeepers can then go over the floor to disinfect.Think of your pt. and how they feel.We All do things that aren't our jobs.It all goes hand in hand.:nono:

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.

I totally second this...if i see a mess like that anywhere i clean it up myself...it's a HUGE dignity issue for the patient.

Mikey - I agree completely!! Besides being s big safety issue, if the patient is A and O, they don't want to and should not have to lie there while staff members argue over whose job is it to clean it up. Even if the patient is confused, I don't think visitors would want to be there for all that.

Anne, RNC

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Specializes in long term care, alzheimer's, ltc rehab.
Mikey - I agree completely!! Besides being s big safety issue, if the patient is A and O, they don't want to and should not have to lie there while staff members argue over whose job is it to clean it up. Even if the patient is confused, I don't think visitors would want to be there for all that.

Anne, RNC

Oh, trust me, on the days I'm at work, I make sure NOTHING like that happens...my ltc folks are my extended family and I treat them as such.

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At most facilities I've worked, housekeeping is not allowed to clean up anything that contains bodily fluids. Nursing staff is to do it.

I've also worked in facilities which don't even have housekeeping. The nurses do it all- unfortunately.

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I've also worked in facilities which don't even have housekeeping. The nurses do it all- unfortunately.

At least that's being honest about the whole thing. No paying anyone to sit with a miserable face for half an hour at a nurses station while the nurse is busy.

I strongly suspect the reason nursing is not allowed to have the key to the closet or near a real mop is because then housekeeping would have to justify their existence.

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.
At least that's being honest about the whole thing. No paying anyone to sit with a miserable face for half an hour at a nurses station while the nurse is busy.

I strongly suspect the reason nursing is not allowed to have the key to the closet or near a real mop is because then housekeeping would have to justify their existence.

You know, maybe house keeping sucks were you work, but that doesn't mean that all house keepers everywhere are bad workers. Some of them are very dedicated to the work they do and do a very good job at keeping our facilty clean. It would do you well to have a little common respect for them.

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Just to clarify... I did clean it up the best I could. There was also poop encrusted in the floor (this wasn't the first time). All she really needed to do was run "the/her" mop over the floor. I got the major stuff up OF COURSE!

If the job didn't req a mop I would NOT have asked "housekeeping" or w/e they refer as.

I was the one doing the dirty work here...NOT HER!:banghead:

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It would do you well to have a little common respect for them.

It would do most other departments well to have a little common respect for the nursing department.

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