We're not here for that

Well done! That poor patient. That nursing student needs to get her priorities straight.

The aid finally did show up after we had the patient in the shower and the room cleaned up. She was so apologetic and thanked us. I told her that it wasn't a problem.....she was busy and I wasn't. I guess the part that really bothers me is how can anyone let a patient sit in filth just because it's "not their job" to clean them up.

Shame on the clinical instructor for allowing that kind of culture to develop among students. My class was told from day one that we would never, ever be too good to wipe a butt, and that tending to someone's basic needs was an essential part of being a nurse (not something to be endured or muddled through, but something we CHOSE to do by entering the profession). Anything to the contrary would have been snuffed out immediately had it emerged, which it didn't, because we were made to understand this from the get-go.

I went to LPN school, but we shared the clinical site with a respected ADN program, and their students echoed these "I'm not a CNA" sentiments. It still boggles my mind to this day!

Oh YES we are! That is all my first clinical is. Literally. The PCAs are sitting there twiddling their thumbs because we are doing a lot of what is considered "their" work. I will be honest. At first I thought umm, I am not sure I want to do THAT. But you do it and move on. Even though I was emptying a bedside commode 10 minutes ago, working side by side with the wound care nurse to assist with a wound vac change afterwards was totally worth it. Makes me nuts to see nurses who like to pin the responsibility on somebody else and wander off. Not that everyone does that but still if it is something you can do in your scope of practice to better someone's care, just glove up and do it.

I'm always floored when this type of thing comes up. What exactly do some people think we're doing in nursing school? That somehow we're "above" this sort of thing? What about respecting patients as human beings?? My instructors echo the teachings that we are not above that kind of "dirty" or "menial" work, that it's an important part of what we do.

I've been a CNA for almost 2 years and I see it all the time with nursing students...This one girl who did her rotation there for like 3 months would come and find me every time her patient needed the bedpan/was inc. The first few weeks I was like "I'll show you how!" thinking maybe she was just nervous but she loudly told me in front of her instructor that it was my job to toilet her patient, not hers. Cool. I don't know, if someones gotta go they gotta go, it takes less time to pop a bed pan under them then to go searching for the aide!

Shame on the clinical instructor for allowing that kind of culture to develop among students. My class was told from day one that we would never, ever be too good to wipe a butt, and that tending to someone's basic needs was an essential part of being a nurse (not something to be endured or muddled through, but something we CHOSE to do by entering the profession). Anything to the contrary would have been snuffed out immediately had it emerged, which it didn't, because we were made to understand this from the get-go.

I went to LPN school, but we shared the clinical site with a respected ADN program, and their students echoed these "I'm not a CNA" sentiments. It still boggles my mind to this day!

I agree with my colleagues here. Personal care is in our scope of practice. For example you have a dressing that must be done. The unit is extremely busy, it is toward the end of the shift and your assistant is taking care of another patient. Are you going to neglect your duties? Are you going to just complete the dressing change without cleaning the patient. No, you. You are going to clean the patient and complete your duties. I believe this is part of Maslow's Heirarchy(sp) of needs. Taking into account that we must know how to delegate and prioritize because there are some duties that we can not delegate.

And yes, i am referring to bowel the patient having soiled themselves. A patient that is soiled is upset if a&o x3, and again Maslow's Heirarchy(sp) of needs.

That student is going to have a rude awakening when she gets pooped on one day !! ?

am not sure what college this student was from, but I do know one thing for sure, I would not want to be attending there. I am proud to say that I started at the bottom as a nurses aide, then I became a state tested nurse aide, I later graduated from my first college as a L.P.N., now I am soon to graduate as a RN, BSN. I have never heard that it was not our job. EVER! As a nurse, all of the patients are my responsibility. I sure hope that I never end up with a refusal nurse when I get to "the home", cause all I can say, is I will eat plenty of beans and cabbage and ask for Milk of Magnesium every day. I will paint the walls Brown if I have to! I have to agree that if you are a nurse, you can't always give a shower or change a soiled brief, but you can if you are caught up. It is part of being in the healthcare system, but as a student that is horribly wrong to say that or to even think that it is ok to leave someones needs unattended to.