Yesterday, I was talking to a friend of mine who graduates in May as a RN and since she is head of me in the nursing program I was asking about the second year courses and how they were. I graduate in July 09 but I'll be a LPN and still have two more semesters before getting my RN.
She tells me about theory and then she gets to the clinical part and says : " Don't worry about clinicals, just get your tech to do all the am care... second year you are a " real nurse" and don't have to wipe butts"
That comment made me soooo mad ! :angryfire Yes, I know that in nursing school and as a nurse we can delegate to the techs to provide AM care and etc. but to say that we don't have to wipe butts as a second year student or nurse is absurb. As a nurse and especially a student we are responsible for our patients and we have to make sure they are cleaned. Obviously as a nurse we won't be able to clean up every single patient, due to doing our other nursing duties, however as a nurse I will NEVER let me repeat NEVER feel as though I'm so high and mighty that I can't wipe a butt here and there. I've worked with nurses like this before and its a terrible way to be. I've worked with nurses who'd rather chit chat at the nurses station but when the patient needed a change of linen or to be cleaned up they would just go get the " tech". I've also worked with nurses that took it upon themselves to clean up a patient or to help me clean a patient.
Later that day, I also heard two more nursing students talk about not having to wipe butts as a nurse !
Well I news for you nursing students that feel this way, in bedside nursing yes you will have to clean someone up here and there, and if you don't like it you mind as well get over it now. Yes techs are wonderful because they are able to assist the nurse with these types of duties, however they are busy too and they may not always be able to help clean a patient in time, thus nurses will have to step in.
This just breaks my heart. I can't wait to get out there and start working, I want my techs to know that yes I'm a nurse but I'm also not excused from doing the " dirty" work either.
My mother works in LTC and her techs love her ! Mainly because she helps them out when it comes to bathing. Yes she's busy with her RN duties, however it doesn't take long to help assist with these things. No she doesn't do it on a regular basis and neither will I, however my techs and patients will always know that I'm never above cleaning a soiled patient. :redbeathe
I find the slang "wiping butts" to be demeaning to patients and nurses alike. We care for patients when they are at their most vulnerable, and yes, sometimes we do have to delegate basic nursing care, including cleaning up bowel movements. We can delegate tasks but not the "caring".
My apologies... " Doing Peri- Care" may sound better. :redbeathe Actually, I don't apologize because I was just paraphrasing what the students were saying. I did mention clean the whole time when referring to my self. Ofcourse, we'll never say " Go wipe so and so butt" The better term is clean.
It's sad, but true. I've worked with RN's who would leave a patient's room to hunt me down and tell me that he or she needed to be changed, or that the monitor leads were off, or something else that would have taken her less than 2 minutes to take care of herself. Fortunately rather than learn their bad habits, it just strengthens my resolve to not be that kind of nurse!
I love the CNA's, they are wonderful. They can lift patients, bathe them completely and wonderfully in little time. The one that is assigned to my nurse I'm assigned to always knows she can grab me to move a patient up in the bed, do vitals on the patient sharing my patients room, or grab her something she needs when she's midbath and something is missing that she needs if I'm walking by. In return she's taught me how to make a bed with a patient who cannot move themselves, put on a brief so it actually fits where it's supposed to. I'm also not too good to take out the trash when it's full (the housekeepers do appreciate that as well.)
It's called collaborative care for a reason. Certainly an RN has things she has to do that cannot be delegated and cannot do everything I do when I still only have 1-2 patients, but working as a team makes the atmosphere a whole lot better.
There is nothing more annoying than watching that happen. I teach my students by example as much as possible. If a patient needs to be cleaned up, I pitch in. It's a great time for me to demonstrate skin assessment and caring. I delegate only when I am occupied with another task that can't be performed by a CNA.
I remember being shocked one day when a CNA entered the room after I had bathed a patient and changed the linens. The CNA said NO RNs on that floor ever did this. I told her that there may be a time when I will need assistance and will ask, but that I will never abuse someone else by asking for help while I sit at the desk with my feet up. To me, this is the height of selfishness and laziness.
Caring for people in such a fundamental way can be really rewarding. I've run a lot of codes and performed a lot of technical skills, but it's usually the simplest thing that makes my day- a patient saying "I feel so much better now that I'm clean," or "Thank you for taking the time to sit with me."
It's so rare when I have the time to provide the total, ideal care every patient deserves, that I love it when I have this chance.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
You are missing the point. Step #1 of the nursing process--Assess. One of the reasons a licensed nurse would want to wipe a butt is for the assessment information. It gives the nurse an opportunity to assess the person's skin, know that the patient did indeed have a BM that day and to know the character of the feces all that they observed with their own senses. Getting the information from a CNA or tech is subjective data.
Thanks-- the way we speak really does make a difference. I have a feeling you are a very good nurse already.
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NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN
3,959 Posts
My apologies... " Doing Peri- Care" may sound better. :redbeathe Actually, I don't apologize because I was just paraphrasing what the students were saying. I did mention clean the whole time when referring to my self. Ofcourse, we'll never say " Go wipe so and so butt" The better term is clean.