To ask if you perform personal care in your profession..

[PennyDeadful]

Hi everyone,

Sorry to post in AIBU but it's a little bit for traffic and partly because I didn't know where else to ask

Basically my question is can you get used to doing personal care specifically the toilet aspect of it or is it something you have to already be able to do?

I'm asking because I'm doing a mental health nursing degree next year and the first year is learning all aspects of nursing including personal care which I didn't realise - I'm fully prepared to do it as it's a profession I really want to do however I have a very weak stomach even changing my toddlers nappy can be a challenge and realistically I know it's just well poo, a normal human bodily function but my gag reflex is a bit harder to convince.

I've googled it but nothing is really coming up so I thought on here they'd be nurses, carers and others who have experienced giving personal care that can offer some advice.

I am fully prepared to be told to get a grip which I know I need to do but would just like to hear people's experience.

Also I know personal care isn't all carers and nurses do but it's the aspect I'm most worried about which is why I'm asking.

Thank you

What area of mental health nursing are you thinking about if you want to avoid personal care?

@Boooooot I'm not saying I want to avoid it but looking at the job opportunities (some with further training) it can be avoided -

CBT therapist - you can do this remotely (although you do need further training)

Working in the community such as home treatment team, perinatal team etc - not saying you wouldn't come across personal care but it wouldn't be an everyday occurrence I don't think.

You can even be a PIP assessor, don't know if I fancy that though.

I think there is ways and means if you wanted to avoid it completely however like mentioned I don't, I appreciate its part of the job and I want to be able to help people which is why I asked about it.

The thing is, mental health nursing is very hard work. And you need to work in an area youre passionate about. Things like personal care shouldn’t even come into your decision. You will never finish the degree though if you can’t do personal care. Get some volunteering in as a hca to see if you can manage it.

It can be hard at first but quickly gets easier
Vicks up my nose and black currant fisherman's friends were my saviour!
Although I kept the fisherman friends sweets in my pocket, one guy I did personal care for would always pinch one when he was rolled towards me I used to say I was going to put something horrible in my tunic pockets for him to find

I appreciate that, I genuinely think I'd be a good mental health nurse and can help a lot of people - it is something I am passionate about however I can't help a reflex, I can't say why it happens it just does which Is why I asked for the advice because I don't want it to stand in my way.

I went into Nursing at 18 straight form school and within weeks we were having to deal with every type of bodily fluid but that was general nursing. I had no experience of dealing with it previously. I would say with MH nursing yes you are going to come across situations where people will vomit, self harm ( so potentially blood), you may do placements on psychiatric units for the elderley where people may be incontinent, smear faeces, become faecally impacted and need sorting out etc.

What area are you passionate about? This may change on your placements too. Ist if the nurses I studied with started with an idea of where they wanted to go but changed their minds on placements.

Yes and no, it’s not that it didn’t affect me anymore it’s just that Professional Riotlady can power through in a way that Home Riotlady can’t always manage! You are also focused on the task at hand and making people comfortable as well so that’s a distraction.

I am a RMN and RGN so have worked in both mental health wards and general wards. I would say that on a general ward there is much more exposure to urine, faeces and vomit but it is generally within expected scenarios such as changing beds of incontinent patients. In mental health ( aside from dementia units) there is less exposure to it but it can be more difficult to deal with when it occurs. It is difficult cleaning someone who doesn't want to be cleaned and is uncooperative, people do throw poo and wipe it on themselves and in rooms. You may also have to deal with blood from self injuries. I think most people get used to it and when you qualify you can choose an area with less exposure to it. I am old enough to remember when RMN training included 3 months on general hospital placements which meant we all got used to bodily fluids!

This brings back memories of me having to deal with a man who had had poor hygiene for a while and having to try and clean the ' cottage cheese' ( as we called it) from under his foreskin. It was a long job but very satisfying when done.

@Boooooot originally I wanted to work at a acute therapy outpatient facility basically where patients come in for a week or so and we teach them crisis management and how to deal with emotions and offer a bit of 121 therapy (I am actually volunteering there in the summer).

But after watching some videos of people doing/done mental health nursing they've said a lot of people changed their minds on placements and actually found things they thought they wouldn't like really enjoyable so I'm going in to it with an open mind.

I’ve worked as an RMN for 13 years, last 8/9 years in the community with very little exposure to any personal care. Some pretty horrible things to deal with working on the ward, a patient who used a full stoma bag as a weapon springs to mind. I don’t like dealing with bodily fluids but you just have to tolerate it and get through. Showing willing will go a long way when you’re training.

As you say, there are many areas you can go into which you will have pretty much no contact with personal care. You will most likely be able to choose where you work if you are a half decent nurse as almost every trust is massively understaffed and in need of new nurses.

Good luck with your training.

Easily got used to the Pooh, every now and then one of our guys will be on movicol and those can be full on.

I'll do Pooh and vomit all day over wiping a green snotty nose or dealing with phlegm.

In fact my second day on the job a client vomited all over my back and hair etc. there was so much of it. I'm surprised I went back.

I’ve worked in care for 15 years but nearly didn’t just because I’ve got a weak stomach (or so I thought) I did gag occasionally but you do get used to it and it is such a small part of the job. The Vicks up the nose is a good idea also sucking a mint helped me. Good luck

I’m a carer and am doing an adult nursing degree and the best advice I ever got was from my MIL (also a nurse) which was to think of it as faeces and urine and your brain puts a mental barrier up.

takes a few weeks but I can happily deal with a bowel movement, their placement on the Bristol stool chart, colouring etc.

I have my own stomach issues and have made myself throw up at the smell but somehow that’s poo. Not faeces.

This is so true. I can’t bear sputum. For others it’s vomit, or poo etc.

For a brief time in my teens I wanted to be a nurse and ended up doing a summer placement in a care home. One of my first jobs was to clear up a 'poo explosion'. A poorly patient had a stomach bug, hadn't made it to the commode in time and in the panic had knocked over a jug of water. Puddles of poo everywhere. I was mortified but then so was the patient so I just did my best to clean everything up and try and reassure him it was totally fine. I found that when I concentrated on getting him clean and comfy, I was less aware of how I felt.

However, that's probably the main reason I now work in marketing and not nursing. 😂

I was a care assistant all the way through college and uni. Yes, the first couple of times were hard but I soon realised that actually, I wanted to clean the residents up. I did not mind the commodes and the sodden inco pads. Besides the fact that I was being paid to do it, it would be inhumane not to. I wouldn't want DM or the PILs to be left sitting in their own mess nor would I want it for myself.

Don't make the same mistake I made in my first week though - a resident asked if I could empty her bag. I took her handbag and placed the contents on the table. That wasn't the bag she was referring to!

I have worked with children with disabilities and challenging behaviours. Some clients were behavioural vomiting so they could vomit on demand and would target your face. Lots of smearing too. I find it relatively easy to breathe through my mouth.

I'm afraid nursing involves more than poo, in all it's forms c diff, Nora virus etc, but snot vomit puss pee, various discharges etc, but don't let it put you off, put a bit of vic on your mask when you know it's going to be a hellish situation, works for me.