Does RN registered nurse do "dirty work" in the hospital or is that the nurse assistant job?

As an RN, you will deal with bodily fluids of all types. If it's 3am and a patient pukes, you change the bedding and get it cleaned up; you don't sit around and wait for housekeeping, janitorial, or a CNA. Your patients are helpless. They don't want to be pooping in their bed any more than you want them to.

Depends on the size of the hospital and the size of the unit and the size of the staff on that shift. I can GUARANTEE that if you go into nursing, you WILL bath a patient and clean up crap at least once in your career. You might not do it after 10-15 years of seniority, but you WILL do it when you start on at least one occasion.

I am a school nurse – and last week we had a patient who came in with the flu. As soon as I sat him down in the exam room to take his vital signs, he vomited. Patient was quite sick and he felt so badly about making the mess and I had to reassure him that it was absolutely nothing to be sorry about. I was able to clean up the mess, and provided him with a gown so he can go back to his dorm at least partially dressed. A few days later I ran into him on campus and he thanked me for taking care of him. It is a very large school, and by then I didn't immediately recognize him. We talked for a bit and I told him that it was my duty to do so and one day, I will be a patient, and I do hope that an understanding and kind nurse will look after me. That's what it comes down to. One day, a loved ones will be in the hospital, and you just hope that a decent nurse will look after that person without going, "Eeeeeww!" You have to adjust your attitude right now, or look into doing something else that you will not have to do this. This is not a personal attack, but you will make a very unhappy nurse going into the field thinking this way. Best wishes

Everyone else is correct. . . you'll never even make it through nursing school if you are unwilling to perform these tasks. The good news is, not all nursing jobs involve very much of this kind of work. Yes, if you work in a hospital or nursing home you will do more of it, but even so it's a rather small part of your job and it's not like you would even spend 20% of your shift doing these things. If you work in an out patient clinic you wouldn't do much of this at all. If you get some kind of administrative nursing job you wouldn't even be doing patient care (but usually you need pt care experience to qualify for administrative jobs).

As an RN, you're trained to do EVERYTHING - and that includes bathing and cleaning the patients. Not all hospitals have (enough) NAs to help, so you'll be required to do it now and then. Even in large hospitals, if it's busy, you may have to do it yourself.

All answers are spot on. Without myself or I am sure no other answers meant to be rude, I will be blunt. I am a R.N. who worked in a very small hospital that cleaned up "pampers" and all bodily fluids on a normal basis. I also worked with the type of nurse and they come in all ages that have the mentality "I am a nurse, I am not doing that". If you are a nurse and will not clean up poop, pee, vomit, blood from YOUR PATIENT for whatever reason- maybe all nursing aides are busy, or they are all being lazy- does it matter. What if you were laying there and had an accident, or threw up all over yourself and newly paralyzed and thinking how embarrassed, depressed, cold and wanting cleaned up!!! It doesnt all have dramatics such as that, but some in face are newly paralyzed, or for the first time for whatever reason can't provide basic self care for themselves. Some also are so used to being cleaned up they just want cleaned up!!!!! But point is, it is a job that requires maturity, compassion, and I am again crediting those who answered before me a true calling and if your mom or yourself were needing cleaned up and a nurse was in the room and replied "Oh well, it's been 15 minutes, I am so sorry. I am a nurse and do not deal with that sort of tasks, and I will make sure and find one of our aides and get them in here ASAP." Think what you would want to do to that nurse!!

I think nursing requires a special person......someone who is truly compassionate. You will see parts of patients they don't want a stranger to see, and overall be in a vulnerable spot. Not sure if you have experienced being a patient, but patients can pick up on the genuine staff who truly care versus the person who thinks they are doing someone a favor. If you can't handle bodily fluids and don't want to mess up your little Dora scrubs, then nursing probably isn't for you. Nurses wear scrubs for a reason. They aren't just made in pretty colors and themes to be stylish.

Being a nurse is a lot of work and yes it involves getting down and dirty.

Yes an an RN you will be responsible for providing personal care to your patients.Just because you are a nurse doesn't mean you can expect someone else to do the work. There may be aides working on the floor but you will still need to deal with cleaning up your patients on occasion.