Some times, you just don’t want to think about it. A lot of times, I don’t even want to acknowledge it. But yes, it really is a part of my life. There is poop in my job! Literally. I am proud to be an occupational therapist. I think it’s great fun. It is so rewarding to help people achieve independence in their daily lives. But some times….poop happens.
I don’t typically spend my days wiping butts. It is not in my scope of practice. Part of my job, as an OT, is to train and educate people on toileting, toilet hygiene, safely getting to the toilet. It’s possible to educate someone who has had a stroke how to wipe with the other hand or advise a pt on assistive devices for wiping.
Today I wiped three butts. It’s a nursing thing to do that but some times, at work, the nurses and aides are so busy. I only have so much one on one time with my pt, I don’t want to waste it waiting for someone to wipe the butt. The thing that made me laugh today was that one of my pts had explosive bowel movements. One thing that delays pt discharge is whether the pt has had a bowel movement or not. This one pt had not pooped since Saturday. The MDs had ordered 6 different items to help with his poop. Metamucil, stool softeners, lactulose. Poor guy. He was so blocked up one minute, the next he’s rushing to the bathroom with explosions. I mean, he almost fainted, he was so tired from all the exertion! It could have been a real emergency if he had fainted in the bathroom after having all those bowel movements! Poor guy.
It was just part of my day.