Cleaning bedpans, all types of bedpans, if not a fun job. Even so, it’s part of being a medical professional. By the time your first week is up you’ll know all about cushioned bed pans and disposable mattress pads and which are the best walkers for seniors. This might not be the type of information that you thought you would be learning when it came to working with the sick and injured but it’s all apart of the job. Eventually you will move on to the specification that you wanted to work in. If you are on bedpan duty, or rather- when you are on bedpan duty there are a few things that you should know about it. Here are some tips for staying clean while you disinfect all types of bedpans.
Wear a Short Sleeved Gown
Wearing a short sleeved gown to clean up rather than a long sleeve may seem silly. Wouldn’t a long sleeve cover more? How about this instead: wear a short sleeve gown so that the sleeves don’t drag in the bedpan and then pair it with long latex gloves. This way you are all covered up with no change of dragging your sleeve through, getting the contents not only on your sleeve and yourself but on any surrounding area that your sleeve touches or drips on.
Eat a Mint, Wear a Mask
When you wear a mask it should be put over your mouth as well as your nose. If you eat a strong flavored peppermint mint then the smell of your minty breath will cover up the smell of the contents in the bedpan. Chewing gum is probably not a good idea because gum doesn’t exactly attract particles from the air but it certainly catches them. You don’t want to be chewing waste particles that were in the air before you put your mask on or after you took it off.
Tie Your Hair Up
You could even wear a head scarf if you want to. The main reason for tying your hair up is so that it doesn’t fall into the types of bedpans you’ll be using. If you have short hair you might not think it necessary to cover it because it’s not long enough to drag through the waste in the bedpan. However, there are times that the waste will splash and while you can easily clean off your skin, cleaning your hair while you are at work is not quite as simple. Of course if you are very careful you’ll be fine but it’s a lot easier to be able to get your job done if your hair is covered and you don’t even have to worry about it.
Don’t Rush it
The more in a hurry you are the more likely you are to spill the contents of the bed pan. You also probably won’t do a very good job at cleaning. You should be doing every job to the best of your ability no matter how much you dislike it.
Be Sensitive
You might be cleaning bedpans while the patient that used it is sitting there. Chances are, if they are coherent, they do not want to be using any of the types of bedpans just as much as you don’t want to be cleaning them. Try and be sensitive to their plight. Gagging and making grossed out faces is entirely unprofessional. No matter how much it much it pains you to be in charge of this job, put on your poker face and get the job done without so much as a sniffle. The patient will be so appreciative that you do not make a big deal out of having to clean up after them.
Keep in mind that this won’t be your main job forever. Once you move up the medical food chain, you’ll notice that you’ll spend less time cleaning bed pans and changing diapers for adults and more time helping patients and doing what you went to school to do. Even so, being able to efficiently and professionally clean a bed pan is not something that just anyone can do. If you can master this part of your medical career then you’ll be on your way to bigger and better things in no time.
