Squeamishness

Dinatg · Oct 18, 2017

Okay, so when I go to clinical, how long do I have to get comfortable with things before teachers, staff, patients lose their patience with me?

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2017

Okay, so when I go to clinical, how long do I have to get comfortable with things before teachers, staff, patients lose their patience with me?

A patient should never have to see/sense that you're weirded out by the body parts we all have. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who needs help toileting or is incontinent -- how would you want to be treated? With dignity and professionalism, right?

Go on YouTube and search for "CNA training videos" -- you can observe in the privacy of your home/dorm room, and get accustomed to seeing personal care being done. Get in the mirror and practice your professional face.

I will say, I took the CNA class as a senior in HS. I don't know what I thought it would be like -- my school offered it, my mom encouraged me to take it, and I did think it was a good idea. I remember being HORRIFIED that CNAs do "peri care," and even more horrified by the pictures in my book. :laugh: I came home and told my mom, "We have to wash GENITALS!" Her response: "Well yes, sometimes people can't do that for themselves."

When it came time for CNA clinicals, it wasn't even a big deal anymore.

katyq82 · Oct 18, 2017

Its more about not showing your discomfort or awkward feelings at first. The feelings will be there at the beginning and as others have said, it just takes time and practice to become comfortable. There will be lots of times where you need to hide your immediate reaction in order to remain professional and maintain patient comfort/dignity. Practice your stone/neutral face now whenever you encounter any awkward/uncomfortable situation. I always mentally remind myself that this is more uncomfortable for them than it is for me and remind myself how I would feel if I were exposed to others and in need of help. When you have empathy for the individual it is a lot easier to overlook the yuck factor. I wish I had experience as a CNA before I started clinicals, it would have helped SO much. If you have the chance to work as a CNA now I would definitely take it, you will learn a lot. Good luck!

Dinatg · Apr 7, 2018

It's more about actually touching.

K+MgSO4, BSN · Apr 7, 2018

You are touching the PATIENT with gloves on. It is not sexual. You have to seek counselling for this if after 6 months from your inital post plus your other post today.

This is about patient care. You are caring for someone who cannot do this for themselves. For alert and orientated patients who cannot due to injuries or are just so unwell they will be embarrassed enough. As their nurse you need to be professional and calm in the situation. I have sat with a patient in the shower for 40 min washing blood of her dead husband out of her hair. I cried, she cried but other than that I am about keeping a pt clean, fresh and dignified, if that means wiping their nether regions so be it.

For my oldies with dementia I walk them through every step. Having someone who you don't recognise poking at your privates and you can't verbalise it or you have lost your ability to speak English must be terrifyingly strange.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Apr 8, 2018

For my oldies with dementia I walk them through every step. Having someone who you don't recognise poking at your privates and you can't verbalise it or you have lost your ability to speak English must be terrifyingly strange.[/Quote]
Very good point -- especially when you consider that she may have been sexually assaulted in a time when it wasn't talked about.
**Trigger warning** below
At my first CNA job we had a resident who said literally NOTHING but "up my baby, up my baby, up my baby...." This was in a town of maybe 3000 people, and one day a fellow resident who was a&ox4 said that decades ago, it was rumored that her father had raped her. She had a baby, and her father killed him and buried him in the backyard. Obviously that couldn't be substantiated, but it made sense with the constant "up my baby, up my baby"