Braiding a patients hair: For nurses or just Care assistants

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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  1. Braiding a patients hair: For nurses or just care assistants

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On my current placement, I'm a Year 3 Adult branch student nurse. I braided my patients hair (cornrows) x2 within the same week when the ward was quiet and now I can't stop hearing about it even though it happened 3/4 weeks ago. I had acknowledged that I see where they are coming from about the hair braiding issue. However I would like more opinions about this.

I believe it is a part of basic nursing care to promote patient dignity and well being making them feel a bit better about themselves as well being able to build a rapport with them. Especially if you have the time and ability for doing it. But apparently it is not a nurses job to be doing such things.

P.S This is likely to be the first of many post from me.

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Specializes in ER, Addictions, Geriatrics.
On my current placement, I'm a Year 3 Adult branch student nurse. I braided my patients hair (cornrows) x2 within the same week when the ward was quiet and now I can't stop hearing about it even though it happened 3/4 weeks ago. I had acknowledged that I see where they are coming from about the hair braiding issue. However I would like more opinions about this.

I believe it is a part of basic nursing care to promote patient dignity and well being making them feel a bit better about themselves as well being able to build a rapport with them. Especially if you have the time and ability for doing it. But apparently it is not a nurses job to be doing such things.

P.S This is likely to be the first of many post from me.

If a nurse has time, why shouldn't they? I've sat down and given one of my residents a mini manicure during the day when it was slow. I never felt that it was beneath me.

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I am a student nurse and an STNA. If I have the time in either place (work/clinical) I do everything I can think of to make the patient happier or feel better about themselves. Nurses are usually very busy depending on the floor and staffing ratio, so I can understand where they cant find the time to do it. When I am doing therapeutic communication I try to also do a small assessment and interact. Many times I have brushed a patient's hair during communication, not because they needed it but because it felt good to them. My other option being sitting in a chair while having a conversation. Often i like to give small hand massages while talking, they usually find it very comforting. If you have the time for it then why not. I would tell them that you were performing other activities, (skin/scalp assessment, therapeutic communication, patient teaching) while braiding.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

of course it is your responsibility! It is everyone's responsibility. I once had a job at a prominent hospital when I first got married and I had to move to another state. I was given the "gomer" (long term unconscious patient) til I "proved myself" so that night I shaved this poor patient who obviously had not had any facial oral care in a LONG TIME I re-taped his ETT tube(breathing tube) that was covered with so much crud you couldn't tell it was white tape and it SMELLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cleaned taped and chatted with my patient telling him what I was doing...2 of the night "charge nurses" came into the patients wanted to know what I was doing and why was I wasting my time on a "gomer"...I directed them out of the room and reminded that hearing was the past to go....all patients deserved to be clean and the patients family will know he was really cared for by someone who cared. I was told that was NOT how they practiced there.....I quit first thing in the morning.

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Specializes in ER, Addictions, Geriatrics.
of course it is your responsibility! It is everyone's responsibility. I once had a job at a prominent hospital when I first got married and I had to move to another state. I was given the "gomer" (long term unconscious patient) til I "proved myself" so that night I shaved this poor patient who obviously had not had any facial oral care in a LONG TIME I re-taped his ETT tube(breathing tube) that was covered with so much crud you couldn't tell it was white tape and it SMELLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cleaned taped and chatted with my patient telling him what I was doing...2 of the night "charge nurses" came into the patients wanted to know what I was doing and why was I wasting my time on a "gomer"...I directed them out of the room and reminded that hearing was the past to go....all patients deserved to be clean and the patients family will know he was really cared for by someone who cared. I was told that was NOT how they practiced there.....I quit first thing in the morning.

Oh my goodness. Seriously?! I would have quit as well. The "gomer" patients are often the ones that can benefit from that extra TLC! I quite enjoy having the time to do those extra things with my patients, if it were my family or myself, I'd want someone to care enough to do that as well :)

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If/when i have time I always find ways to be with my residents. I'll comb their hair, give them a nice mani (soaking their hands, lotion, polish etc), wash them up, just sit with them and talk, read to them, or sit quietly and hold their hand.

No aspect of care (ADLs, physical, or emotional) is beneath me or nor am I of the thinkin something is just one person or the others 'job'. I'm a nurse, I provide care to them.

I often envy my team of CNA's, they GET to have that 1:1 time w/the patients. I miss that.

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If you have the time, why not? Nurses are not meant to just care for the physical/medical well-being, but the emotional and spiritual well-being as well.

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Specializes in CCM, PHN.

You guys are making me tear up. :) I love knowing some of us still do this extra stuff. It means SO SO much to patients and families. Back when I worked LTC I also caught crap from co workers because I would use down time to do gentle manis, foot care, hair-dos & makeup for the ladies, and help the guys with a halfway decent shave w/hot towel & slick their hair back. I also used to wash eyeglasses - actually wash them with soap and water. You'd be amazed what that can do. Don't EVER apologize for this stuff as long as it doesn't disrupt your work or others work, and KEEP it going!!!

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Specializes in Pedi.
On my current placement, I'm a Year 3 Adult branch student nurse. I braided my patients hair (cornrows) x2 within the same week when the ward was quiet and now I can't stop hearing about it even though it happened 3/4 weeks ago. I had acknowledged that I see where they are coming from about the hair braiding issue. However I would like more opinions about this.

I believe it is a part of basic nursing care to promote patient dignity and well being making them feel a bit better about themselves as well being able to build a rapport with them. Especially if you have the time and ability for doing it. But apparently it is not a nurses job to be doing such things.

P.S This is likely to be the first of many post from me.

This is my only thought... are the staff who keep talking about it perhaps thinking that, as a student, you shouldn't have the extra time to be doing this? I'm not saying you shouldn't and I think it's a valuable thing to do with extra time, but I wonder if maybe they were thinking that you should have been seeking out other things... like looking for a nurse who was dropping an NG tube to assist with that? I could be way off, but I can see that some nurses might think that.

That said, if you have the time OF COURSE it is the nurse's role to do these things. Obviously you're not going to prioritize it over getting your other patient his chemo but if everyone is settled and you're caught up, I don't see a reason why you couldn't braid a patient's hair. Many places do not have "care assistants" and in places that do, they are just as busy as nurses. Patients will always remember when you do something extra for them... I once had a child who loved this little taxi car we had. It was outside of his room with a sign on it that said "Save for Joe" (not his real name). One day when I was taking care of him, it disappeared. This car was actual invaluable for this child as he'd had a stroke and had significant gross motor impairments from it. When he was driving around in this car, he had to sit up with minimal support and it forced him to use both arms and both legs. As I was leaving the hospital that day (late) I found the taxi car by the main entrance. To this day I can't think how it migrated down there other than maybe someone who was being discharged decided to give their kid a ride out. Anyway, I immediately snatched it and ran it back upstairs. It made me 10 minutes later getting home but so what. Several years passed and he returned to my floor a few times... and his parents always mentioned it when I took care of him.

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Specializes in LTC.

I'm not a nurse, still pre-nursing, but years ago I spent 3 months in ICU and critical care as an extremely sick patient. I had long hair to my waist. As I laid in bed, my hair knotted and could barely be brushed anymore.... One nurse came along and said that we had to fix that... She put tight cornrows in and cared for them regularly... She saved my hair... It meant so much to me... My body was broken and scared from the surgeries the day I left the hospital, I was pale, thin, muscles were wasted, I was weak, but my hair? My hair was falling in soft waves the day I left. I got to keep that one piece of pride, that one piece of me... I never forgot that nurse...

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

I keep extra ponytail holders in my bag just for this.. I have done several. We get mostly trauma's so when the pt is stable, we will wash and condition their hair, most of us will braid the pts hair that is longer :) This is a norm in both of the ICU's I have worked.

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This is an extremely late reply. But I revisited today and wanted to thank you all for your replies.

Things didn't work out at the time. Eventually had a meltdown and fell into deep depression because of certain things I experienced. But it is great reading all of your replies. I still have some after effects but it is good to receive confirmation that compassionate nursing is still sought after and valued by the international nursing team and it puts things into perspective.

I am studying nursing again (thank God) and I will make sure to be a champion for personalised and dignified care.

God bless you all. Keep being you.! :nurse::up:

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