Am I the ONLY person who had trouble just making a bed to nursing standards?

moonbunnie · Feb 19, 2004

yah, i hate making beds. i am a cna now, and i always joke with my friends at work that i make the crappiest beds ever. i just can never get all the sheets to line up, and the top is always wrinkly, and i cant get the pillow tucked under the cover like they do at hotels. but i figure that how the beds look is something that the residents really dont care about as long as i take good care of them, and i have never had a complaint yet. but im sure im gonna have to be graded on it all over again when i start nursing school this fall...who knows, maybe ill finally have a brilliant moment when i figure out how to do it right...until then, my beds will just have to look crappy :chuckle

MaggieJo · Feb 19, 2004

:roll I feel so much better to hear someone else have that problem. I was horrible at it whem we checked off on it. (Barely made it) And it's the only thing that I dread when I go to clinicals! Give me all the IMs, IV's Foley's, and I'll proudly and confidently give them, but please, please let the night shift already made the bed and given baths! :rotfl: At least most of the time, the patient just cares that they have clean linen, not about the mitered corners.

-Maggie

AmyLiz · Feb 19, 2004

I was lucky...my grandmother taught me how to make hospital corners when I was little (helping her make beds at her house). It stuck with me & I still make beds this way at home (much to my husband's annoyance), so it wasn't too tough for me. A few folks in my CNA Training class had trouble though. I think the hardest part is making an occupied bed & keeping the cover sheet over the person. But then I figure it doesn't have to look perfect if the person's already in it, right?? :)

Rapheal · Feb 19, 2004

After learning how to tuck the corners to perfection in school I now never do this. The older patients tend to get their legs stuck or tangled in these tucked sheets when they try to get out of bed. That is just an accident waiting to happen IMHO. This skill does come in handy when I want MY bed to look good though. :)

LeesieBug · Feb 19, 2004

So far, our clinicals have been so busy that no one seems to give a hoot how well we make the beds, thank goodness.........just so they are made. I am glad, because with all the other stuff to worry about, I would not want to stress over whether or not my corners are JUST right.

belladelicious · Feb 20, 2004

lol, no! I'm horrible at it too. I felt like such an idiot. I never even make my bed at home. And we had to learn on sheets, that weren't fitted...like hospitals don't use fitted sheets :uhoh3:

maire, ASN, RN · Feb 20, 2004

This thread gave me a chuckle. I tend to always ask my patients if they even want the end of the bed tucked; half the time they pull the sheets out so they can stick their feet out.

suzy253, RN · Feb 20, 2004

Not exactly my favorite either, esp an occupied bed when the patient can't roll too well and you have to work fast to get them back in position again. I'm in clinicals this semester with my nursing instructor who is very anal about there being no wrinkles anywhere.....a perfect bed so I make sure that everything is in order the way she likes it. But I feel I've changed so many bed linens in my short student career that now I've become an expert at it and fast too!

groovynurse73 · Feb 20, 2004

I am sorry, but I am getting a giggle. I am currently in the practical nursing program. Just started last month, part time. I had to remake my bed 3 times last night in lab. I was getting the miter edges just fine, but that darn seam on the sheets..:angryfire ..anyway, finally, it was right, and all checked off...

Marti Ann · Feb 20, 2004

OMG, this is great! I thought I was the only one with 2 left thumbs.I almost didn't pass my first term too. I had to go to the floor and have cna's work with me to learn this. and boy, oh boy, can I ever made a bed now.lol! look out Martha.

poe me · Feb 20, 2004

Perhaps the TOUGHEST skill for me during my first semester of nursing clinicals was making the darn bed! I would prefer to have to retake A&P twice, and place a foley in every old lady over eighty in the state of Vermont than have to mitre another bed corner. Not to mention successfully utililize a "cover sheet" while making a bed with someone in it. To me it's scary how close I came to being the first student in my school's clinical history to flunk on this clinical skill.

Don't sweat it Roland you'll do fine it just takes practice. When I went thru my CNA training I had an instructor that was strict on how we wash our hands, I had to do it over and over and over I told her we wash our hands everyday what's the big deal. Come to find out there's a special way you have to do this so you won't contaminate your sparkling clean hands. Then there's the bed making I do this everyday no big deal, Wrong! "you have to mitre the corners" she said. Took me a while to get it just like she wanted it with no wrinkles.

Hang in there :)