Baby Powder at your hospital...

Jolie, BSN · Jul 19, 2005

I don't know about the correlation of baby powder and skin breakdown, but it has a number of other known risks, including lung irritation if inhaled, and increased risk of cervical cancer if used in the perineal area.

MacNurse · Jul 19, 2005

I am getting ready to start my second year of the RN program and was wondering if other hospitals had any policies against the use of baby powder on patients. One of my nursing instructors is totally against the use of it by all means. She states that it can cause severe skin breakdown and such. I have no idea and was wondering about the use of it elsewhere. And then patients or the families always ask me for it and I dont know what I should do. I alsways hear the instructor's voice in my head, ya know? I don't apply it, but I will give it to the patient if they ask. INPUT?

Is it on the floor? Cause that would undermine you saying something like...

"actually...I was reading some research and they don't recommmend applying baby powder, it causes blah blah blah. It's actually better for the baby if you do this, because blah blah blah.." You do this subtly and quickly, just in a "you-wouldn't-believe-what-i-read-the-other day...." way. Model it, don't put it on, and use the script when they ask you to put it on, and when you're changing the diaper ("You'll notice that I'm not putting on baby powder because...". It's also really important to establish that good relationship, so that the patient will listen...

This being said...they might nod their head, and not do it while in the hospital. However, once they are on their own...they'll do what they want..sometimes despite all the teaching you did... :rolleyes:

misschelei · Jul 19, 2005

I have asthma so I cringe every time someone pulls out the baby powder. It bothers me and I'm healthy so what are we doing to our patients? In nursing school our instructors were dead set against it quoting all manner of adverse effects from it. Yet it is a staple in most hospitals bathing supply list. Many nurses have fallen along the trail of this crusade. You can't stop it. But personally I never use it and if I'm helping someone with a bath I ask them not to use it due to my asthma.

jkaee · Jul 19, 2005

I have never been in a facility that uses/stocks it for several reasons. Lung irritant, may cause perineal irritation/infections, but the greatest reason we don't use it is because it causes a great fall risk for patients. Picture it, the little old lady doing AM care in the bathroom who likes to liberally powder herself everywhere. Her roommate, a post hip or knee, uses the bathroom after her and slips on the powder that's sprinkled all over the floor. Or the nurse slips when she's trying to transfer someone to the toilet. And it doesn't take that much to make a floor slippery.

judyblueeyes · Jul 19, 2005

We don't use it at our facility which is stricly OB-GYN.

capgirl · Jul 19, 2005

Back when I worked LTC, they stopped stocking baby powder because it had set off the fire alarm system. EMS, police, fire departments all responded to every alarm triggered. Yep, it was the powder. :rolleyes:

prmenrs, RN · Jul 19, 2005

I agree--no powder b/o the risk of inhaling talc. That is very dangerous to the lungs!!

BabyRN2Be · Jul 19, 2005

In the unit where I work, we don't use baby powder for diaper changes. It's not even stocked in the well-baby nursery. It might be in the "admission kit" - a little tub of niceities that the mom gets upon admission, but they don't encourage the use of baby powder because of inhaling the talcum. There's probably other reasons why not to use it.

allele, LPN · Jul 19, 2005

I have to agree with not using it. Our unit finally JUST banned it. Besides making the floor slippery and causing even ME irritation when inhaled (I'm not even asthmatic), our infection control nurse related some kind of increased infection risk from it. I honestly don't remember how, I'll try to find out. We didn't even use talc, we used corn starch with fragrance. Also, no matter how many times I asked them not to and no matter how many signs I put up, the CNA's would inevitably use it on trached patients. It made me cringe, to say the least. I think the CNA's were just in such a habit of using it on patients to make them smell nice that they just forgot. At least if it's off the unit, there's no mistakes to be made! :)

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2005

As far as skin care....it is the worst thing to use and really serves no purpous. Now...I will use it on the sheets....very lightly...on bedridden pts. It is not meant to be a subsitute for good skin care.

We have some residents/ families that insist upon using it.

leaflet · Jul 19, 2005

I have heard that baby powder can contribute to skin breakdown. A hospital I worked at banned it on the med/surg floor for this reason. I think the higher risk individuals for this breakdown are obese people that use a lot of it in skin fold areas. I also think some of our CNA's used it excessively and that can be harmful to skin. But I work at a different hospital now and it is available and no one has ever said anything like that here. I just choose to avoid it at all costs.