Bathing critically ill patients?

Creamsoda, ASN, RN · Aug 2, 2007

Im not sure I understand your question....when did we stop bathing patients?

We bath our patients daily- on night shifts, and sometimes more. I work in ICU, so sometimes its more especially if they are septic and oozing from every line insertion and skin tear, or if they stink to high heaven. I find that the patients in ICU are cleaner than on most units because they get a good scrub down head to toe at least daily. When I worked on the floor, it seemed like they all stunk. Its the RN's that bath the patients on our unit...we dont have CNA's its all primary nursing.

Ms Kylee · Aug 2, 2007

On my floor, baths are a priority and tried to get in before breakfast. However, that's not always the case, especially if you've got a bunch of sick patients that you've got in a rotation because they're pooping every 10 minutes and you have to clean them up and change their beds, or if they're out for testing. I started one patient's bath yesterday, and transport was there to take this patient for a test (that nobody knew about), so all I got done was the face washed. When this patient returned from the test, I made it a priority to not only get the blood sugar that was overdue, but also to get a bath in.

When I worked on another unit, I was told baths were not a priority and if I got to them, I got to them. I made it a point to give those 6 patients a bath that day because God only knows when they got one before.

Angie O'Plasty · Aug 2, 2007

I think part of the problem is, as a couple of people have said, that with all the other things going on sometimes there just isn't time. I'm a student working as a PCA on a telemetry floor where the RN's have 4-5 patients each and the aides have 7. We do our best to get our patients cleaned up each day, but when the acuity on the floor is high and people are constantly going for tests and returning from tests (it's our responsibility as aides to get them ready to go and get them situated when they return), we have one or two patients on our assignment who are incontinent and have to be cleaned up and have linens changed multiple times a shift, we have to waste time searching for equipment like glucometers because people don't put things back, and Murphy's Law is just generally how things go, which is how some days are, we aren't always able to get to everyone on our shift if we have more than one or two patients who need a lot of help washing up. Our patients range from the walky-talky pts who are starting on Tikosyn and have to be observed for the first six doses, to the "train wrecks" who are completely immobile (and are usually on contact precautions as well because they have MRSA, VRE or both). If staffing ratios were a little better, I think we would be able to get everything done most of the time.

Crux1024 · Aug 2, 2007

Regardless, I can't stand stank. I've bathed many a patient that obviously was just getting a spit shine and a promise.

:lol2:

LOL!

wooh, BSN, RN · Aug 2, 2007

I have been out of hospital nursing for about 13 years and now do research in the hosopital setting. My question is when did we stop bathing our patients? Do nurses graduate today with this skill? Have we forgotten about patient hygiene, mouth care, etc?
What 's up ?
c:nono:

I think you said it all when you said you've been out of hospital nursing for 13 years, so be careful who you wag that finger at! Patients are higher acuity than they were then. And the tests you'd spend a week in the hospital to get in the past, are all being done in one morning, so most days I feel more like a dispatcher than a nurse with getting them here before there (with most of the travel having to be escorted by me or even I have to stay with them leaving my other patients covered by the other nurses running around the hospital.) Add to that the charting ridiculous stuff (like notes we do to keep JCAHO happy that are just double charting what we've put elsewhere and NOBODY reads.) Baths are important, but breathing is more important, most days I do good to keep them all breathing. And I'm already missing breaks and staying late to get it all done. And our techs are running around like crazy getting coffee for everyone so it feels like a stay at the Hilton instead of a hospital. I can only do so much, so some days a "spit shine and a promise" is all they're going to get!