Bedbath AND Briefs

[justme01]

When giving a complete bedbath do you remove the resident's brief before starting the bath, or do you wait and remove the brief when it is time to wash the buttocks and perineal area?

[NhNikki]

Change the breif after you have done most of the bed bath. Do their whole front top-half, legs, and if they turn easily or if they're not obese, you can wash their back after their legs. Then you take off the front of the breif to do front peri, roll them onto their side and do back peri while you pull out the rest of the breif and put the new one on. I was told that if they are very large or if they do not roll back and forth easily to clean the whole front half top to bottom, peri last, then turn them to do their back and then back peri. Trust me, I have had a very large resident the past couple of days, MUCH easier to do it this way if you have to.

[systoly]

Remove the brief only for as long as it takes to do peri care. Sometimes you have to do the peri care first. And, as always, there are situations, such as in presence of yeast infection, where you might want to leave the brief off for longer, but be sure to drape the peri area with a towel or draw sheet.