Okay, can I just talk about a personal soap box of mine? After reading the thread about proper bed-making, I had to laugh... I graduated a year ago and, yes, we were taught proper bed-making. Yes, they still teach it... that's great... but all my patients usually have SCD's so it means nothing to me. Anyway, here's my issue:
General Med-Surg today is what ICU was 20-30 years ago. The acquity of patients on the floor these days is high and we as nurses are expected to do now more then ever. We need to chart completely and precisely, do procedures, admit and discharge, assess properly at all times, teach, counsel, and be a walking info hotline, all while keeping a smile on our faces and a spring in our step. So here's my view on giving baths and changing sheets. If you stink and are visibly soiled, I will bathe you to the best of my ability in the five minutes I have to do it. Otherwise, I assume the opinion that you did not come to the hospital for a bath... and really, you didn't. Rarely do I have my time divided to where a bath is top priority. It never is. And as far as sheets go... again... are we visibly in need of a change? Because I can tell you that I don't change my own sheets every day. If you're not sitting in a pool of blood, and I have time to change 'em... I will.
With all the pressures of our job.... I will never go home beating myself up over (or even thinking twice about) the fact that my patient didn't get a bath or their sheets changed. If you are medically better off when I leave then when I came (or at least not worse), I feel good.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Wow... I guess I'm not a supernurse.
I'm just trying to be reasonable... this isn't 1950. Nurses have sooooo much more responsibility now then they used too. We're like a balloon that you keep filling and eventually burst. My point is simply this: If you NEED a bath or you ask for help cleaning up, etc... you will get it, at some point, during my shift. If you go a day without one?... well, you won't die from it.
It's all about priorities... and with 6-7:1 ratios... we overworked nurses need cut some slack. Now you bump me down to 4 pts... I will make you feel like you're at the spa.:thankya:
The year 1984........I was 24 years old, I have been a nurse for 5 years. The scene......telemetry unit 22 tele beds plus 12 "stepdown beds" (we took vents). Staffing tele side.....Day shift......11 patients with and aide shared by the other nurse with 11 patients.....evenings 11 patients and the shared aide. "stepdown" ICU was 4:1 for days and evenings and 6:1 at night. One maybe 2 aides for the whole floor of 34 patients on telemetry.
This was the days when acute MI's stayed in bed for a week, were not "allowed to bathe themselves"......no liquids too hot or too cold. They were "allowed" to read holding a book at the level of their heart.....ACLS was a newer concept and invasive cardiology was on it's way off the charts. MI's had every arrythmia known to man becasue they actually had MASSIVE heart attacks......we used a lot of lidocaine gtts and isuprel gtts......we controlled angina with SL nitros and MSO4 amd prayed they wouldn't code. CVA's were massive and catastrophic because there was no intervention.
I think we had our fair share of responsibilities but the patients got their baths in the morning with a linnen change and their back rubbed at night with the draw sheet changed and teeth brushed. I worked for the nuns and that meant the rooms must always be "tidy" which means you dumped the garbage too. We wrote our lab results by hand and taped the "results" on the "permanent" lab sheets every shift. All lab reqs, blood work, IV's and blood were hand written and filled out by hand. Charting was by long hand and in 3 different colors depending on shift, flow sheets were not used. M were wellcared fory......Paper work waited unitl after the patient was cared for and I seldom if ever left on time.
My patients were well cared for and we all pitched in together to get the job done.......:twocents:
Esme, do I know you?? I've worked for many years in a very large Catholic hospital which was a terrific place to work until the sisters handed control over to the lay people several years ago and it became all about customer service and the computer. The most terrifying sight in the world was little 5foot tall Sister Gerald coming down the hall promptly at 10 am to inspect rooms! Heaven help you if your patients weren't freshly washed and the bed made! My friend once got a little behind and didn't pass "inspection" one morning and Sister sentenced her to the kitchen to make iced tea for lunch! But overall it was a wonderful place to work in those days because we were a team and if you needed help somebody would pitch in. You just wouldn't dream of a patient not having a bed and bath every day. Everybody got a break and lunch. There was much less stress because we were adequately staffed and everyone just did what was expected of them. If you and a coworker had a disagreement the two of you hashed it out in the staff bathroom (my office), hugged and agreed to meet later for lunch. I wish I could adequately convey to newer nurses what nursing used to be like but sadly they will never know!
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Esme, do I know you?? I've worked for many years in a very large Catholic hospital which was a terrific place to work until the sisters handed control over to the lay people several years ago and it became all about customer service and the computer. The most terrifying sight in the world was little 5foot tall Sister Gerald coming down the hall promptly at 10 am to inspect rooms! Heaven help you if your patients weren't freshly washed and the bed made! My friend once got a little behind and didn't pass "inspection" one morning and Sister sentenced her to the kitchen to make iced tea for lunch! But overall it was a wonderful place to work in those days because we were a team and if you needed help somebody would pitch in. You just wouldn't dream of a patient not having a bed and bath every day. Everybody got a break and lunch. There was much less stress because we were adequately staffed and everyone just did what was expected of them. If you and a coworker had a disagreement the two of you hashed it out in the staff bathroom (my office), hugged and agreed to meet later for lunch. I wish I could adequately convey to newer nurses what nursing used to be like but sadly they will never know!
I know and it makes me sad.....
I'm originally from the midwest.......pm me! Funny.....my office was the bathroom too. Of course that was also the smoking lounge.... :) I agree......we all pulled together, we'd start at one end and go to the other, we got it done so we would have time to B***h later.....LOL We had a priest that lived in the building who always had that slight, vague, smell of pipe tobacco and irish whiskey. It was nice always having clergy close by when that horrible code happened in the middle of the night.......Ahhhhh the good ole days...:redbeathe
I'm originally from the midwest.......pm me! Funny.....my office was the bathroom too. Of course that was also the smoking lounge.... :) I agree......we all pulled together, we'd start at one end and go to the other, we got it done so we would have time to B***h later.....LOL We had a priest that lived in the building who always had that slight, vague, smell of pipe tobacco and irish whiskey. It was nice always having clergy close by when that horrible code happened in the middle of the night.......Ahhhhh the good ole days...:redbeathe
This thread has lost its original thought. Time to start a new thread about the good ole' days...but let's not forget about the original post here. Just sayin'.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
This thread has lost its original thought. Time to start a new thread about the good ole' days...but let's not forget about the original post here. Just sayin'.
I brief transgression I apologize.........I made a response to bezoars and the easy light loads and less ill patients we all took care in the old days ;)and gave her a typical assignment from the good ole days when we had it easy..... and still bathed our patients. I guess I struck a memory chord with sevensonnets. That's why I asked her to PM me......just saying.
When I was in nursing school a "few" years ago, my first clinical instructor told all of us the importance of changing sheets and bathing patients. As we all know, hospitals are probably the most infectious place you could possibly be. Bathing a patient not only helps them get clean, but it also helps them feel a little more like a person and a little less like a chart AND it gives you, the nurse, and chance to do an even more complete assessment of your patient's skin condition. Changing the patient's sheets daily helps to cut down on the spread of infection in the hospital.
While charting completely, performing needed procedures, and assessments are all very necessary and important parts of nursing, another important part of our jobs is to help our patients remember that they are people. So, if the nursing aides in your unit can't get to bathing your patient or can't get to changing the sheets, take a second and do it for them. Your patients will be better off for it.
Specializes in Med Surg, Perinatal, Endoscopy, IVF Lab.
i can't stand all these people who are responding, "how do you feel if it where you" or "oh it makes the patient feel so much better". hello?! the op is just saying that it isn't a top priority. i work on a med-surg floor where it's me and the 6 to 8 patients. no aids, the other nurses have their 6 to 8, and i just have more important things to do. she's not saying that she wouldn't like to do it, it's not a priority. frankly i wouldn't want a nurse who made my bath more important than being safe in passing meds and checking orders.
thanks to you all for saying it even better then i ever could :heartbeat
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
This thread has lost its original thought. Time to start a new thread about the good ole' days...but let's not forget about the original post here. Just sayin'.
That's okay, I'm easily led astray! I digressed from the original intent of the thread which seems to have lost way back somewhere.
It happens . .some of the funnest times on allnurses are these end-of-thread conversations- and so many involve Catholic hospitals and/or the old days ... we had quite a long one at the tag end of a "gum chewing" thread as you can imagine with that topic. Our sisters here in the Golden State must've been a little more forward thinking - our hospital had free TV! By the late '70s the sisters had stopped wearing habits for the most part. I admit it. I feel a bit sad that attitude is gone. Maybe it's time to revive[ "You Know You're Old School When . . . my favorite is from one of the UK nurses saying they placed a flower in the hands of the deceased. I thought they only did that in movies. :)
Specializes in Med Surg, Perinatal, Endoscopy, IVF Lab.
I probably didn't bathe anyone the last several years of my bedside nursing career. There just wasn't time. No, we didn't have secretary, techs or CNAs. It was a critical care unit and I'd frequently have 3 critical patients on my own, and also be responsible for 10-12 tele pts. If I had had the time, I'd have done it, no problem. I assume they got a bath on med-surg or at the funeral home.
I'm sorry but this post had me laughing so hard.... I just got off work and so needed that... thanks linearthinker
The year 1984........I was 24 years old, I have been a nurse for 5 years. The scene......telemetry unit 22 tele beds plus 12 "stepdown beds" (we took vents). Staffing tele side.....Day shift......11 patients with and aide shared by the other nurse with 11 patients.....evenings 11 patients and the shared aide. "stepdown" ICU was 4:1 for days and evenings and 6:1 at night. One maybe 2 aides for the whole floor of 34 patients on telemetry.
This was the days when acute MI's stayed in bed for a week, were not "allowed to bathe themselves"......no liquids too hot or too cold. They were "allowed" to read holding a book at the level of their heart.....ACLS was a newer concept and invasive cardiology was on it's way off the charts. MI's had every arrythmia known to man becasue they actually had MASSIVE heart attacks......we used a lot of lidocaine gtts and isuprel gtts......we controlled angina with SL nitros and MSO4 amd prayed they wouldn't code. CVA's were massive and catastrophic because there was no intervention.
I think we had our fair share of responsibilities but the patients got their baths in the morning with a linnen change and their back rubbed at night with the draw sheet changed and teeth brushed. I worked for the nuns and that meant the rooms must always be "tidy" which means you dumped the garbage too. We wrote our lab results by hand and taped the "results" on the "permanent" lab sheets every shift. All lab reqs, blood work, IV's and blood were hand written and filled out by hand. Charting was by long hand and in 3 different colors depending on shift, flow sheets were not used. M were wellcared fory......Paper work waited unitl after the patient was cared for and I seldom if ever left on time.
My patients were well cared for and we all pitched in together to get the job done.......:twocents:
Esme I love your posts. And I love reading about the old days.
I wish I had time to give my patients a back rub, but in some of our country hospitals we had to wait 2-3 hours to get the only orderly on shift to help us turn the patient (ie: post THR), or there were no orderlies at all. Other nurses were too busy to help out, so I just used to offer them a wash with a flannel and hot water, no back rub cos there wasn't time and no-one to help safely turn a patient.
This is the sad reality of health care cuts, and I get very angry about it, but can't see it changing anytime soon.
All the hospitals I've worked in we still do long hand charting, and have our med sheets to complete by hand as well.
and still bathed our patients. I guess I struck a memory chord with sevensonnets. That's why I asked her to PM me......just saying.
Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN
20,908 Posts
The year 1984........I was 24 years old, I have been a nurse for 5 years. The scene......telemetry unit 22 tele beds plus 12 "stepdown beds" (we took vents). Staffing tele side.....Day shift......11 patients with and aide shared by the other nurse with 11 patients.....evenings 11 patients and the shared aide. "stepdown" ICU was 4:1 for days and evenings and 6:1 at night. One maybe 2 aides for the whole floor of 34 patients on telemetry.
This was the days when acute MI's stayed in bed for a week, were not "allowed to bathe themselves"......no liquids too hot or too cold. They were "allowed" to read holding a book at the level of their heart.....ACLS was a newer concept and invasive cardiology was on it's way off the charts. MI's had every arrythmia known to man becasue they actually had MASSIVE heart attacks......we used a lot of lidocaine gtts and isuprel gtts......we controlled angina with SL nitros and MSO4 amd prayed they wouldn't code. CVA's were massive and catastrophic because there was no intervention.
I think we had our fair share of responsibilities but the patients got their baths in the morning with a linnen change and their back rubbed at night with the draw sheet changed and teeth brushed. I worked for the nuns and that meant the rooms must always be "tidy" which means you dumped the garbage too. We wrote our lab results by hand and taped the "results" on the "permanent" lab sheets every shift. All lab reqs, blood work, IV's and blood were hand written and filled out by hand. Charting was by long hand and in 3 different colors depending on shift, flow sheets were not used. M were wellcared fory......Paper work waited unitl after the patient was cared for and I seldom if ever left on time.
My patients were well cared for and we all pitched in together to get the job done.......
:twocents: