Thread on giving baths got me thinking, and was wondering if nurses still make beds with "hospital" corners anymore. Also is learning the three basic types of beds part of formal nursing education anymore?
I'll leave aside the mandate that pillow slip opening must face away from the door for now. *LOL*
Merely require information, as am often gobsmacked at what passes for a bed these days in hospital, and often hear "I don't have time for that".
On my unit, here in SE UK, we take GREAT pride in hospital corners. (And pillows have to face with the opening towards the window!). I think it makes it looks like we made an effort to clean and make the bed. Sloppily made beds irritate me. So whilst a bed is not my top priority, it doesn't take more than 30 seconds extra to make hospital corners.
Never learnt the 3 basic types of bed; what are they?
Perhaps they are known by other names on your side of the pond:
Learned to not put the open side of the pillowcase facing the door in a Catholic hospital by a sister. (Sr. Margaret, if I remember correctly!) Sister felt it didn't look as "neat and tidy" when someone walks by in the hall and looks in the room. I still do it that way at home, too. Old habits take a slow death in some circumstances!
Near as one can figure out from (limited) research on the 'pillow-slip open must face away from the door mandate", is it came to nursing as with many other things from Victorian,military and religous (conventual) influences.If one has rows of beds in a room, ward, floor or whatever, it does look more tidy to have all of them made the same way,and to keep openings of pillow slips facing away from the door.
Have read many Victorian, Edwardian, and early 1900's manuals on domestic arts (for lack of a better phrase), and all advised beds to be made with pillow-slip openings away from the door.
What counted as pillow coverings varied then and now through-out Europe and the UK. The former tend to favour square pillows with opening that either button or close in back, whilst the later most often use the rectangle shape with closed on one end.
There were exceptions to the last bit, as one has many vintage linens from as late as the 1950's where the pillow slip is long, and open on both ends. Indeed when I opened my first vintage sets of Wamsutta "Supercale" and Pequot "Heavy Muslin" linens and found these things thought they were bolster cases. You put on pillow into the slip and the thing was centered on at the head of the bed, with the sides draping over each end. This took care of being able to see anything but a "neat" bed.
Also from days past there were such things as "pillow covers". These long and wide bits of fabric were meant to cover the top of the bed (over the pillows), and one assumes to protect them from dust and or to make things look tidy.
Have no doubt many nursing programs and or hospital manuals of practice have their own reasons or whatever for the rule, but near as I can figure out it joins a long list of other nursing arts falling under TIHWDI (This Is How We Do It)
We were required to take a CNA class prior to starting nursing school, and within the CNA course I learned how to make occupied, unoccupied, and surgical beds.
BUT...we were never tested on them in school, and the discussion was limited. I haven't made one in clinicals yet. I see the techs doing it, but rarely an RN.
We were required to take a CNA class prior to starting nursing school, and within the CNA course I learned how to make occupied, unoccupied, and surgical beds.
BUT...we were never tested on them in school, and the discussion was limited. I haven't made one in clinicals yet. I see the techs doing it, but rarely an RN.
exactly - i learned how to do it in my CNA class (and it was a skill that was tested) but i have never seen a nurse do it and even as a CNA i've rarely made a bed - housekeeping does it when preparing a room for a new patient. i do straighten beds up for patients or change them when someone is incontinent, but usually if a patient is already in the bed they don't want their feet covered at all or if they do, they don't want them tucked in. then again i haven't seen a nurse give a bath either so i guess it depends on where you work.
Perhaps they are known by other names on your side of the pond:
Occupied
Unoccupied
Post-Operative
Yep, so that ED or the ward clerk would know which bed to put the new pt into when they came up to the ward. The bedsheet is folded under the counter pain in an unoccupied bed as opposed to over the counterpane in an occupied bed. A post op bed is where you fold the top sheet & counterpane to the side so that theatre can slide the pt into the bed without ruining the bedmaking & then they dont tuck it in so that wound checks & drains can be easily seen. Least that was the story in Ireland.
In my LPN program, we spent 2 weeks learning how to make beds and 2 HOURS learning how to give injections: including drawing up Vitamin K from an ampule, mixing demerol in a carpuject, and mixing insulins. This was in 2004!!! There were two or three students who were dropped from the program for failing injection lab after the GENEROUS 2-hour training (they fought to have it overturned and won).
Since then, every NH I've worked in has fitted sheets and the aides do 99% of the bedmaking (if I have a "dumb" moment and wind up spilling TF all over the sheets of course I change them myself). I still do mitered corners @ home.
In my LPN program, we spent 2 weeks learning how to make beds and 2 HOURS learning how to give injections:
Great priorities! Although, the way administration acts, we're judged more on our hotel maid and waitress skills than our nursing skills, so maybe that is the correct assignment of time per task.
I'm proud to say yes! I do make beds c hospital corners! In fact, I had a pt ask me what I was doing when I brought linen into the room. I told my pt I was going to make the bed. The pt said "but you're the nurse! Isn't that what CNAs are for?" I light hardedly told the pt that bed-making was 1 of the 1st things that are taught in nursing school and then I explained that the CNAs do make the beds too but they were assisting another pt @ that x. Just then 1 of my aides came and took over b/c another pt was needing meds. It just took me completely by surprise how shocked the pt was for me to make a bed!
I prefer to make my own beds - time permitting of course. I have 8 yrs military background, so I'm a bit picky about how things are done. I want it nice, neat, and perfect. Ready for my DS to come in and drop a quarter on at any minute :)
And for what it's worth, we weren't taught bed making in LVN school a year ago. I did however learn it 10 years ago in CNA class. All three ways.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
It does surprise me that you can get through nursing school without learning how to make a bed the traditional ways, but I happened to come in at a time when the team concept was out of a favor and the primary nurse or total care model was popular in my hospital. I honestly don't see how you could take could care of some patients if you didn't know how to make an occupied bed. I honestly never heard people say "that is a CNA task you don't need to learn it".
I like to think that if I were dropped from a helicopter someplace where there were no CNAs I could still take good care of my patient and be able to get them a clean set of sheets without yanking and pulling and scratching them with jewelry as I have seen done by people who never learned to do it right.
I still have my bright orange (seventies, baby!) two-volume set of "Nursing Skills for Allied Health Services". Not only were tasks regimented sort of military style but the directions actually have you count steps. This appeals to both my love of efficiency and regimental flourishes from the past. But never in my life did I count steps.:)
DoGoodThenGo
4,133 Posts
Perhaps they are known by other names on your side of the pond:
Occupied
Unoccupied
Post-Operative