Did you have to brush your classmates teeth?

Double-Helix, BSN, RN · May 30, 2012

We practiced baths (with clothes and no water), oral care (we used swabs, or dry toothbrushes), feeding each other food and drink, transferring each other, and making a bed while a classmate was laying in it.

The reason for practicing these skills was not primarily so what we could practice doing it (you're right that we know how to brush teeth and feed someone) but the purpose was to that we could experience what it felt like to have these things done to you. No, it's not really comfortable to have someone else brush your teeth. Yes, it's very awkward to have someone give you food with a spoon and drink through a cup. That's the point. But unless you've had it done to you, you'll never know what it feels like and how to modify your technique to make it more comfortable.

In general, when we are feeding patients, they can't tell us how it feels or what would make it easier. Your fellow nursing student can. There's a lot of skills your need to perform on real patients while in nursing school. If brushing your classmate's teeth in a safe environment (while fully clothed) makes you REALLY uncomfortable, it's best to face your fear and get past that now, so you can move on to the tasks that actually require an invasion of privacy.

sapphire18 · May 30, 2012

What do you do when you go to the dentist? We had to feed each other and do full physical exams on one another (fully clothed). For those of you who gave each other bed baths, I'm assuming you wore bathing suits? How did that work?

applewhitern, BSN, RN · May 30, 2012

We started IV's on each, and gave injections. We also did the entire physical assessment on another classmate. We did not brush each other's teeth, nor did we give each other baths. Thankfully, my nursing program assumed we were intelligent enough to be able to handle basic hygiene!

LisaNICUrn, BSN · May 30, 2012

wow, no, we never had to brush each others teeth or give eachother a bed bath. We did have a student lay in bed and we demonstrated changed linen with someone in bed, practiced vitals, used an ace wrap on eachother, but never brushed teeth or gave bed baths. I guess that can help a new student nurse get over the awkwardness of having to do it to someone.

allnurses Guide · May 30, 2012

When I became a CNA, we put hospital gowns on over our underwear and gave bedbaths(all girls and no per-care... lol).

We also got to take turns being posied to a wheelchair and left for several hours to see what it was like ot be restrained and unable to help yourself... and of course, we all had to pee during this time.

I do not recall brushing each other's teeth and not would I care.

They clean my teeth at the dentist, after all.

In nursing school, we wore tank tops and shorts for the head-to-toe assessments we did on each other.

No, we were not crazy about it, but we did it.

allnurses Guide · May 30, 2012

We never brushed each other's teeth in skills lab. Nor did we practice baths on each other. That's something you read about, but perform for the first time in clinical when you do AM care. Brushing teeth is so basic (especially when you client has dentures, and you can just hold those suckers in your hands), I don't see why a school would waste such time on it...

Because there is a secondary agenda that really bothers me, mainly because so many instructors don't discuss them prior to announcing this will be done and why. We've had some real animated discussions on other threads about this.

Broadly speaking they usually fall into two categories - the "bonding" category. There must be some other way for the group to bond than violating someone else's personal boundaries. I can't count how many distressed posts we get from people who have scars, or have religious objections, have a history of sexual abuse or whatever and are told to just suck it up and get over themselves.

The other is the "you can't expect to provide care for others unless you've experienced it yourself" theory, as well as "you need to feel what the patient is feeling to be empathetic". I don't think so. I've never had a bone marrow extraction, an LP, an NG tube, a colostomy, a sigmoidoscopy, debridement of burns, or a chest tube, either.

SonOfStBenedict · May 30, 2012

We brought toothbrushes to student lab but we ended up running out of time but we did give each other bed baths minus pericare, most of us wore tanks and shorts. Its kind of funny you say brushing someone elses teeth is awk... Wait until you have to change a pt and give them a bed bath, or insert a catheter! it's really not that bad once you get used to it. Oral care should be the least awkward thing lol

pixiestudent2 · May 30, 2012

I really don't think brushing someone elses teeth would bother me. It's having another student brush my teeth I think makes me uncomfortable.

Aongroup1990, CNA · May 30, 2012

NO ,it's not weird it can help you prepare yourself for when you really take care of that person up close and personal..

RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN · May 30, 2012

In my CNA course we had to:

--brush each other's teeth

--shave one of the guys (his face and head)

--feed each other

--weigh each other

--provide nail care on each other

--wash each other's feet

--dress each other (button shirt and pullover shirt)

Bathing/pericare was done on lab manikins.

I think some of it was caught on video and ended up on youtube. LOL

BelgianRN · May 31, 2012

We did this in school as well. I find brushing someone else's teeth odd since you are so used to the distances you need to travel in your own mouth. I recall many students gagged because of the unfamiliarity with how far to introduce the toothbrush. So in all not a bad skill to have before setting loose on patients. As far as bed baths were done they were done between same-sex students and you were down in your underwear. By the end of the semester I knew nearly every inch on my fellow male student's body as well as my own.

In school we were even asked to wear colostomy bags filled with moist brownish cake for 24 hours. And school asked us to undertake exercises and swim with them so we learned first hand how people stare at you for that. All in all good experiences that made us more aware of potential akwardness with our patients.

sandanrnstudent · May 31, 2012

In my CNA 1 class we had to brush each other's teeth