Help! Lab class is uncomfortable

[jspfunk]

I am a new nursing student and I am also slightly overweight. Next week in lab we are doing vital signs and we are going to be weighing each other during class. Later on in the semester we are going to be practicing bed baths on each other and physical exams. Im so uncomfortable doing this. I dont want to be weighed in front of my peers and I certianly dont want to recieve a bed bath in front of them. Do rights/privacy not apply in the lab? What is the deal with that.

[SusanJean]

Part of nursing is to protect pt privacy. So when we practice on each other, we are expected to demonstrate protecting privacy, just as tho our lab partner were a patient. This decreases discomfort.

Re vitals - they are what they are... I have yet to see any one berated, teased, etc. because of vitals.

While I have an issue w/ my wt number... I hate being weighed... but I tell myself that people can see what I look like, probably have a rough idea of what I weigh... so I tell myself the number is no big deal.

Just a few thoughts on the subject...

SJ

[mandikt]

There was another thread about this same issue that got pretty heated, because people either agreed with it or they didn't. And i'm talking about giving each other baths, no VS and WT. But like, the other comment, part of nursing is pt. privacy. On the other hand, if you feel that uncomfortable, I'd talk to your instructors. Personally, at my school, we practiced baths on dummies, not each other. And there were many of us who are aids or LPNs that have given a bath or two, so we were able to help with the explanation of what to do to the others who had no experience. It's one of those things that you just learn as you go because you're not always going to be giving a bath to a calm, sitting still person like your classmate or a dummie. I have given many baths to people who are trying to knock me out the whole time! lol, this is just my personal opinion.

I am a new nursing student and I am also slightly overweight. Next week in lab we are doing vital signs and we are going to be weighing each other during class. Later on in the semester we are going to be practicing bed baths on each other and physical exams. Im so uncomfortable doing this. I dont want to be weighed in front of my peers and I certianly dont want to recieve a bed bath in front of them. Do rights/privacy not apply in the lab? What is the deal with that.