I am currently suspended for having a conversation regarding body odor with a patient and 2 daughters. I had asked if she had any other deodorant because the one she had wasn't effective. We had what I thought was as delicate as possible conversation. Does that ever go well?
Well the daughters were offended that I had asked for a different deodorant and the mom was embarrassed and they complained to a couple of people that they had been offended.
Needless to say I was pissed (at my work) and felt they over reacted. Yes they (pt and family) could call state on me but I am confident in my abilities as a nurse and I am not afraid of that. I believe this was a little retaliation from a conversation I had with the administrator about a few things an hour or so before she was brought into this.
Also the part that really, really bothers me is after the administrator made that decision she left. So my boss called me and said she was getting "beard" to come in with us. I said absolutely not, I will not have "beard" in any of my business. I was very adament about my dislike of person and that I did not trust this person and wanted no part in my business. I told her she is more than welcome to have a conference call if she was that adament about not being alone. She said in like a defeated type voice "come on" I followed her thinking she was going to do that. BUT nope she had this person there. I was livid. She completely disregarded my feelings about the situation and made me VERY uncomfortable. This person is a charge nurse and a poor one at that, I have a lot of history with this person and not much of it good in regards to work.
How would you react?
I could have pulled one daughter aside and spoke with her privately but I honestly feel it would not have mattered. They would have been offended anyway. The minute I was told they were offended I went and spoke with the patient, spouse and one of the daughter (before being suspended) and sincerely apologized if I offended them I teared up because I felt horrible that I hurt my patient's feelings. I pride myself on giving good care and would never offend someone on purpose. The spouse and daughter both accepted my apology and the spouse shook my hand and thank me for apologizing. The daughter mentioned she had brought in 2 different types of deodorant and asked me to let her know if they didn't work.
Now the patient's BO that day was off the charts, I had her showered and sprayed with her deodorant. Later I was giving her something for pain and happened to see the deodorant bottle and the daughters were there, I knew they brought things in for her which is why I mentioned at that time.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Something about good intentions...
Keep in mind the family did not get her suspended, they simply voiced concern and the facility saw fit to suspend her.
Oh believe me, just based off the information I have (since it's only one side) I think a suspension is absurd.
I am however surprised by a lot of these responses and criticism on the nurse. She was put in a very uncomfortable situation but tried to do what was best for the patient and the other residents of the long term care facility. She had tried to solve the problem on her own. It didn't work. Family was bringing in personal hygiene products, so she talked to her daughters about maybe changing brands. Embarrassing? Absolutely! Awkward, uncomfortable. You betcha. Necessary? I would have to say yes based off the information given. If the facts presented are accurate and correct and I was in charge, I would have had my nurses back. But I would have done it in a way that deescalated the situation by making the resident and family feel heard, but also letting them understand better the intent.
Specializes in Schoolnurse,homehealth,specialneeds,IHS.
I would've just snuck in some other deodorant that is known to be effective and some nice body soap and stuck it in the toiletry basin nonchalantly, when no one looking
Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.
I would never in a million years criticize a patient or family member for their personal hygiene. Believe me, working in the ER I'm exposed to some very ripe folk.
If people don't know about bathing and deodorant by now, they are extremely socially challenged. There are ads on TV up the yin-yang. My kids became shower obsessed in middle school without any prompting from me, social pressure was totally sufficient.
You made a serious faux-pas there. If you were a school nurse helping a clueless student, that would be a different story.
Knowlege does not always translate into action and just because the patient may know to use deodorant the facts are she still had offensive odor! The patient nurse relationship had been established and as the nurse it is your duty to address health problems.Her bad odor is most likely related to a current problem. I don't believe the patient was criticized and the nurse was just trying to help.I am sick to death of everyone being so hypersensitive and blowing everything out of proportion.Suspension is overkill and managements response is ridiculous.Nurses simply can't do their jobs anymore because they are walking around on eggshells.I can't even say anything when I am verbally attacked .A patient's daughter told me to shut the F up and do my job and I had to defend my actions.There is no more support for nurses in many facilitues because of the fear of low patient satisfaction scores and that equates to less money.So there you have it...THE ALMIGHTY BUCK!.
An issue that has not been mentioned is the possible cause of the body odor. Many diagnoses are accompanied by body odors i.e. diabetes, wound infections, bladder infections, high fevers,PID. kidney failure, pneumonia, and fungal infections (I almost fainted when one of my brothers took his shoes off in my house) like athlete's foot. Because he was my brother I could tell him what to do, drag him to the drugstore and he was rid of the smell in a few days.
There is also the matter of stress. What patient in a hospital isn't having stress?
By addressing the deodorant you were not adressing the illness or stress that is likely causing it. It is like suggesting a bandaid for a broken leg. By suspending you your superiors are showing that they don't know how to handle the situation either.
I worked for 30 years in Home Health and never ignored an odor. The team of nurses I worked with trained our Home Health Aides to report to us any odors that persisted after a bath or shower or recurred or got worse after a few days. We would enroll the patient in a conversation by explaining that an odor can be very useful in making a diagnosis. Then they don't feel like they are being accused of being dirty but are being brought into trying to dicover the cause of the problem. Once the patient is enrolled in the conversation then you can ask had they noticed it, when they first noticed it, what have they tried to do to help themselves, what worked and what didn't, had they mentioned it to their doctor, did anyone in your family mention it etc?
During my divorce 30 years ago, I was working in an office with an amzing nurse. Everyday she would talk to me about the stress I was under. One day my armpits were soaked and she said that I was probably a lot more stressed out than I thought I was. Really? That's when she asked me about my body odor.
I didn't notice that there was any. Then she explained that sweat was removing toxins from my body (I knew that) and it was OK for sweat to smell but not so good at work. A conversation followed in which she encouraged me come up with 3 stress reducing activities. In addition to my 2 showers a day, before and after work, I would take a long bath with a good book each night. I would join a nearby gym and swim laps for a half hour a day 3 x a week . And I would cut back on coffee and caffeine all day and switch to natural fruit drinks. Last I would bring an extra uniform to work so that if I had an episode of the sweats I could change. She put me in charge of my odor and I resolved it with her support.
I urge every health care worker to use body odor as a tool to the cure and treat it with the same kindness you would treat any other symptom.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I actually did mention that maybe there was something wrong causing the order and why nothing was helping it. But so many people just seem so focused on how "out of line and offensive" the nurse was. Boggles my mind.
Body odor is very subjective and I personally would not have recommended bringing up the topic alone, especially if this patient had already been bathed. Any sensitive topic like this I would insist having the backing of the charge or administrator prior to going in and preferably in their presence.
I definitely would not have brought up the issue in front of both daughters and the mother together, maybe the patient alone or maybe one of the daughters alone if the patient was confused...not everyone together. Body odor is generally not a group discussion.
Not sure how "beard" was involved but I suspect the admin wanted a witness, especially a witness with some authority.
With a sensitive topic like this you should NOT bring in a charge or administrator. If you feel that this is necessary, it's best to keep your mouth closed and put a little perfume on your upper lip (or Vicks). How humiliating to bring supervisors in to tell someone they smell. Bad, bad, bad. This is best handled privately one-to-one and tactfully, with suggestions of how you may help.
Thank you for this post. We cannot ignore the obvious, but there are ways to deal with every sensitive issue. Showing compassion and interest in a person's well-being is a great way to start. This might make for a CEU.
In response to lindahartford. Forgot to hit quote button.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I am a nursing student. This was a little frightening to read. Aren't nurses suppose to educate their patients and isn't hygiene something that is assessed aswell???? If someone is lacking hygiene, isn't it in the best interest of the patient to educate them since you're charting their hygiene? Or do you chart and just not talk about certain things because it's not socially correct? Yikes 😬 Better learn on here before going into the real world. Have a great day everyone!
Always remember that you are hearing one side of the story and you didn't hear the actual exchange. Some people, even with the best intentions, are misread by families.
I have had conversations about hygiene after speaking to my management. I once had an entire family that had to be de-bugged due to pervasive lice....we even had to fumigate the waiting area and throw out furniture from head and body lice.
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sunny time
94 Posts
this was someone who cares and thought she was doing what is right. not trying to be rude