Published
It depends on the cleanliness of the patient since I work in emergency services. If i truly am grossed out about their level of hygiene I will tell them I cannot because of infection control.
If you do have a nice clean patient that is huggable I will do it if I am comfortable, kinda gives you that warm fuzzy feeling I guess, like you made a difference in their life.
I once had a patient, while in nursing school, ask me to give him a full body massage. He was in his 60s and quite large and I was like . I would never give any patient any massage because I am just not comfortable doing that and it would just gross me out!
HPRN
It depends on the cleanliness of the patient since I work in emergency services. If i truly am grossed out about their level of hygiene I will tell them I cannot because of infection control.If you do have a nice clean patient that is huggable I will do it if I am comfortable, kinda gives you that warm fuzzy feeling I guess, like you made a difference in their life.
I once had a patient, while in nursing school, ask me to give him a full body massage. He was in his 60s and quite large and I was like
. I would never give any patient any massage because I am just not comfortable doing that and it would just gross me out!
HPRN
Easy. I didn't attend Massage therapy school and I would get fired for practicing out of my field.
Noooo. I have to be married to someone before I want to hug them. I think my body language makes that clear, so it's usually not an issue. On the rare occasion that someone doesn't "get it", I might lean in, quickly pat them on the back, and say "hug" before backing away. If they're creepy, I just cut right to the backing away part and let them know that nurses don't hug patients.
Well. . . I work in L&D and hug patients (and their family members) on a regular basis. Hugs range from a perfunctory pat to very emotional embraces. It's 100% situation-dependent. And of course, I provide whatever level of physical support women may need from me during labor, which can range from counter pressure to practically slow dancing with each other!
I'm a very huggy type person, so yes if a patient asked I would. Human contact is a very basic human need. It makes people feel better. Didn't you guys learn about touch and how therapeutic it is? Also, yes, nurses can give massages. Something we learned in fundamentals. It's part of their nighttime routine. Maybe not a whole body massage, but yes a patient can get one. On Maslows Hierarchy of Needs this ranks pretty high. Touch is a basic human need which can help in healing. I'm disappointed that people don't understand that.
sparky605
102 Posts
If your patient asks you for a hug what do you say? Twice when I went to say good bye to my patients for the day they put their arms out for a hug. Truth is, I hugged them both. While it was happening I felt like, this is probably discouraged. Professionalism, infection control...
(These were innocent type hug requests. I am a woman in my mid 40s and one patient was an elderly woman who I spent two days caring for one on one and the other was a brand new mom- I spent 8 hours immediate after delivery, caring for her and brand new baby.)