I have to be bathed by my classmate???

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:imbar Ok call me old fashioned but I am kind of concerned. I had my nursing orientation today, and I was informed that as part of one of my practical nursing classes I will have to be sponge bathed by one of my classmates and in turn need to sponge bathe a classmate. Ok fine. No worries. HOWEVER, the next breath was, you will have to strip down to your underwear only and your classmate will drape you and sponge bathe you and vice versa. I understand that as a nurse I will give sponge baths to patients and I have no problem with that. But one of my classmates that I am going to spend hours and hours with for the next 2 years bathing me is a whole other story! True, like the instructor said it lets you know first hand how the patient will feel while you are abthing them, so you will want to treat them with dignity but being an overweight gal I am uncomfortable with this because I will have to look at these classmates for the next 2 years. Did anyone else ever do this as part of their curriculum? I don't mean to freak out but I never heard of this. They can stick me with all the needles they want for practice, but bathe the mannequins...lol :uhoh3:

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I'm really not sure how they can force anyone to do this. If this comes up in my program I will be speaking with the program director and dean of the school. There are boundaries, and I for one feel that this crosses that boundary!

There is no reason why you cant learn on the mannequin, especially if you can learn just about everything else with them.

Talk to someone! This is not ok!!

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We don't do that in our school. The only thing that we did on each other were finger sticks thats as close as I got. I think I would check with the board of nursing in your state and see what they say. What state are you in?

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Hahah I recall being as frightened about this as you but most just wore shorts and some daring ones wore a bathing suit. We had the curtains drawn and most of us knew someone from our prereqs that we felt comfortable enough with. Also it was stated no m/f groups. It was not as big of a deal as we thought. You dont have to wear underwear if you dont want.

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i live in ky but i go to shawnee community college in southern illinois. i realize i am probably being overly concerned about it a lot of it is my self consciousness about being overweight. the shorts are a good idea, but still looks like it would be voluntarily and not a forced issue.:eek:

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Thankfully they wont let you practice or make pin cushions out of each other.

HIV/hep A-Z stopped that.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

We wore bathing suits (had to be one-pieced) and shorts. If i were told to strip to the underwear, i would have objected. That is just MORE than i want my classmates to know about me.

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i suppose though it is a good opportunity to get a little insight. the patients who you will be caring for will be feeling just like you....Unless you have been in the hosptial it would be difficult to empathize with how vulnerable a person really feels having a stranger give them a bath.

I opt for a whole piece and shorts BTW...

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Specializes in MS Home Health.

Believe it or not my partner was a guy. They would not let me out of it. I just did it and he was very courteous. I on the other hand, kept blushing. Stupid I guess but it was a new experience for me.

renerian :imbar

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Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

We did not do sponge baths but I think that was due more to the messiness than out of modesty. We did do exams on each other in "lab" which involved stripping down to the underwear and putting a johnnie on over it. It felt a little weird at first to let all those sweet young thangs see my middle-aged flab and gut but I figured if they could look at that and not lose their lunch then I could deal with it too... I will add that a batch of brand new underwear was purchased and that the old legs got shaved more religiously than at any other time before or since!

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We did sponge baths, but were given the option to wear bathing suits or underwear. We also we allowed to choose our partner. I still didn't like it, but I got thru it. It does give you some insight of how the patient feels to have a stranger bathe you.

Good luck!

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I'm sorry, but I agree with the OP and the first couple of posts. This crosses the line. I will not let anyone sponge bathe me in nursing school under any circumstances other than fully clothed.

That does not mean I will make a bad nurse, nor would it make me a "good" nurse afterwards should I chose to do it.

JMHO

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