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:

We did cohort check-offs on hygiene (bed baths, hygiene, tooth brushing, etc), so we actually could do as little or as much bathing as we saw fit. In actuality, we wore shorts and t-shirts and just bathed each other's extremities. Not so bad at all. :)

We haven't done head-to-toe yet, because although we had basics (vitals, hygiene, ambulation, elimination) during the summer semester, we don't have a full-blown assessment course until fall (beginning next week!).

To the previous poster, do you guys really practice injections on each other? At our program, we don't practice any invasive procedures on each other, period.

Good luck to all those with this portion of school still to go! :)

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I remember doing that and it really was not that bad. I was a little embarassed to do it, but I don't remember getting the bath (blocked it out I guess LOL). Believe me, bathing a classmate who for sure took a shower very recently (since they know they are getting bathed) is not that bad. We did not have to do peri care.

We did subq injections on each other.

Look on the bright side - cathing is done on the mannequins!

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i also freaked out when we were told, "ok class, next week, bring your swimsuits, you're giving each other baths." but when we were there doing it, i think the one more nervous was the one doing the bath, not the one receiving it. the downside about it was my partner was so tense, she took so long reciting the procedure with rationales, that the water got cold, plus the a/c was on. i was freezing by the time she was done. :cool:

i for im, id, sq injections my partner and i would always volunteer to be the first--it was really nervewracking. both of us were sweating like anything. one student who was doing an id, sticked her partner 4 times!! yikes. either the needle would go through the other side of the skin or it was stuck in too deep, etc. how awful. :eek:

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Specializes in Women's Health.

quote: Look on the bright side - cathing is done on the mannequins!

Thank-God for this!

As I am finding out...this seems to be pretty standard fare for nursing students...not cathing..:imbar ...but bathing! :)

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I'm in an ADN program here in Georgia and we do bed baths next week. We were told to wear shorts and a tank top, but we don't have to be naked. We are just suppose to act like we are washing the chest and abdominal area. We do have to do eachother's legs and back, but then were suppose to act like we are washing their buttocks. I understand your concern though. I'd probably freak out too if I was told to strip down and let someone in class bathe me.:imbar :stone :uhoh21:

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I remember the day that they told us about good old "bath day". I was mortified, I could not believe that they could make you do that! But as it turned out, we all enjoyed. It was relaxing, a nice break from the hard studying that you will undoubtably be doing...and just think, it won't be any worse than "injection day".........

*****LPN grad February 2005 :nurse: :nurse: :nurse: *********

: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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