I have to be bathed by my classmate???

JimmyMallo · May 20, 2004

Well guys and gals, at my school it was bathingsuit or underwear, and we drew for partners. I ended up with an 18yo female and I'm a burly 28 yo male. Everyone was nervous and no one voiced any objection because we want to be NURSES!! If you think you feel uncomfortable try the situation I was in at work the other day. Assisting a patient with bedpan use and cleaning her up, she was a 17yo female cheerleader! I was the tech on duty and she needed help, period. She was uncomfortable as hell and so was I but patient care is about the patient. As far as liability for someone acting inappropriatelly, what better was to weed out pervs and people to self concious for the job! Nurses are a different breed and if you can't take someone looking at you or doing a breast exam on you in a clinical environment your in the wrong line of work. You will have a patient one day who is severly impacted and you will stick your two fingers up their a$$ and dig it out and you had better be able to do it in a calm collected manner. These are the kinds of things people need from us and getting into a bathing suit or having a body pat touched by a fellow nursing student in a profession learning environment is not putting you in the patients shoes, it is like feeling 1/1000th of what they feel. One of the first objectives of any nursing school is to force you to view the human body (your's included) as a system. You have to be able to be objective and detached. If your little belly makes you uncomfortable, the class may help you deal with that, if you can't deal with that how will you deal with the day you roll over the patient and he pisses on you? These are real situations you WILL deal with and liability and self-consience thoughts should be at the bottom of your oh $hit pile. All I'm saying is that when you are in school do less judging and thinking about what you won't do and a little more time listening and realizing what you willl HAVE to do if this is what you want!! It's not for the faint of heart. Long winded I know but were I work 3 of the 6 new grad nurses quit in the first six months because even after graduating they had no idea what they were getting into. Give it some thought.

Nurses are not made they're born :coollook:

Saved_by_Grace · May 20, 2004

i am almost sorry that i ever posted anything about this. thank you to the ones that have listened and understood that i was only voicing a concern. i'm not even taking the darned classes yet and this last post tells me that i'm in the wrong line of work just because i said it would make me uncomfortable to be in my underwear at school! there is a complete difference in assisting a patient and having something done to you by a stranger that you aren't with day in and day out. if it was someone i wasn't going to see ever again in most probability it wouldn't have ever bothered me. and putting your finger up someone's $$$ as you so eloquently put it:rolleyes: well that's part of nursing. and as a nurse i feel the utmost respect is due to the patient. but please don't tell me i wouldn't cut it as a nurse because i don't feel comfortable being in my underwear around people at school. if i was sick in a hospital then more power to them , undress me and bathe me away if you need to. i just don't think you fully understood that i was just voicing a shock from the orientation. i never said i was not going to do it, complain, or b## as someone else previously said to the school. thanks to those that listened and know what i was trying to convey!:)

well guys and gals, at my school it was bathingsuit or underwear, and we drew for partners. i ended up with an 18yo female and i'm a burly 28 yo male. everyone was nervous and no one voiced any objection because we want to be nurses!! if you think you feel uncomfortable try the situation i was in at work the other day. assisting a patient with bedpan use and cleaning her up, she was a 17yo female cheerleader! i was the tech on duty and she needed help, period. she was uncomfortable as hell and so was i but patient care is about the patient. as far as liability for someone acting inappropriatelly, what better was to weed out pervs and people to self concious for the job! nurses are a different breed and if you can't take someone looking at you or doing a breast exam on you in a clinical environment your in the wrong line of work. you will have a patient one day who is severly impacted and you will stick your two fingers up their a$$ and dig it out and you had better be able to do it in a calm collected manner. these are the kinds of things people need from us and getting into a bathing suit or having a body pat touched by a fellow nursing student in a profession learning environment is not putting you in the patients shoes, it is like feeling 1/1000th of what they feel. one of the first objectives of any nursing school is to force you to view the human body (your's included) as a system. you have to be able to be objective and detached. if your little belly makes you uncomfortable, the class may help you deal with that, if you can't deal with that how will you deal with the day you roll over the patient and he pisses on you? these are real situations you will deal with and liability and self-consience thoughts should be at the bottom of your oh $hit pile. all i'm saying is that when you are in school do less judging and thinking about what you won't do and a little more time listening and realizing what you willl have to do if this is what you want!! it's not for the faint of heart. long winded i know but were i work 3 of the 6 new grad nurses quit in the first six months because even after graduating they had no idea what they were getting into. give it some thought.

nurses are not made they're born

Truly_Blessed · May 20, 2004

Well guys and gals, at my school it was bathingsuit or underwear, and we drew for partners. I ended up with an 18yo female and I'm a burly 28 yo male. Everyone was nervous and no one voiced any objection because we want to be NURSES!! If you think you feel uncomfortable try the situation I was in at work the other day. Assisting a patient with bedpan use and cleaning her up, she was a 17yo female cheerleader! I was the tech on duty and she needed help, period. She was uncomfortable as hell and so was I but patient care is about the patient. As far as liability for someone acting inappropriatelly, what better was to weed out pervs and people to self concious for the job! Nurses are a different breed and if you can't take someone looking at you or doing a breast exam on you in a clinical environment your in the wrong line of work. You will have a patient one day who is severly impacted and you will stick your two fingers up their a$$ and dig it out and you had better be able to do it in a calm collected manner. These are the kinds of things people need from us and getting into a bathing suit or having a body pat touched by a fellow nursing student in a profession learning environment is not putting you in the patients shoes, it is like feeling 1/1000th of what they feel. One of the first objectives of any nursing school is to force you to view the human body (your's included) as a system. You have to be able to be objective and detached. If your little belly makes you uncomfortable, the class may help you deal with that, if you can't deal with that how will you deal with the day you roll over the patient and he pisses on you? These are real situations you WILL deal with and liability and self-consience thoughts should be at the bottom of your oh $hit pile. All I'm saying is that when you are in school do less judging and thinking about what you won't do and a little more time listening and realizing what you willl HAVE to do if this is what you want!! It's not for the faint of heart. Long winded I know but were I work 3 of the 6 new grad nurses quit in the first six months because even after graduating they had no idea what they were getting into. Give it some thought.
Nurses are not made they're born

Ummm, wow. I think she was just voicing her opinion in regards to what she was told at orientation. I think it's a quite normal reaction. I have yet to go to orientation...I had no idea we would end up doing things like that. When I read this post it was funny, but gave me a tiny bit of butterflies in my stomach. I will do whatever it takes to become a nurse...but I think that's anyones normal reaction when they hear that their classmates will be bathing or showering them. Geesh...thanx for being blunt, but you didn't have to tear her a new butthole, ya know. It's a simple question/concern that I think is quite valid. And your reply was a little harsh; you could have been a bit more tactful when trying to convey your point. OP, don't let the negativity frustrate you before you have even begun. Keep trudging along....becoming a nurse might be the best decision you have ever made!

JimmyMallo · May 20, 2004

my intention was not to offend anyone, and i certainly did not direct this to the poster directly. if you were personally offended i appologize. that was not my intent, this post is 7 pages long and i was speaking to the conversation not any individual. i am passionant about the subjest because it seems at least in my limited experience that alot of students don't realize that things are the way they are for a reason. the feelings you are feeling are the same that my fat a$$ felt getting soaped up by an 18yo, but they serve a purpose, helping someone to get over themselves is a vital lesson in nursing and too few nurses are learning it. if i came off as brash it is because i am passionant and maybe i should proofread like my english teacher alway told me:chuckle

i just wanted to say your feelings are normal and expected and if you get through it you will be better off for it.

as for being sorry you ever posted this message, don't this is only my opinion and we all know what opinions are like:rotfl:

i am almost sorry that i ever posted anything about this. thank you to the ones that have listened and understood that i was only voicing a concern. i'm not even taking the darned classes yet and this last post tells me that i'm in the wrong line of work just because i said it would make me uncomfortable to be in my underwear at school! there is a complete difference in assisting a patient and having something done to you by a stranger that you aren't with day in and day out. if it was someone i wasn't going to see ever again in most probability it wouldn't have ever bothered me. and putting your finger up someone's $$$ as you so eloquently put it:rolleyes: well that's part of nursing. and as a nurse i feel the utmost respect is due to the patient. but please don't tell me i wouldn't cut it as a nurse because i don't feel comfortable being in my underwear around people at school. if i was sick in a hospital then more power to them , undress me and bathe me away if you need to. i just don't think you fully understood that i was just voicing a shock from the orientation. i never said i was not going to do it, complain, or b## as someone else previously said to the school. thanks to those that listened and know what i was trying to convey!:)

Truly_Blessed · May 20, 2004

My intention was not to offend anyone, and I certainly did not direct this to the poster directly. If you were personally offended I appologize. That was not my intent, this post is 7 pages long and I was speaking to the conversation not any individual. I am passionant about the subjest because it seems at least in my limited experience that alot of students don't realize that things are the way they are for a reason. The feelings you are feeling are the same that my fat a$$ felt getting soaped up by an 18yo, but they serve a purpose, helping someone to get over themselves is a vital lesson in nursing and too few nurses are learning it. If I came off as brash it is because I am passionant and maybe I should proofread like my english teacher alway told me:chuckle
I just wanted to say your feelings are normal and expected and if you get through it you will be better off for it.
As for being sorry you ever posted this message, DON'T this is only my opinion and we all know what opinions are like:rotfl:

Cool, cool.:)

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · May 20, 2004

We wore bathing suits when we had to bathe each other when I was in nursing school. Ask if you can wear a bathing suit.

Dixiedi · May 20, 2004

Yes, we stripped down to our bras and underpants and put a pt gown and our classmate bathed us. And if they went around the bed to get something they forgot, and left the side rail down, the instructor motioned for us to "fall out of bed" and freak out our partner!! :chuckle
I weighed much less then than I do now, but I was also eight months pregnant when we did that part, and I felt QUITE awkward. :imbar
We also practiced subq injections on one another, that was our final grade for injections, was giving one to our partner and taken into consideration was how the partner felt we did!!!!

Ya'll didn't "give shots" to your patients in clinicals? Our instructor hung out at the medication room waiting for a staff nurse going in for an injectable!

zambezi, BSN, RN · May 20, 2004

We gave each other flu shots and we had a flu shot clinic...IVs were done on mannequins, breast exams on fake little breasts (complete with benign lumps!)...We had to do the full head to toe assessment on a partner(with the exception of genitals and breasts....) and it had to be videotaped. I really don't remember bathing...I personally don't have a problem with it but I am not really modest...to each their own...I do think that going over properly draping during a bath is an important skill in the whole bed bath area...It dosen't really matter if you are nekkid or have a snowsuit on, I do think that in order to pass the "bathing portion", you should have to demosntrate draping...I am sure that everyone knows how to run a wash cloth over someone else...I know that alot of people have anxiety over the whole lab portion of school...but really, it is a blast! The horror stories that you hear are usually not as bad as they seem...Most clinical instructors are failry understanding if you have strong personal views or concerns...I agree that you should try to do as much as you can before you have to do it "for real"...Most of all, try to relax and have fun!

Aneroo, LPN · May 20, 2004

I personally don't have a problem with it but I am not really modest

Second that...maybe that's why I didn't really care. When I lived in the dorms, after a month it was the norm to walk down the hall with a towel on my head and one around my body, passing someones boyfriend or father in the hall. Living in the dorms, seeing the same girls at 6am and peeing in a stall next to them 6 times a day does wonders for your modesty!

ChrisA · May 20, 2004

Hey, WannaBLPN2005? You can do it. You can do it. Then come back and let us know how uncomfortable you were and how you're still alive. :)

You go, girl!

TweetiePieRN · May 20, 2004

How long ago? Most schools I have heard do not for the same reasons. Your school, while its good you got to practice on real people before going to the hospital, but the practice itself is scarey for the schools safety.

This year...back in Feb 2004. We had to sign waivers and such.

Rhoresmith · May 20, 2004

We had to do sponge baths on each other you could wear a swim suit or shorts and a tank top. We had a girl who c/o in another class the semester after us and she was told this is a REQUIREMENT you either do it or fail. We also did subq,subdural and IM shots on each other. IV were also practiced on each other, all this was done in the last two semesters. You will not be any more embarrassed than the person you are bathing and you have so many other things going in your head so fast you won't have time to think about this after it is over. We did not do personel care (perineal care) only raised shirt up and washed stomach and back. It is good practice for someone who has never done it. Good luck Rhonda