I learned something cool! little tricks to make life easier

[NM nurse to be]

So I was having this huge issue with the bedpan with one particular resident. He calls for it a lot and often doesn't go. But when he does, man look out! It's huge, loose and you can NEVER get it out of the pan! So I was just throwing the whole thing away.

Another aide told me the best trick! Put a plastic can liner over the bedpan, stuff it down in the inside and use it that way. Then when I remove the pan, I can turn the bag inside out, toss in the wipes and be done with the whole process! Amazing!!!

I love stuff like that! And when I told the aides on my new floor, they were amazed the newby had some great trick they didn't know What do you pass on that makes your life easier?

[littlenursingmommy]

I got to see an aide change depends without removing the pants when I was at clinicals; it was a neat trick...she actually showed me twice and I STILL don't get exactly how she did it.

I'm wondering one thing though...how "creative" are you allowed to get when you're a newbie?

Reason why I ask...when I was at clinicals, (and yes, I know that clinicals are pretty textbook matter-of-fact) we had a lady that would NEVER let us do her peri care when we changed her catheter. So, I convinced her to let me wash her without actually lifting up her skirt, and I got my head ripped off. Still not sure why.

Anyway, back to my original question...will the facility get upset if the newbies try out any "tricks?"

[caliotter3]

I would guess that they ripped your head off for cleaning the lady without lifting up her skirt because it appears that you are molesting her.

[jaratarRN]

These are all great suggestions! I am still in my CNA class and we have had two clinicals so far, but without doing actual patient care. Next Friday we have our first day of patient care and I am so excited/scared out of my mind! We are doing bed baths, perineal care, oral care, and all the hygiene stuff! I know we are not supposed to be using any tricks yet and we are supposed to be doing it by the book, but it is still great to hear about all these little pointers! Thanks everyone!

[MissAnnie79]

I have one trick that I use fairly often. Instead of using soap to wash my residents who have dry skin I usually use lotion in place of soap. It works really well especially if they have the baby lotion. They smell good and their skin isn't getting dried out by that cheap soap that most nursing facilities have. I also figured out that when you are doing peri cares on a person who had a bad poo mess and its kind of stuck that lotion and a nice warm cloth really takes it off alot easier without having to scrub.

[mncna08]

I can try and explain how you change a depend without the taking the pants off. quite simple but takes a few tries lol and it is kinda hard to write out:)

1) make sure the pants are down at thier ankles.

2)take the depend and put it up one leg (of course under the pants) and make sure it is all the way up throught the pants so just the one leg hole is there.

3)take the other leg opening, and stretch it down the oppisite leg.

4)pull it down to the foot push around it and then pull up.

5) WAZZAM !!!clean undies without the hassle of taking off shoes and pants!

I hope that made sense lol also i wouldnt try any tricks during clinicals, that stuff is from the books. You can learn and do tricks later, and they might of gotten mad because she didnt want to be washed, and they know how to deal with her. people do have the right to refuse, just my thoughts!

[NM nurse to be]

That's interesting, mncna08. I wasn't picturing that done with a pull up, but a conventional brief. Makes sense to me how you've written it. I'll have to try that. I always just tore them free and then cussed to myself at having to get them back on :) Taped briefs are much easier to get back on with a dressed resident!

I did discover something that makes changing a dressed resident easier too, when they are on the toilet. Put the brief on in their lap and do up all the tabs, but loosely on the side you can reach easiest. Have the resident stand and you can just pull the whole thing up and tighten it as needed. This little skil saves me a lot of pee drips down the arm that inevitably ends up underneath, trying to grab the other end of the brief! And with men its easier too, to get things adjusted without having to grab around for a loose end in a difficult place. Then just pull up clothes and you're done!

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

The brief/pants method is a lot easier to understand if you try it out on yourself with a pair of underwear :)

This isn't a trick, but it does make things easier- I like to fill the linen cart up with junk. Ay my facility someone is always asking for a box of tissues or another tube of cream, or they ran out of powder. You have to walk a mile to get those things... one supply room is at the end of the hallway and the other is even further away. And I never remember to get it later. So the first time I have to make a trip there I bring back a pile of stuff and dump it at the bottom of the cart with the linens that nobody uses.

And if I'm coming from one end of the hallway and someone is out of powder or something, but I'm not headed back in that direction, then I grab whatever they need and write their name on it so I'll see it when I do come back that way.

[eyknough]

great thread!

shaving cream works wonders for helping to remove bm from hairy body parts. (i like the lotion idea for the same purpose, as well as a moisturizing body wash!)

don't breathe through your nose while cleaning up anything stinky.

toothpaste can work to clean the odor of bm off of hands (generally the residents'... i hope!) i learned that one from my granny who used to work at the old state home.

if you are planning a road trip and have residents who are incontinent, double layering the brief works great, but you have to remember to make a tear in the crotch of the inside brief so it has somewhere to leak through to the outer one. otherwise the inside one will just overflow through the legs, and likely miss the outer one entirely.

during clinical i saw a trick that may have already been described above as a burrito wrap. except the burrito is wrapping the private parts only (for males of course). they'd actually tear a hole in a small brief and (using amazing dexterity) push it over the private parts to make them pop through the hole. (i was told by a lady that to pull them through would hurt. funny since i have the same parts!) wrap up the 'package' and contain it in the normal brief. at first i thought this was overkill, but if you think about it this would expose a lot less skin to chronic wetness from urine.

[dedream]

I learned this when I worked with DD wheelchairbound pts. A lot of them cannot stand for very long so we would undress from the waist down and have them use the footrest to boost their hips and slide the underpants down then have the pt hold onto the armrest near the toilet transfer as normal. After the cleaning we would place the breif/diaper on the chair and have the resident sit on it fasten and have them use the foot rest again to boost their hips to pull up the pants (much easier when the pt wears dresses) it saves your back and keeps the pt from having to bear weight unecessarily

[stinebean]

OK, I'll bite... how do you change the Depends w/o taking the pants off?

[azcna]

I also get everything ready for HS care when I take down beds. I get the basin out with all their supplies, including oral care stuff, and the pajamas and slippers and washcloths and place it at the end of the bed. I also put a pillow according to whatever side the person is supposed to be laying on so I don't have to check because they're all on different repo schedules.

I do this too! When the bed is folded down, and you have all your supplies out; brief, pajamas, wash clothes, tooth brush, etc it is so easy to get them ready at night! It is so easy to just grab everything, put the resident on the toilet and do your thing. I've even started getting out the bags ahead of time that I put the dirty linens/briefs in.

[PeaceKeepr]

I work at a Hospital and we have the nice beds that lift/tilt in many directions. It will also incline and decline (invision a seesaw). If you have help moving the patient up in the bed, but the patient is a bit on the heavy side, just decline the bed to where the head is down and the feet are up. Now, you're pulling down hill instead of up. It works well if your the only one moving the patient. You can just move the bed away from the wall and get at the head and pull.

We also use the burrito roll as well. Pull sheet, bed pad, bed liner, diaper.