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Protect from spitting, is it illegal to place a towel over a patient face to protect from spit
Are you ******* kidding me?!!! A pillow is appropriate if you plan to suffocate someone, or use it to silence a gunshot. I've seen police officers do plenty of things that I wouldn't include in the nursing scope of practice. I hope they are not your role models in how to treat patients. Covering a patient's airway is not moral, ethical, and probably illegal. A surgical mask is fine, if the patient needs oxygen- use a non-rebreather. There are also commercial spit hoods designed for that purpose. Geez...
Earlier, the pt had spit on me. I initially almost reacted unprofessionally, but did not.
When the police arrived, the pt spit at one of them and got the pillow for a less than 10 seconds. There was no harm to the pt. At that point, the pt became compliant, and safely taken into custody with no injury to anybody. Spit is not benign.
I wouldn't do it as a nurse, but think it was a creative, effective solution to a problem.
Are you ******* kidding me?!!! A pillow is appropriate if you plan to suffocate someone, or use it to silence a gunshot. I've seen police officers do plenty of things that I wouldn't include in the nursing scope of practice. I hope they are not your role models in how to treat patients. Covering a patient's airway is not moral, ethical, and probably illegal. A surgical mask is fine, if the patient needs oxygen- use a non-rebreather. There are also commercial spit hoods designed for that purpose. Geez...
Irony. Learn it; embrace it.
Protect from spitting, is it illegal to place a towel over a patient face to protect from spit
I would say more than likely. And poor practice. What would be the outcome? A really, really angry patient where spitting would be the least of your worries.
Wouldn't it be better for you to wear PPE if you are going into a room with a patient who is a spitter? (or a urinal/bedpan thrower, or whatever....)
And no, throwing a towel over the face of a patient does NOT make you disappear......
Are you asking if it's ok to cover a patient's entire face to keep his/her from spitting at you? How do you plan to affix this towel so you don't suffocate him?
…you pour water on the towel to weight it down so it does not fall off. This was the solution to a common problem with detainees that the US government came up with during the Bush administration… LOL
We have disposable spit hoods for our darling patients that insist on spitting at us, but they're used pretty infrequently and seem to be more trouble than they're worth.
Do they come wrapped kind of like a condom that you roll down over their head? That's how ours come and it takes a little practice to get good at putting them on (you can't let one side get down too far past the other side or it tightens up). Luckily, we don't have to use them often, because we're that awesome.
Princess Bubblegum
122 Posts
We have disposable spit hoods for our darling patients that insist on spitting at us, but they're used pretty infrequently and seem to be more trouble than they're worth.