IS THIS TRUE???

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Recently read on a nursing blog: Nurse (BSN in 2010) said during school clinicals, students disrobed to their undergarments to practice on each other (sponge bathing, other procedures, etc) The few guys in the class practiced on each other, and the gals with the gals but the whole classes disrobed out in the open first. The entire class watched each pair work at their respective station. Don't know where the school was located. No one openly complained, she said. I Never heard of such a thing. Certainly didn't happen in my school.

Does that actually happen?

Specializes in LTC & home care.

In my LPN program, they asked for 3 volunteers so we could practice placing EKG leads. The volunteers were put in separate beds with the curtains drawn. They required one man to remove his shirt, and the other men in the class had to practice on him. (Common opinion was that he was rather cute, so a few of the women opted to practice on him too.) I'm guessing the female volunteers went topless, but I don't know for sure since I'm a guy and I got stuck with Nurse Dreamboat and his Swoon Squad. Honestly, I would have preferred to practice on a female - not because I wanted to fondle her, but because I was curious how leads are placed on a female with larger breasts. I can understand why a female student would be uncomfortable having a male classmate practice on her though - I thought my instructors' solution was practical.

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Specializes in OB.
We wore shorts and a sports bra or spaghetti straps under a gown. Not that bad. Our professor told us the NP students did breast exams on each other, but when I went through the NP program we did no practicing on each other at all, it was 90% real patients and 10% mannequins.

I read a Buzzfeed article recently about gynecological teaching associates. Interesting read.

How I Made A Career Out Of Showing People My Cervix

In my midwifery program, we did breast exams on each other but were not allowed to practice pelvic exams---those we did with these GTAs described in the article. Let me tell you, they were so passionate about what they do, and so picky about the exact way to do exams that was the only "right" way, that I would have much preferred to have just practiced with my fellow students. It was a pretty intense day.

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Specializes in Occ. Hlth, Education, ICU, Med-Surg.

Is it wrong that this is what pops up in my mind when I read this?....:up:

LMAO!

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My school doesn't utilize this kind of method, and as far as I know never did.

If one truly has to bathe a human being for a clinical skill, then they should take ONLY volunteers, who would strip down ONLY to tank tops and shorts. Completely unnecessary to go any further. And honestly....my school used VIDEOS and volunteers who wore t-shirts and shorts. Not even water, a DRY bedbath, as all we had to demonstrate was our ability to utilize the proper technique for filling/emptying basin, rinsing and replacing washcloths. NONE of that required ANYONE to be in their undergarments, and NONE of us came away unable to do a bed bath. It's not rocket science, it's pretty simple/basic stuff.

If my school had required us to strip down to underwear I think holy hell would have broken out, personally. Perhaps that's why it was NEVER an issue ;)

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I would be fine with just about anything, but I'm not sure if I want a fellow classmate doing a pelvic on me. I suppose it would depend on who the person was.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

In assessment class, we were advised in advance to wear a sports bra or bikini top underneath. We were separated into groups of 3-4, same gender only, and practiced in exam rooms.

No way in hell would I agree to a vag exam in NS. Did the men get prostate exams?? And anyway, that is an NP skill...not an RN skill (except cervical checks in L&D. But those don't involve specula.) From what I hear of med school and NP school, they use paid medical models--not classmates.

I am not one to agree to anything just to avoid rocking the boat, though. If I didn't consent to an invasive exam, I won't get one. And I suspect that if a NS did make a practice of compulsory invasive exams, they could be...convinced to change this practice, by some professional procured by an unwilling nursing student . :whistling:

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Specializes in Acute Care Pediatrics.

Thank GOD that didn't happen in my program -- there were some people in that class I would have definitely not wanted to see in the skivvies. LOL!!!

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Specializes in ICU, Geriatrics, Float Pool.

What? This never happened in my nursing program. Whatever clinical skills we needed to practice we did so on actual patients, with their consent.

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Yep. I went to school before all the computerized mannequins. We wore bathing suits and practiced bed baths, occupied bed linen changes and physical assessment on each other. BSN 1992.

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Interesting. My CNA class stripped down to tanks and shorts for bed baths, but my nursing class didn't. I come from a highly prudish/modest area, too, so there was much gnashing of teeth and wailing. I thought it was funny that they had no problems stripping the elderly naked in front of a clinical audience but whined about having arms and legs washed.

Good point! It is a huge pet peeve of mine when someone does a bed bath and just whips everything off and leaves the poor pt. lying there naked. I do what I was taught...keep everything covered but the part you're working on.

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In my LPN program, they asked for 3 volunteers so we could practice placing EKG leads. The volunteers were put in separate beds with the curtains drawn. They required one man to remove his shirt, and the other men in the class had to practice on him. (Common opinion was that he was rather cute, so a few of the women opted to practice on him too.) I'm guessing the female volunteers went topless, but I don't know for sure since I'm a guy and I got stuck with Nurse Dreamboat and his Swoon Squad. Honestly, I would have preferred to practice on a female - not because I wanted to fondle her, but because I was curious how leads are placed on a female with larger breasts. I can understand why a female student would be uncomfortable having a male classmate practice on her though - I thought my instructors' solution was practical.

Agreed.

For reasons unknown to me I was 'overly popular' in my nursing program in the way your describe. I did volunteer to be the human mannequin for assessment training. I was also the human pincusion for our IV Certification. I drew the line at NG insertion. I volunteered once, that was enough.

Karma has a way of coming back to you though. I nearly failed out of OB due to having issues with assessing female patients. I felt creepy and inappropriate in class listening to heart sounds. And I about vagal'ed out (my term) when I was told I would have to initiate breast feeding in clinical on a new mother. It was my fellow students, 3 actually, that stayed after class, lost their shirts and forced me to get the baby mannequin to latch on.

I would have failed out if not for them getting me over an anxiety I didn't know I had regarding exposed breasts and non coding females.

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Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

We did the sports bra and shorts assessment but nothing more than that. I do recall an older retired nurse saying in her nursing school days...they did all skills on each other including NG tube.

I would NOT have made it if I had to do that.

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