LPN students have to give bed bath to classmates

[vina2550]

I am taking lpn program and my teacher said we will be giving each other a bed bath anyone else have to do this? She said we can wear a bathing suite..I am freaked out.

[vamedic4, EMT-P]

I remember those days. We all had to do that at the beginning of our paramedic program, too. It's hard when you barely know the people you're in class with..but MUCH easier as time goes on. I remember working with one of my classmates on patient assessments in class - and being so nervous as I was doing my assessment that I verbalized listening to "breast" sounds;). Needless to say - I got teased for the remainder of my program.

It gets easier the more you do it, I promise. It can be hard to get over seeing your classmates in their skivvies or having them see you in yours. Now perhaps we can see how our patients might feel when they're getting up to use the bathroom wearing nothing but a gown that doesn't close in the back.

vamedic4

[vashtee, RN]

While it may not seem as "cool" as other skills, it is the basic comfort to many of your patients, and in time you will have a patient that is so far down that the only thing they have left to their name is their dignity, if you cannot preserve your well classmate's dignity in this most simple of tasks and they yours, how do you think that patient would feel?? Sometimes it's the simplest tasks that take most care and thought

I don't dispute this, but that doesn't make it a complex skill, and practicing on your classmates is not the same thing as doing it for a patient who will get to walk away from the hospital and never see you again.

[Batman24]

I would have had a heart attack if told I needed to give/get an intimate exam to a classmate. I'm shy and would have had a freakin' coronary. You would all have gotten practice with CPR that day. lol

[APBT mom, LPN, RN]

We practiced everything on the dummies (except vitals) although some of the students did jump on the beds to learn how to place a patient on a bed pan. The only assessment things that we did were a one hour lab on breath sounds and heart sounds but that was with our clothes on.

One of my instructors told us the horror stories of nursing school when she went. They had to perform foleys and enemas on each other. If they didn't they failed the check off. Needless to say to say she is still close with her classmates.

There was a school in my area a few years ago that was requiring foley placement in lab but stopped because Liability Insurance was too expensive.

[APBT mom, LPN, RN]

Computer hiccup.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

We had to do this in my nursing program 32 years ago. No one was required to strip down completely. Who else are you going to practice on with your instructors present? You have to know how to do this and work through the anxiety before you work on your first patient. Hate to tell you, but it probably won't be the only thing you'll be doing on each other. Try to find some fun with it.