Mr. Harry the Excessive Hair Patient

[Barbie8808]

Yup you guess it, this post is all about pubic hair. I've been in the game for almost 10 years and I have no idea why CNA's or nurses ignore pubic hair or excessive hair in general! I had a nurse ask me to get an IV on a patient once who literally resembled Chewbacca. Fortunately I had success in his hand which is frowned upon at my institution but heck what else was I going to do? Oh but thats not the half.... What about when I have a patient whose on golytely or diarrhea??? The last thing I'm tryna do is fidget with 7 inch longs hair. I'm wondering if its OK to provide lil snip snip?

[guest769224]

PLease back to the pubs thanks u guys rock!!!!

Lol you're funny. Back to pubic hair everyone, very important.

[guest769224]

a CNA is not allowed to start an iv in any facility I've ever worked in.

I started like 30 IV's a day when I was a CNA in the ER. It just depends on the facility.

[Boomer MS, RN]

I started like 30 IV's a day when I was a CNA in the ER. It just depends on the facility.

Wow. Truly must depend on the facility. I have never heard of CNAs starting IVs. In one major academic institution where I worked, the ED techs were allowed to start IVs but could not draw blood. I wonder if "CNA" has different meanings and job descriptions in various facilities.

[guest769224]

I wonder if "CNA" has different meanings and job descriptions in various facilities.

It sure does. In addition to IV's, I was expected to draw labs off the arterial lines, blood gasses, perform EKG's, draw blood cultures, it really was awesome prep. for when I became an RN.

[run.for.the.roses]

Okay, I had a confused elderly woman, incontinent, no family, we were ruling out cdiff, and she's losing loose stool at the rate of approx. 10gal/min, give or take. Now she wasn't so hairy that at first glance I thought she had buckwheat in a leg lock or anything, but what was down there must have been 10-12" long! This poor woman had all of these XXXL(ong) hair that were curled up and stuck to her legs with BM Bondo ! After a couple of failed attempts to keep her clean, they had to go! Snip Snip! Now we aren't talking about a Brazilian wax or anything, but sometimes we do what we have to!

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

On the flip side, I had a patient have abdominal surgery and wake up with me in ICU. She was very startled that someone had shaved her hair. She asked me why it was done and I told her that I honestly had no idea. Her surgical incision didn't go that low or anything, and ALL of the hair were gone.

The lost hair bothered her more than the surgical pain - just the idea that someone would shave her hair without asking her was intolerable, apparently. She said if she wanted her hair shaved she would have shaved them herself. Something about the whole situation struck me as really hilarious.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

This is so inappropriate on a number of levels.

As unlicensed assistive personnel, I would be 100% sure that your state practice rules for your CNA certification allow one to start IV's, HANG MEDICATIONS (Yikes) pull blood off arterial lines and other invasive techniques. All delegated by a licensed nurse. Who it is on them if one screws up. And there is more than one nurse who is held responsible for delegating to Assistive Personnel, and do a deer in headlights "I had no CLUE that CNA such and so was doing THAT!!" It's all fun and games until someone is held liable, and it is NOT the unlicensed person. There are paramedics who have their scope cut in an ER setting. Depends on the state, depends on the facility.

How someone chooses to groom or not groom is a personal choice, and no, I would not be snipping away at a patient's pubic hair. There's an infection risk if one slips and cuts the patient, and even using a razor....this one time (at band camp HAHA) there was a situation where someone decided to do their own grooming with a razor as there were comments about pubic hair (

Peri bottles are wonderous things. A little baby shampoo in them and they are just about freakin magical.

There is this urban myth that is happening in our culture that pubic hair = being dirty. Hence why waxing is a multi-million dollar business, as younger people today equate having no pubic hair as a norm. Whatever floats your boat, however, it is not up to us to be putting our own ideals of being "clean" onto a patient. And why make someone feel embarrassed at their own personal grooming? It is the men's back hair of the 2000s!! I also have had patients with a tremendous amount of leg hair or chest hair--which makes EKG's interesting for sure. Some religions forbid any hair removal.

There are more ways than one to get a job done. But by removing hair for convenience is not one of them.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

In NC, a CNA II can do a lot of things, insert Foleys, phlebo (separate class though)-no arterial. In the ED, a lot of them start an IV but not hang anything. I was HH aide as a II and I could do tube feeds, established trach care, and wound care on a wound >48 hours old.

I think there are places where people work outside of their scope. Matter of time...

[Kitiger, RN]

OK PEEPS LETS GET THIS STRAIGHT NOW!!! I am a cna who works as pct at two hospitals on the east coast. I DO NOT WORK AT A LTCF.I DO NOT WORK AS A HOME HEALTH AIDE. So my job description may not fit the same as the aides that you work with. In my job description at MY JOB I am able to start iv's-flush them to ensure the work correctly not start a bag of fluids or hang meds. I am able to draw blood do ekg's etc. PLease back to the pubs thanks u guys rock!!!!

PEEPS respond to that which they find interesting, and they are finding your job description interesting.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Wow. Truly must depend on the facility. I have never heard of CNAs starting IVs. In one major academic institution where I worked, the ED techs were allowed to start IVs but could not draw blood. I wonder if "CNA" has different meanings and job descriptions in various facilities.

Everywhere I've ever heard of, CNA means certified nursing assistant. I see no reason why a CNA, with training, could not be delegated to initiating IV access.

[Boomer MS, RN]

Everywhere I've ever heard of, CNA means certified nursing assistant. I see no reason why a CNA, with training, could not be delegated to initiating IV access.

Yes, with training, anyone can learn to insert an IV. From my experience in the four states in which I've been employed, a CNA is not permitted to do so....not in his/her scope. I remain surprised that it is allowed in some places. I don't think just because it's possible to teach someone such as a CNA a skill makes it wise. As has been stated previously, before, depends on different policies at different institutions.

[guest769224]

This is so inappropriate on a number of levels.

As unlicensed assistive personnel, I would be 100% sure that your state practice rules for your CNA certification allow one to start IV's, HANG MEDICATIONS (Yikes) pull blood off arterial lines and other invasive techniques. All delegated by a licensed nurse. Who it is on them if one screws up.

I'm not sure if you were referring to me or not…if so, it is 100% allowed in my state. I worked at a level 1 trauma center that trained their ER and ICU techs to do such (I worked both). I never hung any meds. I do not feel the rest of those are inappropriate. We received adequate training on how to utilize safe technique and protocol. Sure, there is some risk of making a mistake, but that is not exclusive to being a CNA, it can happen to the nurse as well. As for liability, yes the aide would be off the hook and the nurse would take the heat if something did happen. I never observed anything like that happen in my 3 years. I liked having such a large scope as a CNA, it was a huge help during nursing school and in my current practice as an ICU RN.