Nursing school: Bizarre practice in learning to bed bath..

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This is too much: :uhoh3:

My significant other came home the other day from nursing school (3rd day) stating that he is going to need to bring his bathing suit to school because they are learning to give bed baths and will be practicing on EACH OTHER. I honestly didn't believe him but he insists that it's true, and that he's heard from more than one instructor that they really will be stripped down to bathing suits and literally, bathing EACH OTHER with soap and water.:eek:

I find this astounding that in this day and age, an accredited (community) college would ever think this is appropriate practice to use as a learning tool! I can think of so many things wrong with this on so many levels- for starters, it's a total invasion of privacy, degrading, embarrassing, unprofessional, and at the very least, simply ineffective! (How are they going to proper peri-care? That is something VERY important that I feel isn't emphasized enough on in schools).

Apparently the justification for the practice is that 'the dummies can't get wet'. (No kidding, that's why every other nursing school used dry cloths to 'pretend' bathe). No one I know has ever heard of this. I've informally polled people at work and they all think it's just as bizarre as I do. Disturbing, really.

I will be contacting, (anonymously), the school to inquire what this is all about. I really cannot thinking of a worthy justification for it, other than knowing how it feels to be 'exposed' as a patient??

i just don't know.

Has anyone else heard of this type of thing? I just can't imagine being bathed by my classmates! Even when we learned how to apply EKG's we had the right to volunteer NOT to be a subject (I wasn't). I'm super modest! He even said that there is a quite heavy set girl in the class who is very mortified by this.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.

I've given birth twice, had a whole gaggle of med students watch my crotch as I pushed babies out, had foley insertions, have had my cervix checked multiple times by multiple people, had one resident try to manually turn my baby's head/body lady partslly, had my bare butt high in the air as I was attempting to get my baby's head off my spine due to the pain...

When you're in the hospital, you expect professionalism, some semblance of privacy, and everything is being done to help you medically.

When you're with your classmates, you see them everyday, you see them socially, you are acquaintances or friends. It is NOT the same, and I'm surprised by some of the responses here. IMO, it doesn't foster empathy because you know that the context is not the same. One might feel it is just a ridiculous exercise that in no way resembles actually being a patient. (And, I would agree!)

I'm not a particularly modest person, but even I wouldn't wear a bathing suit in that situation. I would have a little bit more covering me. Yet, I have no problem wearing a bathing suit in front of dozens of strangers at the pool. The difference? Context..and the fact that my classmates hands would be all over me!

Specializes in OR.

I think its ridiculous. My nursing school didn't make us do this (maybe b/c it was a big university) and I couldn't imagine doing that! Honestly, if you can't imagine what the patient is going through when you bathe them, then maybe you shouldn't be a nurse. They dont make us intubate and extubate each other so that we understand what the vented patient experiences. It's crap like this that makes nurses so undervalued in the healthcare system. What if they told Dr's "well we are going to take out your appendix so that you can sympathize with the patient who is in surgery."

I think they should be concentrating on more important things, like, oh, medications and patho/pharm. THATS what our new grads are lacking in.

Specializes in Urgent Care, Family Medicine & OB/GYN.

We were required to bring soap and lotion and were asked to dress in a tank top and shorts. It was funny to us because it was so ODD! It was our 1st semester but after that you can imagine that we were close as a family. It wasn't that big of a deal to us. We were shocked but it wasn't a big enough concern to address it with our nursing faculty.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

If you couldn't handle washing a classmate in a bathing suit then how would you handle an unclothed patient? You have to become accustomed to touching another person, albeit in a professional manner.

Specializes in LTC Family Practice.

We did it in my nursing school, and I thought it very appropriate. We learned how to drape for modesty, how to hold and fold the washcloth without dripping, where to put the towels and when, how much soap and water to use etc. the order of what to do first and last, it's also an excellent way to really evaluate your pt and take a look at their skin, do ROM if ordered etc. and when we were in bed as the pt. we found out a bit what it felt like to have someone else taking care of you, how chilled you can get if not covered right, how rough someone might be with their scrubing how much work it is just being the pt. The basic skills I learned in that single one afternoon class have not changed since 1972, giving a bath to a dummy is not anything like giving one to an actual human.

We gave each other 'partial bed baths' just face, arms, legs and back from the waist up. We had on shorts and sleeveless t's no big deal.

Our nursing instructor gave us a demo using one of us on how to do it without ever exposing the patient, it left a lasting impression of efficiency and modesty and I can still see it in my minds eye today even though it took place one afternoon 4 decades ago.

I think it's important that we get just a "taste" of what it's like to perform such an intimate task and be a patient before we are foisted on the real thing.

I would think since the nursing schools of today have fewer clinical hours, these types of labs would be invaluable.

Specializes in Med/Surg, LTAC, Critical Care.

Our instructors threatened to do that to us when I was in nursing school. They even had some former students support it. It turned out like we had all knew (and hoped).... a load of BS.

We DID however, have to brush each others teeth, make a bed with someone in it, and practice bed to chair and vice versa transfers (During one of these a student was ALMOST dropped, I happened to have a camera and got a shot as just the right moment :D).

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
We were required to bring soap and lotion and were asked to dress in a tank top and shorts. It was funny to us because it was so ODD! It was our 1st semester but after that you can imagine that we were close as a family. It wasn't that big of a deal to us. We were shocked but it wasn't a big enough concern to address it with our nursing faculty.

UNBELIEVABLE! I have never heard of such a thing! We used manikins and pretend soap! In this day and age I would think that this would no longer practiced due to liability and infection issues. If you want to teach them to "know how the patient feels" have them go to the cafe in their skivvies! Really............seems to me some mastered prepared instructors have a few fetishes in the closet!:lol2:

I wouldn't do it.......period....end of conversation. I would make a complaint that I felt sexually harassed! Bed baths by fellow STUDENTS.....in college!..........to teach empathy? Are you kidding???? :eek: That's like asking someone to be cardioverted so they know how much it hurts the patient and why they need conscious sedation! Surely you can't be serious? (I know and "don't call me surely")

WOW........and just when I think I have heard it all.............POW! Another lesson in humanity.:twocents:

Specializes in Pediatrics, Cardiology, Geriatrics.

I don't see what the big deal is. We had to do that, too. We were given the option of wearing bathing suits or shorts and t-shirts, whichever made us more comfortable. We used real soap and water, and we also had to brush each other's teeth, comb each other's hair, and feed each other. We did this both in CNA class and nursing school. In physical assessment class in nursing school, we had to do head-to-toe physical exams on each other (with all the touching that requires), although we explained how we would perform perineal and breast exams. That required snug fitting clothing, as well. When I was in school to become a medical assistant, we had to draw blood from each other, perform EKGs on each other (that required above the waist nudity, but it was just your lab partner and the instructor behind a screen), and perform lab tests on each other's blood and urine.

We were scared, but it really was no big deal. In both CNA class and nursing school, we were a close-knit family, and I think these experiences fostered that. It was like boot camp. We all survived, and we learned how to be both the patient and the nurse. When I was a patient on the unit I once worked on, I wasn't mortified by having my friends and former co-workers care for me, and I think those experiences in nursing school helped. I do think that these exercises help students see things from the patients' perspective, and also to become more comfortable performing invasive procedures. It's just part of being a health care student. I don't see what the big deal is. It teaches you to be professional and gets the nervousness and any giggling out of the way before you go near a patient. At least we didn't have to give each other enemas or insert foleys!

Thankfully two of our mannequins were able to have a water/soap bath, so us students were the bathers and not the bathees. Phew!

Specializes in ICU.

I would be curious to know whether there is a relationship between body image and whether or not a person is comfortable with having another student bathe them. How many of you that didn't mind are thin or average body type and/or have a positive body image?

I am heavy, and I am very self-conscious about my body. I don't like it (especially now that I'm older and certain parts are heading south!) and I don't want anybody I have to work with to see any of it, especially hearing how many nurses speak negatively about obese pts. I have a choice to seek healthcare from providers that I don't have to work with or see outside of the provider-patient relationship. You don't have that choice as a student.

Thoughts?

:paw:

I like NRSKarenRN's POV. Several years ago I went through a CC CNA program that had us do this very thing. The nurse instructor thoughtfully pointed out that there is an art to bed baths and personal care in general. Although infection control and proper mechanics are key, so too is helping to maintain patient dignity. I can't tell you how I APPRECIATED this lesson. Hopefully all of us make an effort to maintain patient dignity, but I have personally witnessed this is not the case for every caregiver.

I think when employed correctly and with thoughtful discussion among students and instructors, this can be a great learning opportunity. You won't soon forget the importance of a bath sheet, how quickly one gets cold during a bath, what it's like to be vulnerable to another person, and so on.

In conclusion, I don't think it is way out of line or beyond reasonable conduct. Some people come into nursing school with zero patient contact/exposure, and literally freak out their first weeks of clinical because they have to touch patients and get up close and personal. This type of training with a live body may be useful in quelling nerves as well as providing a lesson in empathy and dignity.

Thanks for posting. It made me laugh and brought back memories of the deer-in-headlights look when the instructor told us we were to bath each other!

I would be curious to know whether there is a relationship between body image and whether or not a person is comfortable with having another student bathe them. How many of you that didn't mind are thin or average body type and/or have a positive body image?

When I was in nursing school, I was thinner than I am now at a size 8/10, but had a worse body image than I do now. Partially because I was about 9 months post partum and had not lost all the baby fat, and was still optimistic I would be skinny again!

The only thing I refused to allow was a breast exam (which so many people were upset by it, they ended up not doing them). Mostly because I was still breast feeding and I didn't want milk squirting everywhere, and I also felt very protective of my breasts. They were for my baby, not for my fellow students to push around on! Completely illogical, but it's how I felt at the time.

The rest of the stuff was meh. Maybe because I'd been a pretty helpless patient, or maybe because I had worked for several years as an aide, I was just more comfortable with the bed baths, etc than some.

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