Patients wants a back rub

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Jul 19, 2015

Back rubs were considered a part of standard HS care back in the day. I suspect is goes back to the time when beds were not electric. The patient could not reposition themselves by adjusting the bed. Guess what you spent a LOT of time doing?

I don't consider it icky at all. It sucks laying in bed all the time. A backrub is relaxing and helps induce sleep.

Farawyn · Jul 19, 2015

Back rubs were considered a part of standard HS care back in the day. I suspect is goes back to the time when beds were not electric. The patient could not reposition themselves by adjusting the bed. Guess what you spent a LOT of time doing?
I don't consider it icky at all. It sucks laying in bed all the time. A backrub is relaxing and helps induce sleep.

Yep. It was part of PM care every single night. We used lotion...and NO GLOVES.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Jul 20, 2015

I used to work with post cardiac cath lab patients who'd had angioplasty or stents placed. They came back with the femoral sheath still in their femoral artery. They had to lay flat and still until we could safely pull the sheath. Then we'd place a pressure device called a fem stop on the site to apply pressure to prevent arterial hemorrhage. Again, they had to lay flat and still. This could take hours. A lot of them would tell me their backs were hurting so bad they could hardly stand it. I'd find myself giving pain meds not for chest pain or groin pain, but for back pain. Finally, I starting propping them up with pillows partially on their side (leg still straight), and I'd massage their back for five minutes or so. This was universally LOVED by these patients. I was able to keep them off pain meds by doing this at intervals, and they really appreciated this. I couldn't always do this because of time constraints, but in the case of the patients who were in agony, I tried to find the time.

I remember watching the film Rear View Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. In it, he is homebound by an injury and he has a visiting nurse. His nurse would come in and immediately give him a back rub with some kind of oil. It seemed to be a standard nursing intervention.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Jul 20, 2015

I will still give back rubs. Lotion, no gloves. It helps to relax them, ease up tense muscles and calm them for a better nights sleep. Nothing icky about it. I also massage backs when helping pts with their morning bath.

4everstudent15 · Jul 20, 2015

Back rubs are still taught in my program as part of bathing the patient.

Eleven011 · Jul 20, 2015

I remember doing this too. After hs med pass was done, I made a round check and offered backrubs. Some wanted, some not, but it was the normal thing to do. I haven't worked in a hospital for a long time though, so not sure if its still routine.

Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN · Jul 20, 2015

I don't like it and I don't have time for it. People also ask for foot massages, back-scratching, etc. I always decline, but will ask for a PT order, benadryl, etc. It seems like it's always the creepiest patients asking, too.

elkpark · Jul 20, 2015

When I started practicing, it was a standard part of HS care for every client. Some people turned down the offer, but it was standard nursing care to at least offer it to every client at HS. The point was good skin care as well as promoting relaxation and a good night's sleep. Nothing "icky" about it.

proud nurse, BSN, RN · Jul 20, 2015

It was taught in my LPN program. We even had to place the bottle of lotion in warm water. That was years ago. I'll do it if I have time. And it has been my experience that the patients asking were pretty creepy.

DoeRN · Jul 20, 2015

I was taught to do it in nursing school. I never did it personally but see how it can relax someone.

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allnurses Guide · Jul 20, 2015

I remember learning back rubs as part of HS care, too. There was lotion that smelled like menthol, and it was described as a procedure, just as bedmaking was, for efficiency. You had a diagram with arrows showing you what to do, and as I recall the whole thing took around 5-10 minutes.

I think certain cultural viewpoints have changed, and caused the no-nonsense therapeutic backrub to change to something associated with therapies that didn't exist in the nursing world back then. Now it often conjures images of New Age therapies, Barry White, and Lava Lamps.