Patients wants a back rub

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How did the bedtime back rub come to be associated with nurses? MANY years ago I was doing agency staffing. I got called in to a very fancy private hospital to do a shift. One of my assigned patients rang the call bell. When I went into the room she wanted her "bedtime back rub." Being young and eager to please I gave her a back rub, but the whole thing felt really icky to me. Was there a time when nurses were night time massage people?

I wasn't but now I won't be able to read the rest of this thread without thinking of it.

Thanks a lot! ;)

It puts the lotion in the basket. It does this whenever it's told.

Put the ******* lotion in the basket!!!

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Specializes in Oncology.

I couldn't rub a patient's back. No way, no how. The only person's back I'll rub is my husband's. If that makes me a bad nurse, so be it.

On my BMT unit, you weren't allowed to touch ANYONE, anywhere on their body without gloves. You weren't even allowed to be in the room without gloves and a mask, for all patients, neutropenic or not.

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I'm surprised at how many people on this thread seem to be sexualizing this to some degree. It's nursing care, folks. It's no different than when you "touch" someone to start an IV or change a dressing. It's certainly a lot less intimate than doing peri care or catheterizing someone (or do people here refuse to do those things, too?) Wow, I really am an old fogey now ...

Just out of curiosity, how do people who have serious reservations about touching another person "in the line of duty" end up in nursing? I don't mean anyone who feels that way "shouldn't be allowed" to be a nurse or anything like that, I'm just curious about how, if one feels that way, the decision was made to enter an occupation which involves a lot of touching of other people, sometimes in v. personal, intimate ways.

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My nursing school instructors made sure we did back rubs...that and foot soaks, unless the soak was contraindicated...they would actually question the patient.

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I've seen a lot of nurses and CNAs do a short, abbreviated back rub after bathing the patient when they put lotion on their backs and shoulders. It really gets the blood flowing there, and gives the caregiver the opportunity to check out the skin. It's not a full out massage, but it's good for the circulation, and I've never seen a patient complain about this or act uncomfortable with it,

It's a heck of a lot less intimate in nature than doing peri care or washing after a bowel movement.

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Touching strangers (and being touched by strangers) makes me uncomfortable, too. I don't even touch my best friends, really - I just talk to them. I can touch hands, sure, and squeeze a shoulder for comfort, but rubbing my hands all over someone else's body for the purpose of bringing pleasurable sensations is just way too intimate for me. I regularly rub lotion on people but not in a massage sort of way.

I will massage patients if they ask for it, but they have to ask - I'm not going to offer out of the blue.

I remember when I was a PCT and I was working in the ICU. I had a patient who was a church member and she had a very bloody procedure. I had no problems washing patients. I asked her if she was ok with me cleaning her up and she said no she didn't mind because she knew me. So I cleaned her up and had her nurse come in to help me change her sheets and to log roll her. She asked if I could rub lotion on her back. I did a quick swipe and they both laughed and said that's not how you do it. I had to laugh at myself because I too don't like to be touched, kissed, hugged none of the above even from close family members and friends.

Unfortunately my family is very huggy kissy. Made for a traumatic childhood at holiday time. Especially since there weren't many kids in my family and I had aunts, great aunts, and even at the time great great aunts all ready to pounce when I walked through the door lol.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

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I also think it's "icky," but I'm also very weird about personal touch situations.

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Specializes in Infection Prevention, Public Health.

I don't think I have said sexual. I did say it has gender connotations. Then someone said it doesn't have gender connotations because they know people who want massage from someone of the opposite gender. Hello! That is a gender connotation-- the issue doesn't need to be same sex.

yeah, I did know nursing involves touching people. Worked for years at a STD clinic and have frozen tons of condylomata on the genitals of men and women. My issue is the concept of a bedtime back rub for no reason. Others have given great examples of using touch and massages in specific circumstances. Touch to relieve pain is cool. Touch to "pamper" or pleasure someone not in pain is gross to me.

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Specializes in my patients.
... I don't wear gloves. Of course I do wash with soap and water after. Should I be gloved?

I don't know...which is why I asked...just to see what others do. (Obviously, in some circumstances, you of course would, but I just wondered in general.)

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Specializes in Cardiac/Tele.

I am an aide and I work a mini back rub into every bed bath. (Gloved!) Scrub a little bit more with the hot wash cloth, rub some lotion in for a few extra seconds, and even that teeny tiny little bit of effort almost universally elicits a, "That feels so nice, my back is so sore." It takes 2.7 of my seconds, and I've made them happy.

That said, I'm a touchy person; I'll hug anything that moves. ;-) If I weren't, I could easily understand feeling a bit sketchy about rubbing backs. And I don't think there's anything wrong with you if you just don't feel comfortable doing it, personal preference. But touch is so therapeutic.

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My issue is the concept of a bedtime back rub for no reason. Others have given great examples of using touch and massages in specific circumstances. Touch to relieve pain is cool. Touch to "pamper" or pleasure someone not in pain is gross to me.

As several posters have noted, it's not "for no reason." It's a useful tool for skin assessment, for improving circulation to skin and reducing the risk of pressure ulcers, for nonpharmacologic pain reduction, and for promoting relaxation and improved sleep.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
As several posters have noted, it's not "for no reason." It's a useful tool for skin assessment, for improving circulation to skin and reducing the risk of pressure ulcers, for nonpharmacologic pain reduction, and for promoting relaxation and improved sleep.

I think that's fine so long as nurses know how it's actually being received by some patients, specifically that's not unusual for some patients to see it as essentially be serviced sexually. And while it can be argued that it provides nonpharmacologic pain reduction, promoting relaxation and improved sleep, providing an HS HJ would also have the same effects. And actually you could argue that's even more beneficial than a backrub since it causes a release of higher levels of therapeutic endorphins.

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