Personal Hygiene...

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I just wanted to know if it was just me, but the amount of people I assist to the bathroom that will quite happily leave without washing their hands...I often will stand at the basin, with the water running and then actually have to tell them!

And how many patients either refuse a shower (I had one yesterday and I've only been in bed, how dirty can I be) but also refuse when I offer them a basin of warm water so that they can give themselves a "top and tail".

And the patients that won't clean themselves properly in the shower, even though they are quite capable of it, or coat themselves in talc powder.....

I have worked a couple of shifts where the powder has had to be confiscated from a pt!

Maybe it is just me??

I don't mind helping the people that aren't able to, but why should I wash someone's behind just because they can't be bothered? And it really really bothers me the amount that won't wash their hands after using the toilet....and then I watch them eat with those hands....

It's amazing how difficult it can be to convince people to shower in the hospital....but in a way I can understand it. Some people just feel too rotten and don't have the energy, and other people just don't feel comfortable in a strange shower/bathroom. A lot of people will skip it because they are going home that day etc...

But what I just can't wrap my mind around is the huge number of people who don't even think to brush their teeth! Very rarely, someone will ask me for assistance to get set up to do it, or ask for a tube of paste or a brush...and when I offer it to people, so many just look at me like they never even thought of it.

I can't imagine not brushing first thing in the morning...it makes me feel human!

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I have been many situations on the job and off and my mind always goes to fast food restaurants. what are we eating? i work in LTC and it is hard to get some of them to take a shower sometimes approaching them in a different way helps. sometimes the problem is as simple of letting the pt decide on am or pm wash. also to the comment made to the pt about her hair being gross that is not called for. ofcourse when you are ill you dont want to be fooled with however as nurses it is our duty to explain the importance of hygiene and strongly encourage this.

And I do realize that is why she did it. I just think she could have handled it better, or had MY nurse handle it. I had never even met this woman, just ran into her in the hall way.

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It's amazing how difficult it can be to convince people to shower in the hospital....but in a way I can understand it. Some people just feel too rotten and don't have the energy, and other people just don't feel comfortable in a strange shower/bathroom. A lot of people will skip it because they are going home that day etc...

But what I just can't wrap my mind around is the huge number of people who don't even think to brush their teeth! Very rarely, someone will ask me for assistance to get set up to do it, or ask for a tube of paste or a brush...and when I offer it to people, so many just look at me like they never even thought of it.

I can't imagine not brushing first thing in the morning...it makes me feel human!

I forget about all this stuff when I am in the hospital. I am feeling so cruddy that it just doesn't occur to me to do this stuff.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ED, ortho, urology.
I have been many situations on the job and off and my mind always goes to fast food restaurants. what are we eating?

I used to work in McDonalds, and they had the health dept on their backs all the time, which meant that the managers were on our backs all the time to make sure everything was spotless and sterile etc.

The standards they had us held to were really really high.

Then I went to work for a 5 star resort, I worked breakfast, and picked up the insulated coffee pots, only to discover that they still had coffee in them from the morning before. I was absolutely horrified! At McDonalds, we had to rinse, wash, sterilise, then rinse again every night, every machine!

You wouldn't find a cockroach at Maccas, but they would be everywhere at the resort, the floor was so dirty that you couldn't even scrub the muck off it. I was appalled that a place like McDonalds (just becuase it was as big as it was and in the media all the time) was held to such high standards, where a place that charges $500 a night for a room and breakfast doesn't have to maintain anywhere near those standards!

Ok, rant over :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ED, ortho, urology.
I forget about all this stuff when I am in the hospital. I am feeling so cruddy that it just doesn't occur to me to do this stuff.

I know that it can be hard, it will be the last thing you feel like doing, but don't you feel so much better when you do it?

A nice hot shower, steam, fresh teeth, clean hair and fresh linen!

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Specializes in Operating Room.

I've been hospitalized, and it was a happy day when they finally allowed me to shower. This hospital wanted your physician to give the permission to take a shower if you were on meds that made you wonky..

My outlook and mood improved drastically after I was clean. I can't really understand why some people LIKE to be dirty...I supoose some could be depressed and I'm sure if you're hurting you may find it hard to bathe yourself, but I think at the least, I'd want a washcloth to tend to the key areas.

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I grew up in a home where if you didn't feel well you took a shower ASAP and put on fresh jammies. My mother is a nurse and always felt that when you were clean you would start to feel better and it really did work. It was relaxing and comforting.

I wash my hands all the time and use antibacterial Windex in my home. Truth is I think it's why I am rarely ever sick. Knock wood.

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When I am in the hospital I do not think of showering. It is not something that crosses my mind in that particular circumstance.

Only once was I given a hard time, It was actually my last admission last summer.

It was the day I was being discharged. I had gone for a little roll (needed a wheel chair because my IV was in my foot thanks to the fact that I have HORRIBLE veins.) Some nurse from the ward, not even my nurse, commented that my hair was matted and gross. I got kind of mad at her. I had had facial reconstructive surgery 2 days prior, and just felt horrible the whole time I was in the hospital.

If it had been MY nurse, or she had done it in a more tactful way, that would have been fine. But she pretty much told me I was gross and needed to wash my hair and brush it.

I DO though understand that I probably should have washed my hair. I just was not in the mood to deal with that at that particular time.

Also, I always wash my hands after going to the bathroom, especially when I am in the hospital.

I understand where you are coming from with this. About 10 years ago when I was in and out of the hospital undergoing chemotherapy for ALL, washing was not exaclty in the forefront of my mind. I felt like my perky zest for life had left me. I was always very conscious of my hygeine before finding myself in the hospital. I remember my second day in, I was getting a bone marrow biopsy, and in the middle of it (being freaked out and perspiring), I pulled my mom close to me so I could wisper in her ear that I wanted my deoderant. They all had a good laugh about that one. I think the humor they all found in that sorta calmed not only mine, but also my moms nerves. And then after a week without being able to go outside to smell fresh air or leave hospital at all, I started to not care about showering. I didn't want other people washing me so they would leave the supplies in my room to wash myself, but I rarely did.

Landing in the hospital with my diagnosis was a sudden shock to me and I retreated into a shell of who I was. It wasn't becuase I was lazy (although the drugs did zap all my energy). I felt caged and rarely got out of bed. I counted the days till I could leave the hospital. There is something to be said for what being in the hospital and feeling out of control can do to someones personality/behaviour.

It was no surprise that when I found out the first phase of chemo was over and I was able to leave the hospital for a short time, that when my mom came to get me and wheeled me out of the hospital I sobbed like a baby. :bluecry1: I was finally able to cry. and... hygiene was up to par again. I no longer felt AS caged as when I was in the hospital rolling with the punches and feeling as though I didn't have a choice in anything becuase I had to endure whatever it took to get into remission. Within that acute time frame, I found myself going through the 5 stages of death and dying (even though I went into remission after 1 month).

So in summery, I don't necessarily think it is always lazyness. It may be that the patient is feeling defeated/depressed/loss of hope/loss of zeal for life/etc. For the record, I am a pre-nursing student, so for what it's worth, just my :twocents:

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No edit feature for me so I just wanted to add that, while I do not condone lack of hygiene, I can understand why people will be less inclined to do so in the hospital.

I do agree that a warm bath and some tooth paste goes a loooong way in helping a person feel better - in or out of the hospital.

I always do what another poster said as well: using the paper towel to shut the water off and use on the door handle. I'm taking Microbiology next semester and am already reading up on it, which I can see will soon make me a bonfide germaphobe! A little education goes a long way!

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Specializes in Gerontology.

Keep in mind that the idea of washing daily is only something that has come about in the past 2 generations. Older people grew up only having a tub bath once a week. That is their norm. that is what they are used to and probably still practise at home. Some older people simply don't like showers - they prefer a tub bath which few hospitals have now.

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

Yes I agree. Ever go into a Target or Wal-Mart and have to go to 2 or 3 stalls before you find one that is even flushed. This never happened to me before until the last several years or so. I think to myself who are these people that can not even flush their own waste!!!!!!. I too carry hand sanitizer and use a paper towel to open the door. Also learned that the BR floor is dirtier than the toilet so do not put your purse on the floor. As far as meals go we bring the pts a microwaved lavender scented hand towel before all meals and they are encouraged to use it!!!!.

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Specializes in nursery, L and D.

A microwaved lavender scented hand towel, huh? cool idea. Wonder if my middle son would go for it?

I have three kids, 2 of which do normal (for us) things like shower everyday without being told, using soap and water in the shower without being told, wash hands after the bathroom, etc.

The middle one you have to say, get in the shower, turn the water on, STAND IN THE WATER, use soap on hair and body, rinse, etc, etc, lol. And forget trying to make him wash his hands after potty. He comes out of the bath, I turn him around and push him back in, saying "wash your hands". And this is my all A's, never failed a test, super, super smart kido. Also the one who won't eat the other half of my cinnamon roll, or whatever, even though I CUT it in half, because "it may have your germs on it", and everything his little sis touches is "contaminated".

Anyway, point being, who knows why people so some of the stuff they do? I just hope my kid gets out of that before he goes to college.

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