pt baths

Nurses Safety

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I work in a hospital as a nurse where I use to work as a tech... in the last year the hospital has decreased the number of techs we have and I feel like it has had a big impact on our patients... when I can I try to help my techs and potty patients often but when it comes to baths I usually do not have time... although I do sometimes and if I do than I have no problem helping out... but if I don't do my pts baths, pottying, q2 turns, act then I don't always feel like its getting done and I have noticed that all my patients baths are not always done because the techs are under staffed... I really want any advice anyone has on how we can better pur practice to prove better pt care with less techs

Can half of the baths be completed on day shift and the other half on night shift? Or if your facility does 8 hr shifts, then day, evening and night shift can each have an assignment. Also, if at least 1 nurse can complete just one bath, then it would be manageable. How many patients do the aides have and how many patients do the nurses have?

Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

We would split the baths between shifts.

We split the baths between shifts, but day staff do most of them as they are way better staffed for AM shift in most cases (generally 3 or 4 assistants instead of 1 or 2).

Schedule baths. If you have 2 techs on, they do bathing of scheduled patients starting at say 10 am (after morning meds). Every patient/resident doesn't need to bathe daily. If you have patients/residents that are not total care, they can be set up with a basin to wash up. If you are a hospital unit with independent patients, they can bathe with a call bell. They don't necessarily need a tech with them.

Another thought is that when you do peri care of total care patients, and you have to change bedding, you would give a bed bath then to those patients/residents who are bedbound.

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