Alright, I have two questions - and these may seem rather frivolous to some people - but they are both simply honest concerns.
I recently read in another post elsewhere on this site that, at this particular person's school, students will have to bathe each other as part of learning how to give a spong bath. Have any of the second+ year students (or current RNs) out there experienced this at your school? From a strictly pragmatic point of view, I can see how that would be a perfectly reasonable way to learn/practice doing it, just as with any other skill or procedure. But I can also see how it might get a little awkward, esp if any young/giddy males and female students are paired off - and esp considering how thorough my textbook clearly indicates that a sponge bath actually is. example - I never realized that nurses actually scrub patients' genitals during a bathe. I mean, it makes perfect sense in the interest of hygiene and safety, but I guess I just always faintly assumed that sponge baths were simply more limited in scope. Obviously though, you have to learn since you're going to be doing this on people - male and female alike. And of course I understand that the patient remains well draped except for the part being bathed; however, my question, basically, is - have you done this at your school? And have you, as a guy, ever encountered any problems or issues over it?
The second main question is about another procedure - breast exams (ie, for females and males alike, since both are addressed in my book). Again, not to be frivolous about it; it's just an honest question - do students do this on each other in school? I'm guessing that patients might be encouraged/taught to self-examine, but I'm sure too that at times either a nurse and/or doctor simply need to examine as well, just to confirm this or that. Like the bath, it's not the sort of thing that I personally feel uncomfortable or necessarily weird about, one way or the other. But at the same time, the last thing in the world I would want to do is make a female student or patient uncomfortable simply by my very presence as a male. And if that means having a female coworker do it instead, hypothetically speaking, I'm sure I would be perfectly fine with that as a nurse. But I'm assuming that it's something that would need to be learned regardless - so my question again is - have any guys out there had any problems or weirdness with this?
I was paired with a male for physical examinations. I honestly didn't mind the idea of examining him, but I didn't want him examining me. Both he and the instructor were very understanding, and he was probably happier in the end, because he was paired with a cute young girl. :)
Specializes in 5th Semester - Graduation Dec '09!.
In the beginning of the semester we are given hospital gowns. We wear these with shorts underneath (girls wear a sports bra) for bed baths and for our final exam-- the full assessment.
I have never felt uncomfortable with classmates practicing on me, and I don't think they feel uncomfortable either.
We did our bathing skill on each other in our clothing.
Practice of testicular exams and breast exams were done by everyone in my class with a device that simulated the organs. Artificial Organs had spots of common locations cancers would be located.
LoL. Not in my school. There was a joke about inserting catheter each other. You can practice on the manikin if you have one. I learn more skills in actual setting.
LOL....well, it's cheaper than the video store....
1st semester we were paired up boy/boy girl/girl...and it wasn't too bad..but we were all still new to each other...
By now, I could probably volunteer to let anyone practice a skill on me if they had to regardless of sex....
although it makes it very interesting when the 93 yo at the hospital asks if they have any other "cute" nurses to take care of her once you leave for the day! (the pts family had a good laugh over that!)
Specializes in ICU. Med/Surg: Ortho, Neuro, & Cardiac.
Yep.
In my CNA classes we bathed each other with clothes on provided pericare to a mannequin with interchangeable parts. lol
We did all of our stuff in the nursing lab since nursing was closed (the class was like Dec. 12-Dec. 23) and it was told to me by the instructor that we did things the exact same way a nursing student would.
On a funny note, I did once bathe a lady in her 80s and she told me afterward that I reminded her of her late husband when they first got married. As if that wasn't akward enough, she then said that she needed a "bourbon and a cigarette." :chuckle:
I'm a nursing student(RN) and we are learning to give breast exams... and we're doing them on each other. I do not understand when we will be using this in nursing... but we're learning it anyways... it really sickens me.
I'm a nursing student(RN) and we are learning to give breast exams... and we're doing them on each other. I do not understand when we will be using this in nursing... but we're learning it anyways... it really sickens me.
You need to know how to do it for a post partum assessment (and probably more than that).. Which you will do during your OB/L&D/etc. clinicals when you get to that.
Well, Im am about finished with school (3 weeks until graduation!), and everything discussed in previous post we did on live patients in the clinical settings. Being a male, I would normally cover my @$$ by having a female student or an instructor present when working with female patients on any procedure that involed peri care or breast. You never know how a procedure may be perceived by a patient, especially if that patient is confused, has dementia, or is a psych patient.
Some of the basic and more interesting procedures I have had to do;
Foley Caths,
Bed baths with Peri care,
Fundal height checks while monitering for presence of blood clots,
Cervical dilation checks,
Stage 3 and 4 pressure ulcer wound care of the inner thighs, buttocks, and sacrum.
The ONLY procedure I ever had to do on another student that was mildy uncomfortable was waaay back in the begining when we were learning to take an apical pulse. First student I approached took the bell of the stethoscope from me and placed it in the correct area, while the next (who had a great sense of humor) refused to take the bell and said I had to learn to find the correct placement myself. Since then I don't bat an eye over any procedures and the level of my discomfort is normally only increased if my patient is extremely anxious or uncomfortable with me performing said procedure (which so far has been very very rare).
I think most posters got it right. Here's a little advice, when you need to move a breast out of the way use the back of your hand, not the front. This way you can't be accused of copping a feel. A breast exam is different though, you have to get right in there. Good luck.
vashtee, RN
1,065 Posts
I was paired with a male for physical examinations. I honestly didn't mind the idea of examining him, but I didn't want him examining me. Both he and the instructor were very understanding, and he was probably happier in the end, because he was paired with a cute young girl. :)