real bed baths on classmate?

LisaG21 · Aug 31, 2005

No we did not. We did get in gowns to learn how to do various assessments, however no private areas even came close to being exposed. I would refuse on all counts to do this, although a proper bed bath does not expose a patient if it does it is very little however, I am very surprised to see that this still goes on. This opens the school up to all kinds of sexual harrassment lawsuits, anyway I would express your concern. I am positive that you are not the only one feeling this way!

JentheRN05, RN · Aug 31, 2005

We actually practiced on a mannequin. But when we did our head to toe assessment we stripped down to a bra and undies only. I have heard of others doing it that way though. I would talk to the instructor and see what she says to maybe underclothes if your uncomfortable or a swimsuit

happydz · Aug 31, 2005

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117557&highlight=bath

There was a discussion about this not too long ago. I would be very uncomfortable too. It's just way too personal.

RN34TX · Sep 1, 2005

The practice is old fashioned and should be stopped.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Sep 1, 2005

I guess I'm just posting this to see if this is common to other nursing schools. I just started my first year of nursing school and next week we have to perform a bed bath (+ vitals, make occupied bed) on one of our classmates. This means that we have to wear a hospital gown with nothing on underneath except for our underwear (no bra!). There will be 10 students completing these at the same time in the same lab room (separated by curtains), 8 girls and 2 guys, then each pair has a separate student to evaluate while our clinical instructor walks around to each group asking questions, checking us on vitals etc.
We actually wash them with soap and water, change the gown etc. I don't know if this is just me, but bed baths with pts. alone is an intimate experience enough.. but doing it on classmates you haven't even known for a week? I guess I'm just not the one to get naked in a class full of my peers and washed! Do you do this at your nursing school??

This sounds Draconian; I can't believe a school sanctions this! There's no reason you can't learn these skills on a mannequin, or put a classmate in the bed (CLOTHED, like we did) and go over the steps with dry cloths.

We all had to do bedbaths on live patients within a week or two of learning the skill, and no one had any problems with not having done one on a naked classmate prior to it!

Mommy TeleRN, RN · Sep 1, 2005

We just had our Hygiene lecture and the teacher stated we would NOT be performing bed baths on each other, but that it might be fun to practice with our significant other!

Aisling · Sep 1, 2005

We had to wear swimsuits and shorts.. not a big deal, there is no way in $%^$ that I would take my bra off.. not even for a license!

AuntieRN · Sep 1, 2005

Our instructor assured us we did not practice any skills on each other except: VS, feeding, ambulating, repositioning. Everything else we did on the manequins (sp?). She said this was school policy so as to not end up with any kind of lawsuits. This worked for me as I did not feel comfortable getting undressed in front of a bunch of strangers. Besides, it really doesn't matter how much you practice on each other or the manequins, your true learning experience will not come until you touch that first patient. That is a wonderful feeling. :) Good luck everyone!!!

MIA-RN1, RN · Sep 1, 2005

I guess I'm just posting this to see if this is common to other nursing schools. I just started my first year of nursing school and next week we have to perform a bed bath (+ vitals, make occupied bed) on one of our classmates. This means that we have to wear a hospital gown with nothing on underneath except for our underwear (no bra!). There will be 10 students completing these at the same time in the same lab room (separated by curtains), 8 girls and 2 guys, then each pair has a separate student to evaluate while our clinical instructor walks around to each group asking questions, checking us on vitals etc.
We actually wash them with soap and water, change the gown etc. I don't know if this is just me, but bed baths with pts. alone is an intimate experience enough.. but doing it on classmates you haven't even known for a week? I guess I'm just not the one to get naked in a class full of my peers and washed! Do you do this at your nursing school??

we didn't do baths but we had too get into gowns (with pants and bra on) to practice abdominal IAPP on each other. As far as baths, we just had to practice on the dummies. We were supposed to get into gowns for some sort of assessment (i forget what exactly it was now) but the teacher said "I am not coming behind the curtains unless you ask me for help" which basically was her way of saying that she won't tell if we just all pretend. And pretend we did. We had all grumbled about having to change that day. She told us when she was in school they had to do breast exams on each other.

veggiegarden · Sep 1, 2005

We practiced bed baths on eachother, but clothed. There really isn't a need to strip down to get the practice (since you'll probably be doing several in your first clinical). Pretty antiquated.

hikernurse · Sep 1, 2005

Yeah, it seems like you'd get enough practice on real patients soon enough.

At our school we have to pass them off but we can wear t-shirts and pants; although last time it was mentioned it was down to t-shirts and shorts--hopefully we'll get it passed off before our clothing gets pared down anymore.

Ick--a breast exam on your classmates? Thank you, but no. And I would definitely not take off my bra. Hopefully you get to choose who bathes you instead of getting paired up at random. I'm sorry you have to do this at all. Maybe it's like an initiation or something.