showers

[fuzzywuzzy]

How often do you give showers at your facility? Ours get them once a week, which I think it not enough.

I wish they would make it twice a week and put one more CNA one the floor of each wing just for the showers. First of all I feel bad that these people only get a shower once a week and it's over in all of 5 minutes. But as it is now we usually have one shower on each assignment for the evening shift, and I think 2 would be too much. They are such a pain in the A to squeeze in since they're one at a time (and there are so many stupid rules about when we can do it), and I hate getting all hot and slimy and frizzed out. Sometimes we have a CNA floating between 2 wings and they'll do all the showers and it's so nice not to have to leave the floor or tell someone repeatedly that they can't go to bed because they have a shower at 7pm and you weren't allowed to give it earlier.

I wouldn't mind having the "shower assignment" once every week or so if it meant I could skip them the rest of the time.

How many showers do you do on your shift? Do you have shower aides?

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

A quick google search with the terms "excessive bathing and elderly" brought up a huge amount of sites that say excessive bathing is NOT good for the elderly skin. I haven't posted any links to any of the articles I found from numerous resources but if you do a search you can see that it is of the thinking that excessive bathing does more harm than good to elderly skin.

[Atheos]

Oops! I am also speaking of showers twice weekly. Once a week is gross. Well really in ym view twice a week is gross as well BUT we have to take into consideration their skin AND their customs.

Which are different from mine. They can neither tolerate daily showers nor did they take daily showers as a regular part of their lives for the most part.

I imagine things will change significantly when my generation reches the nursing home.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Honestly I am not criticizing any of you who think 1-2 showers a week is okay. Have at it.

I just do not agree.

I have not seen any evidence to suggest that daily or second-daily showering is "excessive" or harmful.

My initial comment on this thread was more one of surprise, as I hadn't heard of this practice before. Now I have... enough said.

[princezzzz]

i think the reason why they only have 2 showers weekly(most of the facility) is because of their age,,

they are old, their skin is fragile,& intolerance to cold,, well thats just my opinion..

and even though they only have two showers weekly, they have partial bath/sponge bath everyday though..

it depends to their preference..,

some of them who's not comfortable of just 2 showers, can request of extra shower though...

if thats residents request. :)

[sonomala]

My exp in clinicals was that many of the residents did not like going to the showers. To have to go, sit in a chair, and have someone bathe you is just not comfortable. Many I think feel degraded, even though they shouldn't be and need the help. And I've seen the nicest resident get agitated over a shower.

Additionally we were tought about how fragile their skin was and how drying was one of the worst things for it.

I know it can seem bad to those who shower every day, but I think that those combined with daily partial baths is enough of an intrusion to the residents. What I always try to keep focused on is that I don't want to be in there every hour of every day, doing this and doing that if its not required. They really need some independence and control of their surroundings. They need time to socialize with their friends, read books, call family members ect and not have me bothering them. Having someone put you in the shower chair every single day just doesn't promote that.

[rubystar]

It depends on the resident at our facility. Some get a shower every day but they are usually the ones that can mobilize a lot better. The rest will get one on alternate days and the ones that need to be showered on the shower trolley generally get a shower twice a week. If they're not having a shower that day they get a quick head to toe wash. I think it's a fairly good system. But I get the feeling that we have more nursing assistants to residents than a lot of places.

[aerorunner80, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

I work in a hospital and our patients get showers every other day...Then again I am only assigned 4-6 patients. Usually I have 2-3 showers. The people I work with are quite sick, (paraplegia, guadriplegia, ventilated, severe strokes, MS, TBI's, etc.) and it is hard to get all the showers done. I do get it done though. Add Straight cathing multiple patients, getting ADL's done, vitals q4h, and it can get a little hectic!! I love it though.

Can I come work with you? The average patient load for us as techs is 12 patients. We must have them bathed every day (doesn't always happen) and a lot of our patients are total cares. I work in an ICU stepdown unit with a higher than normal acuity plus all the detoxers we get. :banghead::banghead:

We still have the same requirements as you, vitals q4, blood sugars, I&O's, we also do Foley's, IV's (although the nurse usually does these since we don't have the time), and NG's.