Soap vs Wipes

AmyRN303, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2014

If it is your facility's policy to use soap, I don't see how she has a leg to stand on. All of the facilities I've been in have used soap for bed baths. I can understand using wipes for peri care not scheduled during a bath, but not for an entire bath. It also sounds as though she doesn't have a grasp of basic skills if she's not wearing gloves during care and skipping peri-care.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Mar 31, 2014

I can see her point depending on what kind of soap it is, if I'm understanding correctly that she refused to use soap for pericare. (I'm assuming that it wasn't that she refused soap for a bed bath, since it was 11-7 in LTC.) Some soaps are harsh for the peri area! I work in a hospital but we only use soap for foley care, and barrier cream wipes for incontinence care. When I was a CNA in LTC, we had a special peri wash that we used.

Skipping gloves though, BAD practice. That's CNA 101. :no:

busymamaof3 · Apr 1, 2014

Yes i was talking about peri care, i probably should have worded that differently before. The soap we use is a sensitive skin body wash and facility policy says at least once every shift use soap and every other time you can use the wipes. I use the soap every round because i have caught so many of the other aides only using wipes if they have a bm and not at all if they can can clean it off with part of the brief. Its ridiculous how lazy people are and how little they care about the residents at least i know that my residents are given the care they deserve when I'm here.

suanna · Apr 1, 2014

I hate "soap" for bed baths and especialy peri care. Using just a basin of water, wash your pits and peri area with soap and water at home on your day off. I'd bet within an hour you are in the shower trying to rinse away that experiment. I'ts impossible to get enough of the soap off rinsing using a bath basin. Lotion works great, wipes are OK- they usually have an aloe mix-no detergent. Bar soap- only in a shower or for an ambulatory patient that can stand at the sink and rinse over-and-over. I don't know where your charge nurse got her training but she sounds very old school.

AmyRN303, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2014

The body wash soap feels very different than the bar soap and rinses better, in my opinion. We used to do baths in a bag so as not to contaminate basins. Not as great as a shower, no, but definitely better than a wipe or leaving bar soap residue on a patient.

busymamaof3 · Apr 3, 2014

Ok by that theory you should also put on a depend and wait an hour after going to the bathroom then tell me how soap and water feels compared to wet wipes

Clovery · Apr 4, 2014

We don't use soap and water at all. We use heated pre-packaged wipes that have a no rinse soap and lotion in them. For peri-care we have different wipes that have a moisture barrier lotion included. We used to use the basins but switched to the wipes. When we were switching the rep from the wipes company showed us lots of studies that link basin bathing to spread of infection - they harbor loads of bacteria. For the most part this works out really well. Occasionally there will be an instance of caked-on stool where you really need to scrub at it with a wet towel.

MunoRN, RN · Apr 5, 2014

I've been on the receiving end of both soap/basin and wipe bed baths, and I'd argue that if you have any compassion for your fellow man then you'll refuse to give soap/basin bed baths. I had a broken femur which was nothing compared to the agony of having my body wiped with soap and then not so much rinsed off as just lightly diluted and moved around.

I'm admittedly a more extreme case as I consider a shower to be 90% rinsing. Wipes on the other hand don't make me feel like the water stopped working before I could finish my shower.