We have to dress up in our bathing suits to give each other baths

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You know I was "floored" when the prof said today(1st class in NS) that for our first skills lab next week, we will be learing how to give bed baths. To to so, and mostly to understand how the patient really feels about being given a bed bath, we have to give bed baths to each other. So we have to bring our swimsuits, towels, toothbrushes(for mouth care), our soap if we wish, or she can provide the soap.

Yes, for real!!

whoa, now who has attitude, trust me sweetheart I don't tell my instructors what to do or give them attitude so thanks for trying to sound like you know me. but fortunately we don't have to deal with the bath thing since like I said, we did it all on dummies. And I am lucky enough to have very nice teachers who aren't out to try to get us and make our "18 months pure hell". My nursing program is nothing like bootcamp. and i don't think I was the only one who had conflicting comments on this issue.

have a nice day!!

I don't have attitude as I prefaced my comment by "not to come off sounding harsh". You just started your program, so those teachers that seem "very nice" may not be so nice if you try your whole "If I were in that class I would tell the instructor that they needed to do it too" spiel. That is what I meant by my post. I don't pretend to know you, just going by what you yourself posted :specs:

As a sidenote, (you will learn this in nursing school), it is rude to call someone older than yourself sweetheart.

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The average age of a nurse is approx 45 yerars old (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0843/is_6_28/ai_94590420) Why is that, do you suppose? Well, most folks entering nursing are female and in their early twenties. They are still dealing with determining who they are and are very open to relationships---even if they happen to be married (yes I am an old-man). So, it seems by the statistics that, the VAST MAJORITY OF CURRENT STUDENTS ACHIEVE THEIR NURSING DEGREE and QUIT (Sorry for the caps) for one reason or another...usually this is due to: marriage, nursing is not what they expected, Drs scream at them, lousy hours, stinky BMs, following a loser, exessive charting, and disrespect--Oh yes, and having babies). Please understand, I am not trying to be negative. This is a fact of life. You have to have elephant skin to be a nurse and take everything you hear with a 100 lb of salt and always look after the patient regardless of the heat comming from the rez etc.... Do what is right for the patient in all cases. Sorry, soap box.

So, imagine that I might say, "Persoanl care is very important!" When the average student (~20 yrs) finds out that he/she has to bath another person they scream--usually...but I will tell you that care MEANS A MILLION TO THOSE FOLKS WHO ARE ADMITTED!!!!! Besides the medical reasons you learned all about....they need and long for the personal care that only YOU will give them! You are who they depend on...family will not know what to do and will stay by the beside! For crying out loud GROW UP! Opps, I am sorry...that will take about 10 years or more--unless you end up in an accident and can't move your arms.....but that is ok, you understand taht is gross and you can live with that, right?

Damn..this discussion pevs me. Get over it, quit, adjust, get out of the way..oh, and substandard care is the equiv. of torture. If you don't believe me then step on the wards and see it for yourself.

Agreed!

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We didn't do this but I wouldn't have a problem with it. I've often thought that nursing schools should pay other students/people to come in and be guinea pigs for an hour.

I mean, at dentist and hygienist schools or cosmetology schools or massage schools you can go in and have the students work on you and get free or discounted massages/cleanings/haircuts. And if you've ever read a college area newspaper you'll see there are students willing to sell their blood, plasma or sperm for some extra bucks. So why not pay people $20 an hour to be guinea pigs. Let us give you a bedbath, start an IV on you, do a head to toe assessment. I guess the more invasive skills like caths and injections might be too much but I know I would have gladly paid someone $20 out of my own pocket for an hour of poking, prodding and listening to their lungs/hearts/blood pressure, etc. Then, no embarrassment about it being your friend/classmate.

Melissa

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Specializes in Critical Care.

my first week in lab after learning the bed baths of course we were doing stations for vitals, bp apical and assessment skills my professer bared my breast in class to show the right positioning to take an apical pulse LOL at the time i was mortified, being that we had 14 male students in the class, but now its second nature to us all and it's still something we all laugh about. Remember the more your nursing lab is like the REAL clinical setting, the better the clinician you will be!! and now I will never mess up assessment skills!!!

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Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.

"As a sidenote, (you will learn this in nursing school), it is rude to call someone older than yourself sweetheart."

I agree with this! I had a CNA call me sweetheart the other day (in a snotty tone), and you better believe that her supervisor heard about it!

As far as bed bathing, I think that it is only appropriate for students to perform this on each other if there are stringent rules about privacy. And students should not have to be in mixed-gender groups.

I also do not believe that nurses need to experience the procedures their patients will go through in order to be empathetic. Making the students go through so much stress over activities like this will not make them better nurses.

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The class prior to my CNA course had to do the bathing suit baths. Our instructor, after debate with the faculty, put a stop to it. Her view is that we are students, not patients, and therefore the experience would not be the same but would be humiliating. She said she was tired of the undue stress it put on students of all genders and physical attributes. She said more people worried about the bathing suit baths then the actual skills for the CEP. I agree. I want to be focused on the patient, not worried if my classmate is grossed out by my cellulite!

Unlike some CNA programs, we did spend 2 weeks working full shifts in a Nursing Home. That experience taught me way more than bathing a classmate in a bathing suit ever could!

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The average age of a nurse is approx 45 yerars old (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0843/is_6_28/ai_94590420) Why is that, do you suppose? Well, most folks entering nursing are female and in their early twenties. They are still dealing with determining who they are and are very open to relationships---even if they happen to be married (yes I am an old-man). So, it seems by the statistics that, the VAST MAJORITY OF CURRENT STUDENTS ACHIEVE THEIR NURSING DEGREE and QUIT (Sorry for the caps) for one reason or another...usually this is due to: marriage, nursing is not what they expected, Drs scream at them, lousy hours, stinky BMs, following a loser, exessive charting, and disrespect--Oh yes, and having babies). Please understand, I am not trying to be negative. This is a fact of life. You have to have elephant skin to be a nurse and take everything you hear with a 100 lb of salt and always look after the patient regardless of the heat comming from the rez etc.... Do what is right for the patient in all cases. Sorry, soap box.

So, imagine that I might say, "Persoanl care is very important!" When the average student (~20 yrs) finds out that he/she has to bath another person they scream--usually...but I will tell you that care MEANS A MILLION TO THOSE FOLKS WHO ARE ADMITTED!!!!! Besides the medical reasons you learned all about....they need and long for the personal care that only YOU will give them! You are who they depend on...family will not know what to do and will stay by the beside! For crying out loud GROW UP! Opps, I am sorry...that will take about 10 years or more--unless you end up in an accident and can't move your arms.....but that is ok, you understand taht is gross and you can live with that, right?

Damn..this discussion pevs me. Get over it, quit, adjust, get out of the way..oh, and substandard care is the equiv. of torture. If you don't believe me then step on the wards and see it for yourself.

I'm not sure who your soap was meant for. Trust me, I know all about giving bed baths, stinkiny bm's and the whole drill plus I work those lousy hours because I work in a hospital already on the Med/Surg. unit and have seen plenty of "gross" as you put it things. I know exactly how much being caring is meant to the patient. I have to deal with all this "Aid" work as nurses put it because the nurses don't help with any of that stuff which is understandable due to all the charting and meds. I was just simply commenting on the naked classmate thing that the very first person who started this thread had said. I personally didn't have to do that and am way past that subject in school. I don't really think insults are appropriate. Opps, I am sorry...that will take about 10 years or more--I was just voicing my opinion as so many other people have and you and TweetiePie seem to not like to hear something other than your own opinon. This all started with a person stating they didn't agree with having to give their classmates bed baths and I agreed with them. Big deal. And by the way, I am on the wards so I know what you are talking about. Thanks for your input!

Geez, can't we all just get along and accept each others opinions?

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Specializes in LTC/Behavioral/ Hospice.

Giving a bed bath is a very intimate thing and is bound to be uncomfortable no matter what. I think that being in a bathing suit is a reasonable request for the instructors to make (much better than panties and bra!). However, if it truly makes a person uncomfortable, I would think that any reasonable instructor, who was approached by a student who has respect for what the instructor is trying to teach, will entertain other options by the students. A girl in our class has severe psoriasis and wears long sleeves at all times. The instructors were very understanding about this and she was allowed to wear her normal clothing. If, however, you just don't want to be given a bed bath, period, then it seems a bit unreasonable to me. Even if you don't like it, it really is an invaluable experience to start getting that hands on experience. I've been at this for over a year now, and it does get easier. Like was said before, most of us don't even bother to shave our legs anymore. :chuckle Assessments are another fairly intimate activity and you will be doing a ton of those on each other! I would just look for a buddy that you feel the most comfortable with and close the curtain. :)

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

We had to do the same thing. But not actually bathe with real soap and water, just pretend to bath, but we had to do bathing suits as well. I'm not sure how I feel about it, other than it was a way to prove a skill and become comfortable with it. I hated it, but I survived.

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I'm not sure who your soap was meant for. Trust me, I know all about giving bed baths, stinkiny bm's and the whole drill plus I work those lousy hours because I work in a hospital already on the Med/Surg. unit and have seen plenty of "gross" as you put it things. I know exactly how much being caring is meant to the patient. I have to deal with all this "Aid" work as nurses put it because the nurses don't help with any of that stuff which is understandable due to all the charting and meds. I was just simply commenting on the naked classmate thing that the very first person who started this thread had said. I personally didn't have to do that and am way past that subject in school. I don't really think insults are appropriate. Opps, I am sorry...that will take about 10 years or more--I was just voicing my opinion as so many other people have and you and TweetiePie seem to not like to hear something other than your own opinon. This all started with a person stating they didn't agree with having to give their classmates bed baths and I agreed with them. Big deal. And by the way, I am on the wards so I know what you are talking about. Thanks for your input!

Geez, can't we all just get along and accept each others opinions?[/quote}

Mandi, what makes you think the only thing I hear is my opinion? Please enlighten me as to what gave you this off-base idea. Maybe you need to reread my posts and digest it a little before responding. I have never had a problem with other people expressing their opinions. Part of the difficulty of getting points across clearly to people on the internet, is that you cannot hear my tone of voice. I am a very calm person, so none of this was meant out of anger or sarcasm. Same goes for you as well. You may not have meant come off sounding sarcastic, like when you called me sweetheart.

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"

As far as bed bathing, I think that it is only appropriate for students to perform this on each other if there are stringent rules about privacy. And students should not have to be in mixed-gender groups.

I also do not believe that nurses need to experience the procedures their patients will go through in order to be empathetic. Making the students go through so much stress over activities like this will not make them better nurses.

Agreed.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I was terrified, scared about my inperfections (like my gut), anxious and really, really unconfortable.

And by far, it will make me a better nurse. It already has made me a more empathetic caregiver. To those who are so angry about this thread (why?) I am sorry. I am sorry if you didn't have to do this procedure on each other. I am sorry if you did do this on each other and didn't gain a huge respect for the patient or a massive dose of empathy,

To those about to flame my comments, I do not imply that you don't have respect or empathy already. I just really appreciate the lesson that I learned in that first week of nursing school.

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