is it wrong to sit on a patients bed?

[LPNweezy]

My nursing instructor told me once to never ever sit on a patients bed. I work at a LTC facility and i see some nurses sitting on the side of the bed with alert and oriented patients when they are counseling them or trying to cheer them up. What do you think about this practice? please keep in mind that this is not a hospital setting. thanks :)

[rkitty198, BSN, RN]

One of our surgeons sits on the commode- lid open and all, then steals a bite of food from their tray! Saw it last week, ewww

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

I too work in LTC and have done it before. I had one resident that was really depressed and she was Alert and oriented times three. Well one night she was crying so I walked in and sat on her bed. I held her hand and we talked. I also song her a song to encourage her and cheer her up. Do I do it on a regular basis ? No way.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

One of our surgeons sits on the commode- lid open and all, then steals a bite of food from their tray! Saw it last week, ewww

Wowsers !

[JenniferSews]

In LTC you should consider the facility as their home. If you've taken care of someone 5 days a week through one of the final years of their life, then chances are you know them well enough to sit on their bed. I have done so even with my sub acute patients. Sometimes they are scared or lonely or both and NEED a little human interaction more than they need a nurse. I don't do it often, but when I do my patients know I mean it.

[manoshandsoffate]

Make sure it's a clean bed. I made the mistake of sitting down on a wet sheet one time.

[RockinChick66]

Make sure it's a clean bed. I made the mistake of sitting down on a wet sheet one time.

How can you tell if it's clean?

Here is an interesting thread to read.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/have-you-ever-37865-page6.html

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

uh, gross. no way.

[luvtranscendsall]

I have just been recently accepted into nursing school. However, I have been working as a CNA for over 5 years. I do not recommend sitting on the bed because of universal precautions. When you are changing bed linens or carrying linens you are never to hold it against your uniform because you are contaminating your uniform and you are contaminating the linens. I am not saying I have never done it but I have also, in a matter of 5 years, contracted MRSA so many times that I had to be decolonized. I have also caught scabies three times. I worked in a LTC facility and the scabies incident was not being handled by management because they wanted to deny that was the problem. I know it seems like the humane thing to do but pulling up a chair on the bedside is just as humane and keeps a professional demeanor. Think of it this way...although it is humane to sit on the bed to comfort a patient, it is also humane not to cross contaminate and cause more disease in your patient.

[nursel56]

My old clinical instructor would shriek in horror if we set anything on the bed ( like the glucose meter "tool box"), I'd hate to think of what she's say if she caught us sitting on a bed lol. I think it does show compassion, but I can also see the point of now wanting to get anything that might be on the bed on you and to other patients. How do you find any time for sitting anyways? lol

I must be under the influence of my old clinical instructors, too . . .all these years I've considered it verboten but I can't really think of a good reason why if the patient will be positively affected by that particular rapport, and I work in home care where it would make sense to do that.

As I think about it, I think in my case the bedbound patient considers his bed his "space" and becomes visibly uncomfortable when nurses do that. Although the fact that one nurse sat in a chair and propped her stocking feet on the bed like an ottoman carried familiarity a bit too far . . . .:uhoh21:

One of our surgeons sits on the commode- lid open and all, then steals a bite of food from their tray! Saw it last week, ewww

The fact this guy is a surgeon makes me really want to blow chunks. I've seen many a befuddled older FP do things like that but . . .you have to wonder how sloppy he would be in the OR if he cares so little for infection control in general.

[rn4ever?]

Is it wrong to sit on a patient's bed? I think yes in this context..... First, you don't know what illnesses/diseases you might catch from doing so. Second, since you're wearing your hospital scrubs/outfit and have been dealing with other patient's too, you might be a carrier of some bacteria/disease-----thus, you shouldn't sit on a patient's bed. Please be considerate. Third, it doesn't look very professional-----might even be considered an invasion of someone's personal space.

[RockinChick66]

Is it wrong to sit on a patient's bed? I think yes in this context..... First, you don't know what illnesses/diseases you might catch from doing so. Second, since you're wearing your hospital scrubs/outfit and have been dealing with other patient's too, you might be a carrier of some bacteria/disease-----thus, you shouldn't sit on a patient's bed. Third, it doesn't look very professional-----might even be considered an invasion of someone's personal space.

I think it shows compassion to sit at the bedside, but you are so right about possibly catching an illness by sitting on the bed.

I believe we can show this same compassion by pulling up a chair instead. We as nurses do not always know what microbiological organisms are on our patients beds, so universal precautions should be taken to not only protect ourselves but our other patients as well.

[Juwon]

DON'T DO IT!! Seriously, I just recently heard a nurse claiming that she caught the scabies mite from sitting on the pts bed. It makes sense to me. You never know what a patient may have. I certainly don't sit on the bed!

Omg, this happen to a fellow CNA that i work with she got scabies from sitting on the patients bed, and even changing the patient at one point with out wearing gloves.