Personal hygiene: Introduction to bathing

As a nursing assistant, personal care, including assisting with bathing, is one of the tasks you will need to perform during your daily shifts. The main purpose of bathing is to clean the skin of germs, dirt, dead skin cells, and excess oil; get rid of unpleasant body odors; and It’s also essential for the client’s physical and emotional well-being.

Bathing provides an opportunity to enhance blood circulation to the skin, soothe muscle aches, as well as boost self-esteem, and generate a feeling of calm and relaxation. For the nursing assistant, it’s also a chance to closely observe the condition of their skin, and talk to the client, understand their needs, and gain their trust.

Now, many factors can affect the frequency of bathing. Generally, this is going to depend on the facility’s policies and the nurses who come up with the client’s plan of care. Bathing frequency can range from daily to 1-2 times a week.

Factors to consider include the client’s personal preferences; health condition; physical activity level; mental capacity to get involved in their care; social, cultural, or religious traits; or even the weather.

There are a number of different supplies you need to be familiar with when assisting with bathing. Starting with skin care products: soap can be a bar or liquid, and what it does is it pulls germs, dirt, dead skin cells, and excess oil off the skin.

These are then washed away as the skin gets rinsed with water. However, keep in mind that soap tends to have a drying effect on the skin, but there are special moisturizing soaps or soapless cleaners to prevent this.

Lotions and creams can be applied after bathing while the skin is still fairly damp to keep it smooth and moisturized. After the skin has been dried out, body powder can be used to suck in excess moisture or sweat and prevent friction between touching skin areas.

Body powder should not be used on people with respiratory problems. Talcum powder and other products containing talc should also be avoided. Finally, when it comes to getting rid of body odors, deodorants simply mask them, while antiperspirants reduce perspiration or sweating.

Moving on to linens, a bath mitt can be used to help clean the body. Bath blankets and towels are used to cover the person, while towels also help dry the body. A change of clothes as well as clean linens should be ready to use after the bath.