Question

It is the fourth day following Mrs. Baptista’s abdominal surgery. She is progressing well, is ambulating several times a day, has been providing for her own hygienic needs and planning on going home tomorrow. During your early morning assessment, you note that Mrs. Baptista’s hair is oily and matted and she has an unpleasant body odor. Her dentures in a container at the bedside are in need of cleaning. You check her abdominal incision and verify that there is no drainage, redness or signs of infection. You inquire about her ability to take care of her own bath and personal needs, and offer to assist her with her bath. She replies that she had a bath yesterday and doesn’t feel that she needs one today, and request to omit her personal care for Today.

Explain why it would be in Mrs. Baptista’s best interest for you to deny her wishes to omit her personal care for today?

Before you attempt to persuade Mrs. Baptista that she needs to attend to her personal care, what factors would you consider?

What approaches might you use if you feel that Mrs. Baptista does need her hair shampooed and needs to have her personal care attended to?

What advantages does performing baths and personal hygiene for clients offer the nurse?

develop a care plan for this patient.

Answer 1

a Nurses are taught to respect patients wishes and at the same time provide essential care to save the life.So the nurses need to assure for patient ,and for myself why she is denying care.When a patient refuses care,nurse can use the art of health teaching ,to make the patient accept that it is necessary to abide by the care .Explaining and maintaining effective communication with the patient could definitely help the nurse to make Mrrs Baptista accept to take bath.

b If Mrs Baptista still refuses care ,then it would be better for the nurse to accept the decision,eventhough you doesnt agree to it.Sometimes getting to their root of avoidance is the best way to devise a successful strategy for cleaning up their act.Firstly when a patient suddenly shows neglect to personal care ,its wise to rule out the possibility of depression.Depression is not always obvious in seniors,so always be aware of warning signs.The sudden onset of unhygenic storm may be an indicator of depression.Another factor is that with advancing age they lose control over their lives and the more we pester them the more the resist.As seniors always tend to have a tight grip on their personal hygiene.They gradually lose their ability to detech smells that hey become nose-blind.So most of the elderly people neglect personal hygiene because tthey fail to notice their bodily odour.Elderly people are often sensitive to cold and it is quite enough for them to deter from taking a bath.

c. Numerous approaches can be used ,especially using a Doctor as an ally to help determine if depression is the culprit.Elders often accept their doctors orders and take their recommendations more seriously.Using specially equipped bath aids is a wise choice for anyone who is getting older and can reduce the risk of falling.A hand-held shower head can be used for shampooing the hair .often it is seen thay the approach used for giving person care can be quite influential,especially by using their favouite scented body wash and lotion afterwards to focus on the enjoyable aspects of bathing.Sometimes compromising is quite necessary and have to make adjustments with the patient by lowering your standards.We cannot always expect a pristine appearace of the patient always.

d it helps the nurse to make themselves more amiable while giving care to the aged. Nurses will develop the knack to tackle with the patients who refuses care.This will be a challenging experience for the nurse.