Complete Guide to Personal Care and Bathing Techniques

1. Personal Care Bathing

2. Personal Care • Personal hygiene includes bathing, back care, perineal care, oral hygiene, nail & hair care, & shaving • This care promotes good habits of personal hygiene, provides comfort, & stimulates circulation • Types of baths include: complete bed bath, partial bed bath, tub bath or shower, and waterless bath • Type of bath given depends on pt’s condition and ability to help

3. Bathing a Patient Complete bed bath: • HCW bathes all parts of pt’s body & provides back care, oral hygiene, hair & nail care, and perineal care • Usually given to pt who is confined to bed & is too weak or ill to bathe

4. Bathing a Patient Partial bed bath: • HCW bathes some parts of the pt’s body • AKA modified bed bath • Can be done 2 ways depending on pt’s ability to help • Face, arms, hands, back, & perineal area are bathed by HCW if pt is too weak to help • HCW completes the bath by bathing legs & back if pt is able to wash most of their body

5. Bathing a Patient Tub bath or shower: • HCW provides all of supplies • HCW prepares the tub or shower • HCW assists as much as needed

6. Bathing a Patient Waterless bath: • HCW uses pre-packaged disposable cleansing cloths instead of basins of water to bathe pt • Cleansing cloths can be warmed in microwave • They come packaged with 8-10 wipes so they can be each used for one area of the body

7. Bathing a Patient • Read Procedure 21:41