Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers

As a nursing assistant, you can play an important role in helping residents to look and feel their best.  But there are also other important benefits of bathing.  When a resident gets undressed to prepare for a shower or tub bath, the nursing assistant will have the opportunity to observe the resident’s skin for any signs of redness, bruising, sores, dry skin, cuts, or other conditions or injury.

Of course, it is important that the water is at the right temperature.  You can use a thermometer.  The thermometer should read 105 degrees F.  This way the water will neither burn nor chill the resident.

You might have heard the expression “Safety First.”  People commonly say this to remind themselves and others to keep important safety guidelines in mind in a variety of situations, whether at work or play.  When nursing assistants help residents in the shower or bath, this is certainly a time for “Safety First.”  This means as you are going about your work assisting the resident, you must constantly keep in mind all that you have learned about keeping both the resident and yourself safe and free from accident and injury.

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Bathrooms are places where people often get injured.  You can probably guess why.  Where there is a shower or tub, there is water and where there is water, there is an increased chance of slipping and falling on wet surfaces, such as the shower, bath, or floor.

Take precautions to keep the resident safe. Any water on the floors should be wiped up and dried immediately or as soon as possible.  Nonskid mats should always be used.  These mats are made of a rubber-like material, which sticks to the shower or tub floor and stays in place, giving the person bathing a secure area to place his/her wet feet.

Any metal grab bars should be secured tightly to the wall.  Residents use these bars to hold onto for support when getting into and out of the shower or bath.