How to Give Proper Bathing Assistance

When an adult can no longer bathe on their own, whether because of injury, illness, or age, an in home care giver is called in to give the bathing assistance they need. Initially, the problem is almost always the transport into and out of the tub -- but quite often, if the situation deteriorates, they may be in need of some help undressing, washing, drying, and dressing again.

One of the most physically challenging tasks of a caregiver is bathing because it proffers a lot of ways to injure not just the person bathing but also the caregiver as well. In order to ensure that both parties are safe, a lot of care must be taken into consideration.

Moreover, bathing is a very intimate experience, and if handled insensitively, can lead to embarrassment and a feeling of lost independence. Handled well, however, it can be comforting to the bather and give the caregiver an opportunity to monitor several aspects of their patient's health.

The caregiver should determine this things below for the best results:

What level of assistance the patient needs. What the patient's personal preferences are. How the patient will react to learning that they need (increased) assistance to bathe? What is the least strain-inducing mechanism of transferring the patient into and out of the bathtub? Is it easier to bathe, or shower? If there a walk-in shower available, it can often greatly aid the cleaning process. But it increases the danger of water spreading onto the bathroom floor, which can in turn increase the danger of slipping and falling.

Only once such an assessment is complete should an in home care giver talk in earnest about making modifications to the bathroom to assist the patient. From no-slip floors to fold-down seats to hand-held shower nozzles, there are a wide variety of tools and options available to caregivers to help them keep their patients clean.

Bathtubs

One of the most effective ways to get someone into and out of the bathtub is the bath transfer chair, a mechanism that sits over the edge of the tub. The bather sits down outside the tub, swings their legs over the wall of the tub, and then lowers themselves into the water.

For those unable to lower themselves safely, a bath lift offers a seat that can be easily slid onto from the bath transfer chair, and then lowers slowly and safely to the bottom of the tub. Alternately, a ceiling track lift can be operated by the caregiver and gives them the ability to swing the patient easily from the middle of the bathroom over to the toilet or over into the bathtub and then lower them onto either one.

Showers

The most obvious addition to any shower is grab bars, which help greatly in keeping balance and keeping from falling. For a patient who cannot stand for an entire shower, a fold-down shower seat can give them a place to sit when they need it, and get out of the way when they don't. Either way, a hand-held shower nozzle on a hose is an important addition to any caretaker's shower setup.

Patients who have trouble with stepping up can get a curbless shower stall, possibly pairing that with a roll-in shower seat.

Even further options exist for patients who cannot get out of bed, but those are exotic tools out of the scope of this article. Hopefully, if you need to give a patient bathing assistance, you've already got what you need.

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