Bathing for infants based on their situation during short-term hospitalization

Abstract

 Purpose: The purpose of this study is to shed light on nursing care intended to keep infants clean in different situations during their short-term hospitalization in pediatric wards.

 Method: Leininger’s ethnonursing methodology was applied in this study. The participants were six nurses as key informants and nine general informants including six families with infants, and three doctors.

 Results: Four themes were identified: 1. During the acute stage, the nurse on duty at the time decided, on her own initiative, whether to quickly bathe the patient by herself or to ask the patient’s family for help so the infant would not start crying; 2. When it was difficult to find the right timing for bathing, the nurse visited the room frequently until the situation permitted bathing; 3. After the acute stage, the nurse showed the family how to prepare for bathing to allow it to be completed quickly, before the patient became exhausted; and 4. A nurse provided a bathing so that hospitalization life become rich.

 Discussion: From the acute stage, the nurses provided varied types of bathing, aiming to strike a good balance between patient safety and cleanliness. This involved not simply considering how and when to clean the patient, but also modified the way the families participated in caring: this is exactly what form nursing care should take.