Bath in the bag:Perspective of patients and caregivers

Objectives: This project was conducted in the multi-site community hospital to evaluate new bathing product against currently used method which is face cloth, soap and water in the basin.

Method: 61 respondents consisting of 36 patients and 25 caregivers from surgical, medical, post-acute, rehab and Cardiac floors were bathed using a new bathing product.  Patients and caregivers (nurses and support workers) were asked to fill in a questionnaire and compare experience to the previous bathing experience. Likert-type scale was used to collect subjective information and comments compiled to get common themes. Evaluations asked basic demographic data, comfort level after bathing experience, comparison to previous bathing experience for the patients and ease of use for nurses along with other relevant data.

Results: There were 28 male and 33 women in the study. Average age was 73.2. Emerging theme among patients was “real suds – real bath”, “easy to use and feels clean”. Patients or caregivers were strongly agreeing with the statement indicating preference of the evaluated products. Patients were more inclined to strongly agree with preference of evaluated product than nurses. Detailed responses are presented in the graphs.

Conclusions: Even though comfort of the shower is the preferred method of bathing for most patients, bath in the bag was found to be cost neutral and superior in comfort and experience. Strong preference of the product to the water basin and soap was found. The evaluation process also helped caregivers to understand the importance of the bathing experience in the therapeutic relationships. In the future comparison of rates of hospital-acquired infections among patients bathed with self sudsing washcloths and washcloths with soap and basin should be performed.