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Assisting with Dressing a Dependent Patient

Assisting with dressing a dependent patient can be done easily when you know how to do the step by step process thoroughly.  If you are unfamiliar with these steps, chances are you will be doing it the wrong way which can either harm your resident or fail you in your CNA certification exam.  Make sure that you have studied these steps well in order to provide the best possible CNA service that you can give to your patients.  After applying these steps for a couple of times, you will surely be able to handle this task very easily.

The first step is to greet your patient and introduce yourself after knocking on their door.  This is to ensure that you are not violating their rights to privacy and that you are respecting their need for personal space.  After this, explain to your patient what you will be doing, which is to assist them with dressing themselves, and then try to describe what the process would take.  Wash your hands thoroughly before handling the patient and wear protective gloves. This is to make sure that you do not contaminate the patient with bacteria that you may be carrying from the outside.

assisting-patient-00232344234The next step is to tell your patient that you will be undressing them first on their weak side.  Depending therefore in which side the patient’s weaker part is, you will start to undress them first.  Do not try to do all of the undressing by you and get the patient to participate as much as they can on the whole process.  Ask them also if they want to undress by themselves or if they want sufficient privacy while they do so.  You should try to maintain as much space as can be comfortable for the patient.  Encourage them to take initiative on their own and to exercise themselves in the care of themselves.

The new set of clothes should already be close by when you start to undress the patient.  After the patient is fully undressed try to dress them starting from the stronger side of his body first.  This is the complete reverse of undressing them starting from the weaker side.  For example if his weaker side is in the left side, then you should start dressing the patient from their right.  It is also important to encourage the patient to exert as much effort as they can when dressing in order to develop his personal independence.

You will have to notice any sign of fatigue in the patient during the whole process.  Try to make them sit once they start to get tired or experience difficulty with the dressing process.

After dressing, you also have to place the patients dirty clothes in the hamper and then remove your gloves and wash your hands thoroughly.  Make sure that their call light is within his reach and everything that they may need is easily accessible to them.  Explain that you are going and that the procedure is finished before you leave.

Dress a Resident with a Weak Arm

The steps required in CNAs to dress a resident with a weak arm include the basic direct and indirect care skills that you will learn in a CNA class.  It is important to take note, that it is not only the direct process of dressing the patient which will be assessed by the evaluator during the skills part of the exam, the indirect care skills would also possess a significant weight in your test scores.  You should therefore take all the care and effort to try to perform and include all the required skills that the evaluator will require.

The steps for dressing a resident with a weak arm is as follows.  Make sure to provide the appropriate indirect skill to the given situation.  The first is to greet the resident by his or her name, and then introduce yourself and what is the purpose of your presence in their room.  Tell them that you are there to assist them in their dressing.  After that, inform the patient about the steps that will be done for dressing them right before and during the activity.  Ask them about their personal preference as to the type, color, and shape of clothing that they want.  This is one of the rights of a resident and you should be careful to include them.  Try to collect these pieces of clothing right before you undress the resident.

woman-in-hospital-reading-0333Next, you have to make sure that you are providing sufficient support for the weak arm of the resident while you are undressing and afterwards, dressing them.  You should dress the weak arm first taking care that you perform all the necessary steps to lessen the amount of stress that you will put in it while dressing.  Make sure that you have gathered up the sleeve of the clothing before trying to put their arm in it. Afterwards, you can proceed with the other pieces of clothing such as the pants and the socks.  Do not try to overextend the legs and arms of the resident.

Try to put the clothes in as appropriate a manner as possible meaning perform the necessary adjustments so the clothes fit comfortably on the body of the resident such as adjusting the sleeves and aligning them correctly.  Try to make it look as neat as possible and close the areas that need to be closed.  After this, put the dirty clothing in a hamper and wash your hands.

It is important to take note that you have given the patient with the proper method of care and dressing.  Try to keep them on a safe position on the bed where the distance will not let them roll over. Try to incorporate as much of the resident’s preferences as possible and use the necessary precautions for infection control and standard precautions.

Ensure that the patient is feeling comfortable with how you are dressing them and what other needs they may require while dressing them.  You should also be careful to protect the patient’s rights to privacy as well as to safety during the activity.