Overview of Personal Hygiene
Personal hygiene refers to various types of healthy lifestyles and practices. These maintain and promote the health of individuals emotionally, physically and mentally, spiritually, and socially. According to experts associated with personal hygiene in nursing, good personal hygiene consists of keeping each part of one’s external body healthy and clean. It is essential to maintain both mental and physical health.
When people have poor personal hygiene, their body promotes the growth of germs and makes them vulnerable to many infections. Besides, individuals must strictly avoid poor personal hygiene on social levels, as it leads to loneliness and isolation.
Principles of Personal Hygiene to Promote Good Health
Personal hygiene in nursing follows the mentioned principles-
- To let people aware of the essential hygiene practices
- Everyone knows that changes in humans take place during the entire life span. Such changes affect healthcare practices as well.
- Existence of individual differences among individuals
- Variation in health practices with variation in both cultural and personal values
- Influence of health practices directly on the physical, social, mental, and spiritual health of a person
- Proper healthcare practices to avoid the entry of any microorganism into human beings
Objectives of Personal Hygiene to Protect from Diseases
Personal hygiene in nursing fulfills the following objective in humans-
- Avoiding all sorts of illnesses and bodily infections
- Improvement in the existing health standard
- Promotion of good health and well being
- Maintenance of quality life in individuals
- Promotion of social and spiritual health
- Improvement of self-esteem in today’s society
Key Aspects to Accomplish Personal Hygiene
Doctors, healthcare professionals, and experts of personal hygiene in nursing have focused on the following key aspects to accomplish personal hygiene.
Dental Hygiene
If you want a healthy smile and a healthy mouth, you must brush your teeth about 2 minutes to 3 minutes for a minimum of 2 times in one day. Moreover, you must use ADA accepted toothpaste and replace your toothbrush after every 3 or 4 months. Simultaneously, individuals should floss their mouths daily to avoid bad breath for the day.
Hand Washing
You have to follow a few simple steps to hand washing effectively, which include-
- Wet your hands with running and clean water before applying soap.
- Rub the hands together while applying soap to create enough lather
- Never forget to wash the back area of the hands, under the nails, and between the fingers
- Scrub your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds. If your kids find hand washing a boring task, ask them to hum the Happy Birthday song 2 times.
- Rinse your hands properly under running and clean water again.
- Finally, use an air dryer or a clean towel to dry your hands.
Bathing
Every healthcare expert advises you to bathe or shower daily by applying water and soap to rinse any dead skin cells, bacteria, and oil. You have to focus on areas, which often accumulate sweat, like the groin area, in between toes and the armpits. Furthermore, one should wash the hair by applying shampoo once or twice one week. Other than that, the application of deodorants when you stay fully dry is essential to avoid any unpleasant body odor.
Nails
You must use sanitized tools for trimming the nails and keep them short to avoid the accumulation of dirt below them. Excluding this, you have to scrub the bottom area of your nails by using nail brushes to avoid germs.
Menstrual Hygiene
Females must change their pads and tampons regularly. Simultaneously, one should wash her hands before operating sanitary-related products.
How Nurses Help in Personal Hygiene of Patients
Professionals related to personal hygiene in nursing have the following roles-
Direct Hygienic Care Provision
With direct provision related to hygienic care, nurses get opportunities to assess both the physical and emotional states of a patient regularly.
Important for Patient and Nurse Interaction
Each of the procedures related to personal hygiene constitutes an important part of the interaction between patients and nurses. These include daily bathing, care of the nails and hair, oral hygiene, washing hands, and applying oil massage.
Identify Nursing Problems
Nurses have to assess the requirements of their patients and identify the related nursing problems. Depending on individual conditions, nurses must collect additional details related to the identified problems of their patients.
Development and Implementation of the Right Nursing Plan
Personal hygiene in nursing experts should develop the right nursing care plan based on the data they collect and other relevant nursing principles. Simultaneously, nurses must implement the required nursing care plan to deliver nursing care of optimum quality to patients.
Success Evaluation of the Nursing Plan
Once nursing professionals implement the respective nursing care plan successfully, they have to evaluate its success for the future. Moreover, nurses must adjust the plan to meet the changing requirements of patients.
Carrying out the Orders from Doctors
Nurses have active roles in carrying out and accepting orders from doctors or physicians. They also refer to the pertinent observations of a physician and information related to patients.
Motivate Patients
Based on the underlying condition, nurses have to motivate patients to resume responsibility for care and independence.
Application and Integration of Knowledge
Nurses must apply their knowledge in pathology and/or physiology to provide optimum and preventive hygiene and care. Excluding this, we know that every nurse has expertise in physiology, anatomy, and pathology. Hence, nurses have to fulfill their duties to integrate each of the mentioned aspects at the time of imparting hygienic care.
Conclusion
Personal hygiene is of huge significance to retain good health in humans. However, following hygiene in patients is somewhat difficult. Luckily, we have experts related to personal hygiene in nursing who analyze the ability of patients to accomplish self-care and impart hygiene care based on their preferences and requirements. Nurses preserve the independence of clients and assure their privacy at the time of imparting personal hygiene. Simultaneously, they focus on conveying respect and the physical comfort of patients.
