When a senior needs
help with showering or bathing, it’s typically up to family members like you to
step in to help out. But you may discover that it’s not necessarily as easy of
a process as you might think.
The bathing process
can be fraught with danger. Climbing in and out of a bathtub or shower stall
presents a major fall risk. Standing, turning and sitting back down during a
shower likewise has the potential to end in disaster.
Fortunately, you can
take steps to help improve bath time safety. Professional caregivers receive
training on how to make showering and bathing as safe as possible, and you
might consider adapting these same concepts for your own use.
1. Address the bathing
environment
Shower stalls
obviously become wet and slippery while in use. Likewise, the curved surfaces
of bathtubs make for an unstable place to stand. And a steamy spray can make
the bathroom floor slick, too.
Care professionals
suggest improving the safety of these environments by installing equipment like
grab bars and a large shower mat. In tiled bathrooms, you can consider adding
safety treads or a rubber transfer mat to the floor to reduce slipperiness.
2. Address mobility issues
Normal aging can cause
weak legs in many adults, and certainly medical conditions like Parkinson’s
disease or arthritis can make it difficult for a person to transition from
standing to sitting easily. If you are caring for a loved one who has mobility
issues, you should be very careful when helping them get into and out of the
tub or shower.
Consider using
specialized bath items to help make transferring as safe as possible. From a
big box store or a specialty online store, you can get rails that fit over the
tub wall, shower chairs or even a transfer stool to help reduce fall risk when
helping a loved one get into or out of the shower.
3. Organize supplies
Oftentimes, soap and
shampoo reside in a basket hanging from the shower head or high up on a shower
wall shelf. That might be convenient for a person who can safely stand up in
the tub to shower, but it’s out of reach for the seated senior and it poses a
potential danger to a family caregiver who must take her attention off the senior
relative being bathed in order to reach these supplies.
A better solution
might be to gather all of your supplies in a container and place it within easy
reach. This way, you can keep one steady hand on your loved one while grasping
the soap or shampoo bottle with the other.
4. Adjust your bath time
technique
Typically a fully
mobile person hops in the shower, washes, and then jumps out to dry off. But in
a scenario where the person needs mobility assistance, that sequence can be
dangerous because a wet person can easily slip from your hands as you help them
out of the shower.
That’s why bathing
another person might call for a change of technique. Focus on reducing the
number of times (if any) the person must stand or turn while in the wet
environment. This means you should think carefully about all the steps involved
in the current bathing routine and consider adjusting them as necessary. For
instance, you may consider drying your loved one while they remain seated on a
stool before exiting the shower.
For family caregivers,
bathing or showering a loved one can present a number of safety challenges. But
if you focus on these four aspects of safety, you may be able to reduce the
risk of a bath time fall.
Of course, if bathing
a senior loved one seems too daunting or becomes more than you can safely
handle alone, remember you can always hire a professional caregiver through an
in-home care company like Home Instead Senior Care®. These experts understand how to provide safe
bathing assistance and help with many other senior care tasks.
5 Tips for Bathing & Hygiene
- Use daily, no-rinse bathing wipes for the days they do not bathe.
- Schedule a specific time every day for “bath time,” and treat it like a spa experience.
- Ask your loved one to help you try out a new soap, shampoo or lotion.
- Does your loved one have safety concerns that may have scared them? Maybe they need a mat or bathtub bench transfer unit.
- Are there any messy activities you can get your loved one involved in? Once they’re dirty, they may be more willing to clean up.
