Early morning showers

[Mika]

I wonder if I am the only one who thinks it's soooo wrong to wake up residents early in the morning to take of pressure of the morning staff??

[danielle]

Mika, how early is "early"?

[Administrator]

The User Rights Principles 1997 made under the Aged Care Act 1997 includes a Charter of Residents' Rights and Responsibilities. The Charter details the rights and responsibilities of all residents including personal, civil, legal and consumer rights. The Charter also outlines residents’ responsibilities in relation to other residents, staff and the residential aged care service community as a whole.

If the provider is not complying with resident’s needs according to the Aged Care Act/User Rights Principles, then I believe they would be found to be in breach of the Aged Care Act.


Schedule 1 Charter of residents’ rights and responsibilities of the User Rights Principles 1997:

A. Each resident of a residential care service has the right:
to full and effective use of his or her personal, civil, legal and consumer rights
to quality care appropriate to his or her needs
to full information about his or her own state of health and about available treatments
to be treated with dignity and respect, and to live without exploitation, abuse or neglect
to live without discrimination or victimisation, and without being obliged to feel grateful to those providing his or her care and accommodation
to personal privacy
to live in a safe, secure and homelike environment, and to move freely both within and outside the residential care service without undue restriction
to be treated and accepted as an individual, and to have his or her individual preferences taken into account and treated with respect
to continue his or her cultural and religious practices, and to keep the language of his or her choice, without discrimination
to select and maintain social and personal relationships with anyone else without fear, criticism or restriction
to freedom of speech
to maintain his or her personal independence
to accept personal responsibility for his or her own actions and choices, even though these may involve an element of risk, because the resident has the right to accept the risk and not to have the risk used as a ground for preventing or restricting his or her actions and choices
to maintain control over, and to continue making decisions about, the personal aspects or his or her daily life, financial affairs and possessions
to be involved in the activities, associations and friendships of his or her choice, both within and outside the residential care service
to have access to services and activities available generally in the community
to be consulted on, and to choose to have input into, decisions about the living arrangements of the residential care service
to have access to information about his or her rights, care, accommodation and any other information that relates to the resident personally
to complain and to take action to resolve disputes
to have access to advocates and other avenues of redress
to be free from reprisal, or a well-founded fear of reprisal, in any form for taking action to enforce his or her rights.

B. Each resident of a residential care service has the responsibility:
to respect the rights and needs of other people within the residential care service, and to respect the needs of the residential care service community as a whole
to respect the rights of staff and the proprietor to work in an environment free from harassment
to care for his or her own health and well-being, as far as he or she is capable
to inform his or her medical practitioner, as far as he or she is able, about his or her relevant medical history and current state of health.

[Mika]

We shower 2 residents that usually wake between 4-5 am which is ok as they're awake and they both enjoy an early shower. There is another resident on our "night duty shower list" that does NOT wake and is a high care resident. At night there is just the 2 of us on in a 40 bed low/high care nursing home without an EEN or RN on site.

As this resident takes approx 30 min to shower we're forced to shower him at about 4 am due to the amount of work we have between 4-6 am. I totally think this is wrong and refuse to wake anyone up at that time of day so I will not shower him with the result that morning staff is not happy to say the least and are complaining to the manager constantly.

I have brought this issue up at meetings and the managers response is that we should not wake residents ( she's not allowed to tell me this I guess) but is still putting people on our shower list.

People are forgetting why they chose this profession, all everyone seem to be focussing on is tasks. Care has gone out the door in my opinion

I love my job but can't handle the running of nursing homes, it breaks my hart to see how people are getting treated. Don't get me wrong this nursing home is probally one of the best ones, they get their care but due to the work pressure there is no time for anything else.

[Mika]

I resigned 2 days ago and feel a great sense of relief but I am saddend that it had to come to this. I am going to enroll at Tafe to study to become an EEN. I am hoping as an EEN I can do my bit of changing this industry,even if it's just a little bit. Or am I fooling myself?

[abbie]

Mika, you are right. It is quite cruel to be waking up very old people in order to shower them very early. I know of other places where this happens. Night staff have to do showers before the day staff come on duty. Residents have complained to me about this. I think it is just awful. And good luck with your studies. I wonder how many good staff are being lost to the system because they have to do such things.

[Nightowl]

We have 5 residents who request help with showers pre 0700, 1 that is required for safety reasons and "forced" to to do 3 others that have not requested such assistance.9 showers!!! Then morning staff have the audacity to complain some residents are wet in the morning!!!! I always refuse to shower the residents that do not request a pre 0700 shower. It is cruel (especially in the winter!) and illegal. Continence promotion is far more important at that time than showering. Always stand up for the resident and help them for thier sake.....not for the staff's sake!