Personal Care Services by the Home Health Aide Essay

Personal Care Services by the Home Health Aide - Essay Example Steps and guidelines for common personal care. The client in need of home healthcare may require assistance in personal care. The home health aide should have skills such as bed bath, tab bathing and shower bathing. They should be conversant with the guidelines for transferring the client or lifting the client when they want to change position. Personal care skills will also include lifting the patient from the floor. The personal care skills are necessary because the client may not be able to move independently. Their mobility can be limited because they suffered from a stroke that may have caused brain damage, body weakness or caused them to have unusual posture. Correct steps in personal care eases positioning and transfer as well as, maintains comfort for the client. The steps and guidelines in personal care assist in fostering safety when moving the client. The client and the home health aide reduce the chances of injury when conducting personal care as Birchenall (2012, p. 33) mentions. A bed bath is refreshing, allows skin inspection and allows change of beddings. A bed bath begins with ensuring privacy, informing the client of the intention of bath and maintaining a good conversation. The home health aide should prepare for bath by ensuring the room temperature is warm, close door, window and curtains for confidentiality. Collect all the equipment and materials to include: big pan or bowl, two firm chairs, soap and soap dish, bathing cloth, towels, newspaper for protection of chair from becoming wet and preferred cloths. The two chairs can be placed next to the bed, and then one chair is covered with the newspapers. The soap, dish and big pan are placed on the covered chair. The other chair is for placing the beddings. Light covers can be left to make the bed have warmth. The client can be requested to cooperate or assist in removing cloths, from top to bottom. The top can be cleaned, dried out and covered with cloths before moving to the bottom. The body parts t hat are paralyzed should be the last when removing cloths. The bottom cloths should be slipped slowly from waist to knee to the feet, one side first and then the other side if the person is unable to lift weight. Only the areas being cleaned should not be covered. The water in the bowl should be half full and tested with elbow for appropriate temperature. The soap should be kept in the dish and wash cloth used as required (Birchenall and Streight, 2003, p. 66). To wash the client’s face, the neck and bellow should be covered. Dampen cloth and squeeze all water and hold all the