Nursing care when bathing dependent elderly people at home: A scoping review

Abstract

Background & Aim: Dependent elderly people have difficulty carrying out activities of daily living and need help with essential life-sustaining activities such as bathing. Nursing care includes technique, organization, and care for the patient's physical and emotional well-being. This study aimed to map the scientific evidence on home bathing care for dependent elderly people. Methods & Materials: A scoping review on home bathing care for dependent elderly people according to the methodology proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute Collaboration. Nine databases were searched, as well as sources of gray literature. Rayyan software was used to select the studies by two reviewers and a third for the final assessment. Results: 24 studies were selected. The most important aspects of bathing were communication, considering the elderly person's preference for bathing, considering conflict resolution, safety, comfort, and privacy, planning the necessary materials and actions, paying attention to the temperature of the water and the environment, cleaning and tidying the bed, as well as hygiene care such as trichotomy, and nail clipping. Conclusion: It was identified that care is related to specific skincare and planning to carry out the steps in body hygiene. The studies show the importance of guidance from nursing professionals in the process of bathing dependent elderly people at home from the perspective of a person-centered approach and their uniqueness.

Keywords

• frail elderly; patient care; baths; home nursing; nursing care