The bed bath according to the undergraduate nursing students' perspective

Objective: The aim was to identify the meaning of bed bath for the undergraduate nursing students as well as their feelings when performing it. Method: This is a descriptive study, with qualitative approach. The scenarios were a public hospital and a state university. The participants were 14 nursing students. Data was collected through a questionnaire and treated according to the Thematic Content Analysis. Results: Several meanings of the bed bath for the participants were identified, such as "care", "interpersonal relationship", "assessment of the general state", "privacy invasion" and "identification/fulfillment of human basic needs", provoking both positive and negative feelings/sensations. Conclusion: Bed bath needs to be done by trained personnel with a therapeutic approach through the use of sensitivity, avoiding a mechanistic practice and aiming wellness and faster recovery of the patient.