In this report I am focusing on the financial, abuse and health issues of personal hygiene and will explain how to help maintain people with a disabilities personal hygiene to a good standard with their own individual abilities and how to help keep their dignity when approaching their personal hygiene needs.
Financial Issues
Financial is a very important part in personal hygiene, because you need to be able to afford the products and water to maintain a good personal hygiene. Somebody with a learning disability could find it hard to keep on top of things such as bills etc. especially if they live independently. If you are struggling financially you won’t be able to afford your gas, electric and water bills, as the gas heats the water up and you need fresh clean water to help cleanse your body. You need electricity also to help your washing machine run so you can run your washing machine, as you need water and electric to wash your clothes otherwise you wouldn’t have any clean clothes to wear. You also might not be able to afford products also; these are also needed to keep your personal hygiene to a good standard. Products such as: Deodorant
Toilet paper
Shampoo/Conditioner
Sanitary products
Soap
Shower gel
Bubble bath
Towels/flannels
Sponges
Washing powder
When bills aren’t paid i.e. electricity, water and gas, everything automatically gets shut down. If you have paid all your bills apart from the gas because you’re having financial troubles, your water will be freezing cold as the gas helps warm up your water. Financial troubles can also mean you have less products to help maintain a good personal hygiene, if you have skin conditions and you don’t have any warm water this may make your conditions a lot worse as you aren’t looking after yourself correctly.
Abuse
Abuse can cause people not to maintain their personal hygiene correctly, some cases of abuse are neglect; neglecting someone by not providing products to allow someone to wash. Neglect is also not having clean clothes to wear or freshly cleaned bed sheets. this can cause all types of illnesses i.e. bedsores. Abuse can also be caused by financial issues, if you are having money problems you may not be able to bathe yourself. Some personal hygiene problems could be down to your carer, as they may not help you or give you guidance towards you independently bathing yourself.
Also carers breeching care plans is when they don’t stick to their patient’s needs and where they don’t follow what they should be doing to help maintain and look after their patient. Also not responding to your toileting needs is when you don’t take them to the toilet or ask them if they need to go. These can also be named as abuse as they should be helping you and not preventing you from being clean and healthy. Another cause of abuse is verbal abuse, people who verbally abuse someone can knock someone’s confidence and self-esteem, this can cause them not to clean and look after themselves, verbal abuse is calling someone names, digging at the way they look or come across, or the way they present themselves
Health Issues
Some health issues can be caused by neglect from your carer by not following your care plan. You could end up getting bedsores if you’re in bed quite a lot or if your sheets are not being changed regularly, your carer needs to prevent you from getting bedsores as if they get real bad they can lead to serious circumstances i.e. death. If you have comatose this means that you are not able to care or look after yourself so you may not be able to look after your personal hygiene needs to any standard at all without support. Also if you’re physically disabled, you may be in a wheel chair or have parts of your body amputated which means you will need a full time carer that will have to help you do things i.e. maintaining your personal hygiene. If you don’t have a carer you won’t be able to meet any of your care needs independently.
You may suffer with memory loss which can lead to forgetting all about your personal hygiene needs and will need a carer that can help them remember and guide them if you have forgotten where the bathroom is, memory loss can also prevent you from taking your medication that you need as you have forgotten. Everyone needs a doctor and should have access to one, if you don’t have one or cannot get access to one you may end up with an infection or disease as you haven’t been able to treat or maintain looking after yourself through medication etc. Some carers have lack of monitoring patient’s food and if they don’t have the right protein or nutrition this can make them very ill. Also some carers neglect their patients and leave them to urinate on themselves as they don’t stick to their care plan which leads to bad personal hygiene and a bad smell to everyone around them.
Having privacy in a care home will allow the individual to keep her dignity in personal hygiene and also in their own room because they don’t want to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable and will also help them have time alone so they can reflect on their days and enjoy their own company. Providing shower curtains in bathrooms so they can help comfortable undressing and washing in front of carers by keeping their dignity by being behind curtains. It’s extremely important that trust is involved in all relationships between carers and patients so they feel comfortable and confident to talk and be around their carer. T
he carer should always have a professional approach so they feel good and clean about themselves and also the people around them will feel comfortable and would approach without any hesitation and they may also look up to them as a role model. When giving eye contact to your patient it means you’re paying attention to them and also talking or listening to them, when helping them maintain their personal hygiene needs, not giving them eye contact will help them relax and feel more comfortable within the situation. Keeping empathy between you and the patient will help the relationship strongly and allow the patient to understand that things will stay between one another and also showing respect to each other will also show reassurance.
