Normally a well person is capable of meeting his own hygiene needs. However, an ill person requires the nurse’s assistance to carry out routine hygiene practices. The nurse must determine a patient’s ability to perform self-care and provide hygiene care according to the patient’s needs. As a patient’s physical condition changes, so do hygiene needs. While providing routine hygienic care, the nurse can assess the patient’s physical and emotional state. Since hygienic care often requires intimate contact with the patient, the nurse is able to use communication skills to learn about the patient’s emotional needs. Providing hygiene also gives the nurse a good opportunity to offer emotional support and teach patients about health promotion practices. By incorporating nursing therapies into daily hygiene care, the nurse can more efficiently meet the patient ’ s needs. For example, while bathing a surgical patient the nurse can inspect the condition of a dressing or wound, and assist the patient with lower extremity exercises. A patient’s hygiene practices are influenced by his beliefs, habits and health status. Every patient is likely to perform hygiene measures differently. For example, some people are accustomed to bathing in the evening rather than in the morning, or to shampooing their hair once a week instead of daily. Such preferences do not affect health much and can usually be incorporated into the nurse’s plan of care. 1. The nurse do all except ________.