Male perineal care? Please help!

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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first of all, let me introduce myself, i'm new to the forum, i'm a cna of a little over a yr. now, working in home health, always have worked in home health. i have a new patient today (filling in fo ra call-out) but he is *male*. i've only had female patients before, and in my cna training course, they didn't go over male perineal care, at all. i have no idea what to do. the scheduler didn't give me much info. on how independent he is, so i don't know if i will just be supervising his shower, or if he'll be able to clean his perineal area himself. if he *can't*, can someone please describe to me the correct procedure for providing male perineal care? thanks so much!:confused::confused:

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Specializes in LTC, Home Health.

Seriously, you would administer the same care that you would give a female resident. Make sure you pay close attention to the scrotum. Make sure it is clean....it is very prone to bed sores if not properly cared for. Clean the cleanest areas first and work your way up. It's really not difficult at all. Sometimes it's easier to clean a male........somtimes.

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OK well I just did some researching online and think I might have the hang of it, just wondering if anyone has any tips on making him more comfortable and it it more easy for me at this point. I had also been wondering on the different procedure to use concerning a circumsized vs. uncircumsized member. Sorry if I sound ignorant, I've just never had a male patient, nor do I date males, so I don't have much experience regarding the male perineal area...

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Specializes in Mostly geri :).

Wow why would they not cover that in your class? That sucks. Who knows, maybe he's used to cleaning himself and you're worried for nothing. Ummmmm just clean thoroughly, be gentle, this is one of those things it's pretty hard to mess up, so don't worry so much.

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Don't know if you still need to know this, but even if not, I figured somebody later on might look it up...anyway.

If the male is circumsised, you clean in a circular motion going around the member from the tip to the base. If he is uncircumsised, you pull the foreskin back first, clean under it, and then replace it after you've finished cleaning and rinsing the rest of the member. Use a clean area of washcloth or new peri-wipe for each stroke, just like in female peri-care. Clean the scrotom and the rest of the groin afterwards.

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Yea I was taught the same way pomegranate said... from tip to base of the shaft moving outward in a circular motion. That's the way I was taught in my Red Cross class

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Just a hint for you (I had to learn the hard way), if he is an older gentleman, and uncircumsized, and you've never seen an uncirc'd member before- you may not know! :wink2: In clinicals, when I did my first shower, the guy was uncirc'd, and I had no idea! It was so small and hard to "hold" while cleaning it anyway, plus I was nervous being my first shower, and just went about cleaning the best I could. Afterwards, my instructor asked if I had noticed anything different about his member, and I said I hadn't, other than it being hard to "find" it. She told me he was uncirc'd. Ooops!!! I felt so bad! But she said the reason she didn't say anything in the shower was because it was so hard to find, she admitted that she would have even had a hard time, so she didn't want to embarrass both me and him.

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Specializes in CNA.

There is a video on here that is about male perineal care. You have to look for it....

http://deptets.fvtc.edu/nursing/index.htm

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May I ask what CNA class you took that did not include male perineal care? Where did you do your clinicals that you didn't care for men? Something is very wrong here.

You mention you don't date men, that is of no relevance for a CNA, I dont date women, but that means nothing, we are not in romatic situations with these people.

I don't want to sound like bad gal here, I am not. But something about this skrikes me as odd. Did you try to avoid dealing with males because of fear? Were you afraid they may be sexaully attracted to you because you are handling those parts? (I was) We all have fear going into this, its nothing to be ashamed about. I was afraid of everything going into clinicals, for you to be a year into this and not know how to clean male anatomy?

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May I ask what CNA class you took that did not include male perineal care? Where did you do your clinicals that you didn't care for men? Something is very wrong here.

You mention you don't date men, that is of no relevance for a CNA, I dont date women, but that means nothing, we are not in romatic situations with these people.

I don't want to sound like bad gal here, I am not. But something about this skrikes me as odd. Did you try to avoid dealing with males because of fear? Were you afraid they may be sexaully attracted to you because you are handling those parts? (I was) We all have fear going into this, its nothing to be ashamed about. I was afraid of everything going into clinicals, for you to be a year into this and not know how to clean male anatomy?

Kinda harsh isn't it? By mentioning that she doesn't have relationships with men, she's probably just trying to demonstrate that she's not familiar with male parts. As for CNA class- in my class we only had two dummies, both female. I had male residents in clinicals, but never did pericare on a female. So it is very possible. I think your comments were really uncalled for.

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Specializes in LTC.

QUESION:

To be honest i have never see the male pene before so if i have to do the male perineal care i'll be scare and embarrass cos i'm a very shy person.

My question is, when i do clinical or when i working at work, can i tell the nurse or higher one that i dun wanna working w/ male patient cos i'm scare to take bath or do perineal care for them. Can i working w/ female pt only and refuse to work w/ male pt?

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No, you'll definitely have to work with males. But don't let it scare you, after the first couple times, it's no big deal. You really don't think of it as "oh my, I'm touching a member" while you're doing it, you're thinking of the steps you were taught to do the task. You'll be fine!

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