Male vs. Female

Nursewise · Mar 30, 2004

thats ok I'm a female in a rural area and I had a resident throw an absolute temper tantrum hitting people, screaming, and carrying on like crazy because he did not want a female showering him. Of course in nursing homes everyone seems to freak out around shower time.

Hmmm. In all fairness, though, I wonder how much of carrying on a female resident would have to do in the reverse situation. Not much, You can be sure.

Nursewise

allnurses Guide · Mar 30, 2004

Russell - I don't think of this as a situation where someone gets "turned on". I think of it as a privacy issue, as I said. My grandmother, now in a nursing home, was mortified by having a foley placed and it did not matter WHO placed it. It was an embarrassing procedure for her.

I guess my point, as I stated before, is patient comfort. I'm not worrying about a lawsuit, I'm worried about the "shyness" factor in my patient. I've never had anyone refuse my inserting a f/c but I have had some patients very embarrassed. Come on, we all say we don't want to end up in a nursing home having someone wipe our tushes and then we say patients shouldn't care about who places a foley and about having a foley placed period? Especially for women, due to their anatomy, this is not a fun experience. My husband refused one when he had his knee surgery.

I completely understand Tom and Tweety's point though . . . even though I've not come across such a patient. CYA . . .

steph

nursemouse · Mar 30, 2004

Had the experience of a very professional, intelligent male nurse where I worked being propositioned by a patient. I was charge, and he came out to the station, reported it, documented it, and asked courteously to be removed from the case, which I did. Then the patient called me into the room and claimed that HE had propositioned HER! Even more interesting: after making the accusation, she asked if he could come back and be her nurse again.

(BTW: this shouldn't matter, but she was 90 years old...)

TweetiePieRN · Mar 30, 2004

In the dept I work at the hospital....THERE ARE NO MALE RNS! So if a male patient were to need a catheter...does that mean we are supposed to find a male to perform the catheterization...Does a male housekeeper count? Yes, our society is litigious, but to expect a male to cath a male...how is my dept expected to handle this? Just a thought.

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2004

All thoughts count and are important

I think

Tweety, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2004

In the dept I work at the hospital....THERE ARE NO MALE RNS! So if a male patient were to need a catheter...does that mean we are supposed to find a male to perform the catheterization...Does a male housekeeper count? Yes, our society is litigious, but to expect a male to cath a male...how is my dept expected to handle this? Just a thought.

Being the hypocrit that I am I feel there's no real need to change how you guys are doing things. Are the male patients highly uncomfortable with female nurses, is there a history where you work of males charging females with sexual assault?

Rozhinitsy · Apr 5, 2004

Unfortunately the female nurses are not allowed to catherise men on my ward even though it's an acute medical ward. But both sexes can catherise women, although most male nurses will ask a female nurse to do it for him if they are available.

Energizer Bunny · Apr 5, 2004

Unfortunately the female nurses are not allowed to catherise men on my ward even though it's an acute medical ward. But both sexes can catherise women, although most male nurses will ask a female nurse to do it for him if they are available.

This seems a little backward, not to mention sexist, to me!

JustaMaleRN · Apr 5, 2004

the first hospital i worked for was a nun-run catholic hospital. we were under direct instructions that male nurses were not to be placing foleys on female patients. however, we had to be signed off on them. fortunately i worked in the e.r., and we had numerous n.h. patients who were post cva and unaware of their surroundings. i got my requisite number done, and have not done any since. i have done a total of 5 female caths in 8 years. i let my female counterparts know from the start that this is not something i am expert or experienced at, and ask them for assistance. i just pick up the slack for them while they are helping me. no problems so far!

dave

male vs. female......i don't see any reason why a male nurse should start a foley on a female pt. unless it is an emergency. i have no problem with a female coworker asking me to cath. their male pt.'s. i will always see if a female coworker will perform this procedure on my female pt's. i am about to graduate in may with my adn. i just want to get the general census about this.
03.29.04
thank you all for your comments. this was a class assignment and i wanted to start a little controversy so i would get some response. for the most part i really like the professional replies. i look forward to becoming an rn and agree with all of you that commented its up to the patient, and it's all about the patient. one of my main reasons for becoming a nurse is the holistic care we provide. god bless you all.

JustaMaleRN · Apr 5, 2004

Lawyers are fine, on a vent, with an NG Tube, and pavuloned. Maybe a little anxiolysis.

Just Kidding!

Dave

Thank you Agnus
I have dealt with lawyers before
and I fear what they represent
which is misery
no such thing as a good lawyer who is still breathing

TimmyinCanada · Apr 6, 2004

It is sad to see how many of us are rightly scared of losing our licences. It is shameful that we work in such a volitile arena. I am a male RPN in Ontario, I am also almost into my Pregrad for my RN's (16 weeks left) Wooooohoooo But I never even thought that following protocol, asking for an informed consent and receiving that from the patient could still lead to this quandary. I for one have cathed more then my fair share of females, most in the 80's but I do what I need to do, for who I need to do it for, simply put. Why are we still in contention as to why a male versus a female should cath who? I mean were all NURSES, aren't we? :crying2:

Dayray, RN · Apr 6, 2004

This topic has been revisited quite often. I have to say I am very glad to see that peoples perceptions seem to be evolving. When I first started visiting this board threads like this were full of backward thinking and some very ugly male stereotypes. Now although not everyone agrees and although there is still some old fashion type things said it's not nearly as ugly or hostile.

Many of you know I am a male RN who works L&D. I cath patients nearly on a daily basis and rarely have another nurse present. I also do cervical exams. Sometimes I ask for another Rn to come along if I get a strange vibe but it's rare.

In response to the original post: if you are really going to examine this issue you have to look at it from 2 perspectives.

The view of the patient vs the view of nurses (not just the nurse doing the procedure but his peers)

Some patients would be uncomfortable with a male providing this care I can tell you that it's rare but that it does happen (has happened to me once in the last year, it did happen a bit more often the year before that) for the most part patients are uncomfortable with the procedure and the gender of their nurse does little to help or hinder this.

As for the nurses point of view, If your not used to doing it it can be very stressful. As a nursing student I remember my first young female patient (20yo). I was so scared of her. Too make things even worse she had a little crush on me and asked me out on a date. I had a very good instructor that made me keep the assignment and told me "you don't have to feel uncomfortable just because your a boy".

Over time I was able to overcome my feelings of apprehension but the views of my peers made this harder and caused me allot of problems. Some nurses feel that it's wrong and they made this issue 100 times more complicated then it needs to be.

What it comes down to is the patients wishes and if they say they want a female then they get one. If the patient feels that way they will tell you. I don't ask them because to do so would be inferring that there was something wrong with male care providers.

I'm not oblivious to the potential for false accusations. I accept a certain amount of risk simply because I am male but I do a few things to minimize this.

I always do explain the procedure to the patient, I don't make a big production of it but I always make sure they consent.

I always do things the exact same way, which is the way I was taught in school yeah I even test the balloon.

most importantly I make sure my patient knows I care about them. Maybe that sounds a little corny but I think it matters. I am convinced that a strong nurse patient relationship decreases the chance of litigation.

I don't fault guys on other floors who don't wish to accept a risk by placing a cath in a female. I just hope that people realize it's a choice not a requirement. I also understand that L&D is a different world and to some extent this issue is easier for me because when I introduce myself the patient understands that Ill be performing these types of procedures.

I think a good class project would be to examine why attitudes toward male nurses are diffent then attitudes toward female nurses. I could make this post an hour long so ill just stop here.