First clinical in LTC - need advice

I work in a nursing home, and we have a lot of female residents that are "female workers only" for their showers and personal care. We currently have 12 out of 33 residents that request female only. Which can be a little hard considering we usually have 1 female CNA and 3 male CNA's working on the floor. As far as nurses, they don't mind if a male is giving them their meds, etc. Its the whole bathing issue that they would like a female worker. We did have one lady that wouldn't even let a male CNA walk into her room.

I work in an AL facility and there are women who do not want me, as a male, to give them showers. It is ok where I work because we have only two males on all shifts including myself.

Being that your a student and have not had time to acclimate yourself with these residents ... I could see where your instructor is being on the safe side. It might be different if you had the opportunity to work with them before jumping right into baths.

The weird thing is, I have residents who do not allow me to bathe/shower them but they are perfectly fine with having me undress/dress them. I suppose they find the shower to be a much more intimate thing.

You should have nothing to worry about though. I jumped right into taking VS',baths...etc with no experience as a caregiver and did not come across any problems.

Funny stuff.

We have a residents who, unless your married(???), prefers that you do not do any personal care for her, as a male caregiver. Never understood why but funny nonetheless.

Just one piece of advice: don't b**** about making beds!

I think your instructor is very astute. Working in that enviroment and doing clinicals are two separate things. Being a CNA I have bathed many females. But when I did clinicals one of my residents made a comment that led me to believe she was uncomfortable with me bathing her. She didn't have a problem with me dressing and changing her though! I notified my instructor and she did not see a problem and suggested I just do it. I would never impose myself on someone that way and at the same time I had to protect myself should I be accused of anything sexual that could lead to being kicked out of the program. When you think about it, if an accusation is made, the facility you are doing clinicals at will make sure you are off the grounds before the last word is out of the complaintants mouth. They would also notify the state which would launch an investigation. Nothing personal, it is the way the system works. So what I did was have a female fellow student assist me with the shower. Her residents shower was on a different day and I would help her. Went a lot faster too!

I think you will find that nurses are to busy to be in the shower room with you. And the CNAs, will like the fact they have one less resident to take care of because you are there, but most of them will not lift a finger to help you. In fact, you will have a hard time locating them.

When I was a PCA, I had a pt who didn't want me to come anywhere near her. I Informed the pt's primary nurse. I was told to wait outside the room while the nurse talked to the pt. 20 seconds later the nurse said it was ok, the pt is fine with me now. I went into the room and had no more problems with that pt. I found out later that the nurse told her that I was gay