Guys, do you take this personally?

[bethannie]

If a female patient wasn't comfortable with a male patient seeing her "woman parts" for a specific procedure or something (and would rather have a female nurse do it), do you guys take it personally?

[commonsense]

If a female patient wasn't comfortable with a male patient seeing her "woman parts" for a specific procedure or something (and would rather have a female nurse do it), do you guys take it personally?

Saves me from having to insert a foley or do peri-care, not sure why I'd take it personally.

[Sacred eagle]

If a hospital has a L&D ward anda mammo dept you can beguaranteed that there are nomales working there. You aregiving your female patients choicesautomatically yet not accommodating your male patients. That is flat out gender discrimination and puts hospitalsin a very precarious positions.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

I don't take it personally at all. It isn't a reflection on my competency, just a personal preference on the patient's part.

I had a situation like this come up work once. I had a female patient who needed to be straight cathed every hour for four hours. I talked to one of my female colleagues about it, since the patient was uneasy about having a male do the procedure. As it turned out, she had a male patient who she was trying to teach to straight cath before going home, and he was enjoying it a little too much, claiming not to understand so she would continue to demonstrate, etc. We agreed to a trade. Boy, was that guy disappointed when I came in to do his cath training - and his retention of the training got better very quickly.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

Absolutely not.

[CacaoHeart]

I'm fine with individual patients having their own preferences. It's more problematic when males are excluded without the patient ever being asked. As an undergrad, before I'd gone on to nursing school, I tried signing up for the volunteer doula program at the hospital that was affiliated with my university since I was interested in nurse-midwifery but was told only female volunteers were accepted as doulas. It seemed that if I wanted any real world experience I'd have to wait until nursing school, so I finished my (liberal arts) bachelors degree, got my CNA license and started work, took the remaining prereqs, and now I'm making my way through my first semester of an ADN program, with plans to do an RN-MSN bridge program. Who knows, maybe a year from now when I do the labor and delivery rotation I'll find it's actually not my thing, but will get absorbed in the intricacies of working in an ICU.

[themurseman]

A patient demanding to not have a male nurse is discrimination. Any way you look at it, it is discrimination. That being said, I do not take offense to a female pt wanting a female nurse. People would think differently if a male pt demanded to have a female nurse. Discrimination is discrimination no matter how you frame it.

[TRV~]

Doesn't bother me at all.

[OwlieO.O]

I wouldn't take it personally. I think it's great when men and women can understand the professional aspect of the nursing position. Frankly, male OB/GYNs are very prevolent, and women usually could care less because they're a physician. Nonetheless, I can understand it may be difficult in some cases, especially if a woman has been raped, and being exposed to a man could be traumatic for them. Just brush it off!

[SaoirseRN]

I always have to wonder at the female patient with a male physician who won't have a male nurse. Presumably their male doctor has had to perform an exam or discuss personal matters with them ... Why then can they not tolerate a male nurse? I think it's maybe in some ways a mindset that doctors are men and nurses are women, and it is difficult for some to accept what they perceive to be the wrong gender in a particular role. Doesn't make it right, but it could explain why.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

Nah. If that's the strangest thing to happen to me on a given day, I'm in good shape.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

In LTC it can be a real problem if the doctor orders a st cath on a female pt who refuses a male and you're the only licensed person in the facility....

[ChaseZ]

If the patient does not want a male provider that is perfectly fine but I do find it slightly annoying when a patient does not want a male nurse but is fine with a male doctor.