What are your thoughts on patients who request no male nurses taking care of them?

Nurses Men

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What are your thoughts on patients who request no male nurses taking care of them?

Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

I actually had a female nurse insult my lady bits when she was trying to get a foley in when I was suffering from urinary retention. Talk about adding insult to injury.

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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
What are your thoughts on patients who request no male nurses taking care of them?

to be brutally honest it's their loss, not ours ...

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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.

It's totally different than asking for racial preference, and hope than whenever I ask for a femal I don't offend any one, it certainly isn't my intention, as I'm sure is the case for many that make this type of request.

why is it different what is the rationale for saying it's different ...

while we should respect the wishes of patients within the limitations of the service, we need to consider why people find it acceptable, rather than something that is done to suit the irrational wants of patients ...

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its annoying! you are in a hospital and the male caregivers have seen it all anyway!

I can assure you the lady who is mortified at the thought of a man other than her husband seeing her naked (let alone putting in a FOLEY!) doesn't give a rat's patooty WHAT the male caregivers at the hospital have seen. She doesn't want them to see HER.

It's not about what the male nurse may or may not be used to....it's what the patient is used to. And if she isn't going to get used to the idea today, well then let it go and get her a female, please.

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......... insult my lady bits when she was trying to get a foley in....

Sorry, OT I know, but I had to let out a giggle at "lady bits"! Never heard that one :)

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

Are there other "old" nurses reading this that are concerned about the number of responses that put the feelings and needs of the health professional before the feelings and needs of the patient on this topic?

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Specializes in ICU.
I actually had a female nurse insult my lady bits when she was trying to get a foley in when I was suffering from urinary retention. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Wow...:(
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Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.
i actually had a female nurse insult my lady bits when she was trying to get a foley in when i was suffering from urinary retention. talk about adding insult to injury.

first of all, i'm sorry that you had to go through not only the embarrassment of the procedure but in addition, the insult. however, hmmm that's a new one for me, i'll have to remember it in the future, i have never heard someone refer to that part of the anatomy as and i quote "lady bits" interesting :cool:

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Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
Are there other "old" nurses reading this that are concerned about the number of responses that put the feelings and needs of the health professional before the feelings and needs of the patient on this topic?

are there any responses that actually say that or just responses from people saying that it;s someone's loss if they reject the care offered by a professional on the basis of an characteristic of the carer ...

exactly how far are you prepared to allow the wants of patients to go vs the needs of the patient, the service and the unit as a whole ?

there is also the issue of those who should know better ( i.e. other Nurses ) not only supporting patient choice ( within the bounds of the service) but suggesting that it is their opinion as well ) Opinions which are common among the population at large are not really suitable among health staff and especially among professionals.

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Are there other "old" nurses reading this that are concerned about the number of responses that put the feelings and needs of the health professional before the feelings and needs of the patient on this topic?

I have to admit that I do find it odd and disturbing that some people appear to be offended by a request for no male nurses, or appear to make less than their best effort to accommodate the patient's wishes. I accept obviously that there may be situations, where even with everyone's best effort it may not be possible to meet such a request, but surely you will try your best. Nursing needs people with the maturity to have some insight into human behavior, people who can empathize with other people's reservations, fears, cultural/religious/societal needs, previous abuse traumas etc. As several people have pointed out, nursing is about the patient's needs. The patient is not a machine who should be expected to behave according to someone's idea of what is rational, for the convenience of the nurse. It's not about what is convenient for you, the nurse, or about what you, the nurse, want to happen.

Personally, if a patient of either gender told me they don't wish to have nurses of a particular gender, I would simply respect their wishes and do everything in my power to accommodate them. Someone else mentioned ethics; we nurses do have a Code of Ethics. The patient is within their rights to ask for only nurses of a certain gender.

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.
first of all, i'm sorry that you had to go through not only the embarrassment of the procedure but in addition, the insult. however, hmmm that's a new one for me, i'll have to remember it in the future, i have never heard someone refer to that part of the anatomy as and i quote "lady bits" interesting :cool:

well i tend to not go round talking about my own set of lady bits so i might not be hip to the latest slang. lady bits, chicken bits.....

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Not a problem with me. It's the patient's right, in my opinion. I usually plan ahead to avoid the situation at all though. I work in the ER, so we usually have 1-2 float nurses or I'll ask a female nurse to do certain things for female pts and in exchange I'll help them out by giving a med, putting a foley in a man, just whatever they would be doing if they weren't helping me out. Usually it involves foleys, pelvic exams, and EKG's on younger females (i.e. +/- 10 years from my age).

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