Re: Gay male nurses?

I echo the posts of the other users when I say that your sexual orientation has nothing to do with the care you provide to your patients as a nurse. In a professional setting your sexual orientation or any other aspect of your personal life should not be discussed with patients because it is unnecessary and does not contribute to the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship. That being said if a patient does begin asking you person questions I would recommend that you politely remind the patient that the focus is on them and their healing and not you as the nurse. I've found that when you answer invasive personal questions like that most patients often take the hint and will respect you more because they understand where your focus lies. As far as the male or female patient situation goes I have found that for the most part most patients aren't too concerned with the race or gender of their practitioner and as long as you remain professional and do everything that you can to help maintain the patients dignity and privacy then they will respect you immensely. I have had a few female patients who weren't comfortable with having a male practitioner but after I demonstrated that I was committed to provide them with the best care possible they had actually requested that I was their CNA. You will on occasion have a patient request to have a different CNA or nurse etc. and the best you can do is try to switch with another CNA or nurse. The thing to remember is that its not all about us as practitioners its about the patient, sometimes they have had traumatic situations that make them uncomfortable with a health care practitioner of a certain gender or race and while we might be offended at first we have to remember its about the patient and their needs. As far as the need to CYA I think that if your responsible about it and use common sense then you will be fine. You don’t need a chaperone to watch you take a blood pressure or give a patient an insulin injection but I would say that if your inserting a catheter into a female patient having a chaperone would be a good CYA measure. The truth is that you really have to gauge it on each patient you meet, I’ve had patients who are in such pain that they don’t care who you are or what your into as long as you help them and then I’ve had patients who think that they are in a hotel and every aspect of their hospital stay needs to be up to their specifications (including meal times, medication times, room layout and who takes care of them.) As you go along you will learn what CYA measures you need to do and when you need to do them. If nursing is what you really want to do then go for it. Good luck!

!Chris

Re: Gay male nurses?

People are usually took sick too care what orientation you are. Shouldn't be a problem unless you enlist in the armed forces.

Re: Gay male nurses?

Don't be flaming

Seriously, I've never seen sexual orientation be a problem at work unless the nurse made it a problem.

Re: Gay male nurses?

Originally Posted by janedoe20

what if the patient is the one with the problem?if they (for some reason) find out that the nurse that's been taking care of them is gay?What if they label you as being unprofessional just because you're gay/lasbian?

I've never seen this in my area but I have seen patients at odds with their nurse for whatever reason. We assign a different nurse to help defuse the situation. Proactively, if we think there could be a problem, we take that into consideration when assigning a nurse.

For example, I (male) requested that I not be assigned a 10yr old female who was in surgery for repair of a vaginal tear. Considering her psycosocial level and not knowing the background of how the tear was sustained, my CM agreed that it made sense to have a female nurse recover the patient. (Side note, it was a fall on playground equipment that caused a superficial tear.) I'm sure the patient was more comfortable having a female nurse assess her bandage than a male.

Re: Gay male nurses?

aaaaa

Re: Gay male nurses?

Originally Posted by fredsmith2906

so funny little story using sexual orientation to your advantage. I had been doing my clinicals on an ob floor and not getting to do anything because im a striaght guy and the moms were shy. So one night while I was admitting a patient she asked if she could have a female student instead of me. In my best super-gay lisp I told her "Hunny you don't have anything to worry about with me". Now I kinda felt bad for doing that but it was what I felt I had to do to get the most out of those clinicals. I had a lisp the rest of the day and delievered two babies! Well worth it.

So you used a 'super-gay lisp'. I'm not the least bit impressed.

Re: Gay male nurses?

I can only echo what everyone else has already said. It shouldn't be an issue, especially with patient care. The only way I've seen it remotely come into play is when I've had a really involved patient or have been dealing with them for a couple days and you build a friendly rapport with them. I've had several patients ask me if I'm married, have kids, etc.... I always say I'm not married. I'd LIKE to say I have a partner of 20 years, but technically I'm not lying and I'm keeping my personal life out of it.

Re: Gay male nurses?

Agree with everything said here, but do understand the concern as I shared it when I started out in the early 80s. Homophobia is very real and if you've experienced it, it's natural that when you go into a new area a part of you thinks jeez, I hope it won't be an issue here. I've been qualified 23 years and my homosexuality has never given me a problem with a patient, male or female. It's never discussed with patients - it has no reason to be. I'm sure most patients don't even think twice about the sexuality of their nurse - they just want good nursing care. There is nothing even remotely sexual about even the most intimate nursing interventions, so as previously stated, if you treat patients with dignity and respect, it won't be an issue, even when they've got their bits exposed to you.

I realise this thread's a little old now, hence I'm wondering if the original poster has actually embarked and how's it going?

Re: Gay male nurses?

Originally Posted by fredsmith2906

so funny little story using sexual orientation to your advantage. I had been doing my clinicals on an ob floor and not getting to do anything because im a striaght guy and the moms were shy. So one night while I was admitting a patient she asked if she could have a female student instead of me. In my best super-gay lisp I told her "Hunny you don't have anything to worry about with me". Now I kinda felt bad for doing that but it was what I felt I had to do to get the most out of those clinicals. I had a lisp the rest of the day and delievered two babies! Well worth it.

I'm gay and I think this is actually very hilarious!!

Re: Gay male nurses?

I think it probably depends on where in the country your going to work. Still you should not worry about it