Re: Male Nurses/female Patients
Someone mentioned male doctors being "exempt" from the image of predator, and I assume from being unjustly accused; I don't see that at all. Most male physicians I know are very careful to have female chaperons, and/or have female providers perform pelvic or breast exams.
I am a female FNP and currently work with two male physicians. I do most, though not all, of the breast/pelvic exams. Usually this is per the patient's preference. I get the well-woman exams as well as most of the "female" problems.
There are a variety of reasons for this; some women do have issues of rape or sexual abuse, some women believe that another woman will do a gentler exam, some are modest, some are just plain uncomfortable with a man seeing that part of their bodies.
By the same token, I will offer a male patient the option to see the male provider for a genital or rectal exam.
We want the patients to be happy with their care, and at the same time prevent any accusations against the male providers.
I've been in health management in industry as well. We had a young male occupational health physician. When he saw female patients in our clinic, I made sure he was never for one second alone with a female employee; he had a female nurse, usually me, with him at all times. When I was in the room and he was examining a female employee, I positioned myself to see where his hands were at all times, particularly if he were examining places like the lower back. It wasn't that I mistrusted him; it was the employees I didn't necessarily trust. In fact, we had a couple complain about inappropriate remarks he had supposedly made- with me right there in the room!! That stopped when I started making noises to the union about considering those complaints to be defamation of my character. It was amazing how a perfectly innocent remark or question could be twisted!! I also had a male staff nurse there and tried to be super careful of him also, for the same reasons. When you've heard a female complain that "he told me I needed a man" but you were there to hear him ask her if she had a husband or someone at home who could give a good firm massage to her tight shoulder muscles (otherwise she'd need the company nurses to massage them just after work) then you don't have trouble understanding why a male nurse would be extra careful with "intimate" procedures on his female patients.
It's unfortunate, but I think the ligitiousness of our society, and the perception of males as predators, has gotten worse over my years in nursing, not better.
If I were a patient, I wouldn't care less what the nurse's sexual orientation is!
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