Re: Womens interest in male nurses Originally Posted by NephroBSN Can you expound on the "downside"?? Not sure I'm understanding what you are saying?
The "downside" of being too kind, too close, too caring (if there's really such a thing).... Well, I believe that for men in nursing, these things can have different implications than they do for female nurses. For example, if you are a male nurse managing a male patient's care, some of your actions could be construed by some as a 'come on', perhaps for no other reason than the automatic assumption that most men in nursing are gay. Sounds weird, but it happened here a couple years ago. The patient claimed that the nurse touched him inappropriately. Charges were filed, there was a police investigation, and the nurse was eventually fired on some other trumped up technicality (because it was easier for the hospital to get rid of the liability than to disprove the patient's claim, in my opinion). First of all, the nurse was an openly gay man (which made the patient's claim seem more believable on the surface, at least to most people). Second, the patient was a young guy, goodlooking and very athletic (which perhaps made the accusations seem even more believable). I am not familiar with all the details of this case but I believe the nurse's version of what happened. The patient was an MVA trauma victim in traction and very angry that he could not move about and that he was totally dependent of nursing care. This patient had an extensive history of ETOH and substance abuse and kept asking that the nurse administer medications (librium, ativan, dilauded, etc.) outside the parameters ordered by the physician. Also, the patient was typical of the clientele that comes through here...rich upper middle class, very demanding, and complain about everything. They think the hospital is a hotel, and they are always complaining about the nurses because they feel we should spend 100% of our time in their room taking care of them and giving them everything they want. Just one example, they have the remote control for the TV right next to them in the bed on the same device that activates the call light, yet they will push the button to call us into the room to ask us to adjust the volume on the TV or to change the channel (go figure!). We all work our tails off for these people and most of them give us so-so reviews when they leave.
Its not difficult to imagine that the same accusation could just as easily be made by a female patient (which is, arguably, worse). Some of you may disagree, but it seems to me that people are more inclined to believe these things when the alleged perpetrator is a man. Fortunately, I haven't heard of this happening a lot and there haven't been any accusations made against me, but because we live in a very litigious society and I know I have a license to lose, I try to be careful. If I am performing certain types of tasks, not only do I tell the patient exactly what I am going to do before I start, but depending on the task, I may ask a female PCA or another nurse to come into the room, just to protect myself.
I'm not a guy either, but ditto that!! 
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