Transgender Patients

CountryMomma, ASN, RN · May 17, 2016

I have taken care of a few transgendered patients, and I treat them like I treat any other pt of their preferred gender. I disregard whether or not they have had or are considering GRS. It is their choice and its intensely personal.

I enforce preferred pronouns with staff, insist on reassigning staff that refuses to comply, and ask the pt's permission before doing assessments of body parts that make them uncomfortable.

I'm dead serious about protecting my GLBQT pts.

DTWriter · Jun 11, 2016

Thanks for asking those questions, OP. I, too, am interested about transgender patients.

I do not mind referring to them with their preferred pronouns, but how does a nurse go about charting their information?

Can we legally note that the patient is a transgender (for instance, when the charting system requests the patient's gender)?

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jun 11, 2016

I treat it like every other situation where I have a differing opinion on the person. I do not care. Simple as that. Check your own **** at the door and treat them like every other patient.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2016

We had a transgender female patient recently. Her legal name was John Doe, but she made it clear she wanted to be referred to as Jane. The intake nurse noted this with a post it note on her chart. I was perfectly fine with referring to her as Jane, as it certainly cost me nothing to treat her respectfully. She had her procedure, recovered well, and we all went happily about our day.

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Jun 11, 2016

I take care of a fair number of transgendered patients. We just put an alert in their chart that states as much, with their preferred pronoun and name (if different from their legal name). Since we do it so much, it is a non issue for the most part. But in a clinic that doesn't do this regularly, it can be confusing for the staff. Ongoing education around inclusivity and LGBT issues is vitally important- transgendered patients face pronounced discrimination and judgment in all aspects of their life, and frequently avoid seeking out care for this reason.

We invest a lot of time and money into creating and improving the inclusive and respectful atmosphere of our clinic- we want EVERYONE to feel safe and cared for here. Transgendered teenagers, undocumented patients, the single mom with three young children, the 50 year old pro-lifer who is ashamed to walk into an "abortion clinic," but has no insurance and felt a lump in her breast... we will take care of you, no matter what.

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Jun 11, 2016

I've taken care of numerous transgender patients living in a part of the US where diversity in gender and sexual expression is common and accepted. We always use gender sensitive terms when documenting in their medical record (i.e., transgender man or woman, FTM, or MTF) and use the preferred pronoun when documenting and discussing the patient. As a rule, we treat them as anyone else should be treated. It's actually a non-issue here except for making sure their distinct medical needs as individual transgender people are addressed.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2016

Moved to the Nurse Colleague / Patient Relations forum.

BlackBettyRN,OCN · Jun 12, 2016

When I use to work on a different inpatient psych unit, this actually became an ethical issue. The patient was born female, but identified as male. The patient had a diagnosis of BPD, and the psychiatrist was insistent that the patient's "gender dysphoria" was part of the mental illness. He didn't want us using male pronouns (which the patient preferred, and became enraged when referred to as a woman) so as not to "feed in to the patient's disillusion." He acted as though using the patient's preferred name and gender pronouns would be the same as feeding into a schizophrenic patient's hallucinations. We were eventually able to get a new psychiatrist for the patient who was supportive of his lifestyle and choices, but the whole experience made for some tense moments on the unit.

Nonyvole, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2016

Had a patient, born male, identified female. Couldn't afford to transition. We treated him as a female, even though all the paperwork said male. If she had to be admitted, that was part of the report. "John Doe, goes by Jane Doe..."

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Jun 26, 2016

It sounds like a headache to be honest. My one friend likes to make a huge Facebook storm by posting how she hates the Red Cross because of those questions and supposedly 10 people have to watch her answer questions to make sure she doesn't lie. I kind of doubt it because they review all the questions at the end...

Ugh. The people at the Red Cross have to follow the FDA standards.

In general, no issues. I think a bigger issue was the confused guy who had an erection each time he had to be cleaned up.

CountryMomma, ASN, RN · Jun 27, 2016

It sounds like a headache to be honest. My one friend likes to make a huge Facebook storm by posting how she hates the Red Cross because of those questions and supposedly 10 people have to watch her answer questions to make sure she doesn't lie. I kind of doubt it because they review all the questions at the end...
Ugh. The people at the Red Cross have to follow the FDA standards.
In general, no issues. I think a bigger issue was the confused guy who had an erection each time he had to be cleaned up.

Come again? It's quite early in the AM but I can't quite figure out how this applies to the OP.