A better way to handle this?

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 21, 2004

The problem has to do with female pt. She is 62, and very prim and proper. Her IV rate is pretty fast, which means she is up and down to pee a LOT. When a nurse of the male gender is assigned to her, she will not let him help her to the bathroom. If the orderly answers the light, she refuses his help too. She only wants a woman to help her to the bathroom.

Thing is her gown is tied, and she's wearing pants and a robe. All she needs help with is getting the IV pole in the bathroom. She manages everything else by herself. But only wants a woman to push the pole to the bathroom

We're still a full house, 35 pts, the majority from the nursing homes. This leaves everyone strained, with each nurse getting at least 2-3 VERY confused and wandering pts. Which means no one can leave their pod (our floor is set up in pods).

And for some miracle of miracles, i've been assigned an orderly for the past week and a half. This makes my night a little easier and spares the overtime that i was getting. Only problem is that as helpful as he is, there's a lot of things that are not part of his job that are a part of mine (swaping out IV bags, lab draws, dressing changes, chart thinning, chart add-ins, etc. I'm qualified and tranined to do what i listed there, technically i am an extern now).

Not meaning to sound mean, but i do not have the time to run to her room every 20-30 minutes to take that pole in there for her to pee. It annoys me because she's covered up just fine, but acts like a female and her nurse of the male gender in the same bathroom is just wrong.

I know this is not that rare of an occurance, and i realize the pt. has rights, and maybe there's an underlying reason for the preference of a female's help, but i don't know what to do in a situation like this. I could see it if she had just the gown on and it wasn't tied in the back, or if she needed 'help' when she was finished, but that's not the case for her.

P.S. No Foley, and she's refused the bedside commode. And the cord will not stretch to the bathroom, and the battery beeps when left unplugged after 10 minutes.