Criminal or just Bad Judgement?

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Would like input please...

I work sometimes with a male nurse, who I usually enjoy working with. Tonight I had a new admit, who was also a male, so I called the other nurse to come do the skin assessment with me, which is protocol. My male patient reported a large hematoma inside his thigh. The other nurse told me to leave the room. I told him no, that is my patient and I want to be present for the skin assessment if the patient was agreeable, which he was. So the patient showed us the bruise, which was so high up it was practically perineal. It was a very bad hemtoma, almost black in colour. So, to my shock, the male nurse reaches waaaaaay up to the patients crotch and starts feeling around...without any gloves. It was very uncomfortable and my jaw just about dropped. He paused for a few seconds and then asked me to step out of the room. Again I said the same thing, but this time I stepped out. When the nurse came to the station, he described the bruise as having a knot under it. I explained again that I didn't appreciate being told to leave when my pt said it was fine that I stay. He told me the patient was getting 'embarrassed' that I was there, and he knows this because he is a guy. Anyhow, his 'assessment' seemed very inappropriate to me. Later the patient denied being embarrassed and stated that he would rather i have stayed. When I asked him if he was at all uncomfortable with the other nurse, he deflected the question, 3 times.

The is the second time something like this has happened. The first time I asmin'd an IM injection into the gluteous muscle of a young man, and the male nurse stepped in and started rubbing the guy's butt, I mean massaging it, again bare handed...under the theory of rubbing the injection site for whatever clinical reason. I kept thinking OK he's gonna stop doing that any minute now, but it seemed to last forever, him massaging the guy's butt. I was so uncomfortable that I reported it, but apparently the pt was not uncomfortable and so nothing was done.

This nurse has a mysterious history. Apparently he had some kind of felony years and years ago, something about striking a police officer, and the story goes that having had a felony, he cannot be around kids, legally. All we really know is that he cannot work on the children's unit or be around kids for some reason connected to the policeman incident. Sounds a little off to me, but OK.

Well, what do you think? Am I over reacting?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.

I would document it, including what the patient said versus what the nurse said. Can't hurt to have it on record to protect yourself.

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It sounds like something is rotten in Denmark. Now the question is what to do about it.

He should have gloves on, he should not be sending you out, you should not go out.

I wish you well. I have lots of questions but no real answers.

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If I were the administration of the hospital this male nurse works in I would want to know the particulars of his charges and if he has had a hx of inappropriate groping of male patients. The fact that he did not put on gloves also floored me. Very unusual with all the MRSA and other diseases out there. Good luck with this person in the future.

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Thanks...you are both expressing exactly my thoughts. Something fishy. Is there a way I could discreetly ask other nurses if they have noticed this type of behaviour? I have heard several nurses say that he is a cocky know it all, but never mention of the types of stuff I've noticed.

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You are not over reacting. You describe inappropriate behavior towards co-workers and patients. Report it and follow-up. Felony conviction is a huge red flag!

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I would do just that. I think other people have had a similar situation or just get bad "vibes" from his interactions with male pts.

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Specializes in Level 1, Level 2, Level 4 trauma and med.

He's a freak....report his ass stat!! The felony is probably not true as most states won't allow a felon with that type of history to get certified.

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hmmmm, there are many things about this story that sounds fishy to me. first off, i've never worked anywhere where is was protocol to have a male nurse present during my assessment of a male pt. i've not worked with that many male nurses at the places that i have worked at. that being the case, it would make my job very difficult, if not impossible, to treat my pt in a timely manner. but, if it is protocol at your facility, it is what it is.

secondly, he had no right to ask you to leave the room, especially considering it was your pt. i wouldn't have left the room. if the idea is that he has to be there to be your witness, then it only makes sense that you should be there to be his witness as well. the fact that your pt "deflected the question 3 times," in regards to his comfort level with the male nurse seems odd to me. in addition, he certainly shouldn't have been doing such a personal assessment without gloves on. on top of that, you mentioned that in the past he was "massaging" a guys butt after an injection. i can see doing a quick circular rub after an im, but a massage?!? what's wrong with this combined picture?

i also have to wonder if there is more to the story about his past criminal history that hasn't came out yet. the fact that he's not allowed to be around any children certainly raises a red flag to me; perhaps he has a history of some type of child abuse. i don't see the connection between striking a police officer and not being allowed to legally be around children.

i agree with you, it sounds a little off to me too. i don't think your over reacting, given the circumstances. i hope i'm not writing more into things then is really there, it all just sounds real fishy to me. i would ask around discretly, to the co-workers you can trust to not start rumors, and see if anyone else has noticed anything a little off with his conduct.

i would be very careful what you document, but i would certainly document this incident and any similar in the future. he is definately, in my opinion, displaying inappropriate behavior.

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"Asking around", discreetly or not, is akin to contributing to the gossip mill. If others have noticed something, your info will add to it. If they haven't, your info will start the rumors. You should not be asking anyone anything except for your NM. This needs to be reported because it was most definitely inappropriate.

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Specializes in Rural Health.

Holy cow, your co-worker is off his rocker on so many levels it isn't even funny. You need to report this to someone high up in the food chain because this co-worker is rather unsafe in many of his practices. Talk to your NM and give a very objective report of what you saw. Leave out anything that isn't objective and let your manager decide if this guy is safe or not in the situations he is in. Also, I would quit talking to the co-workers because you don't want your statements to be jaded by the rumor mill.

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Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.

Wow, that's some kind of unit you work on. From the "gross out co-worker" to this. Are there any normal people working on your unit?

Please read previous posts from the OP about her "Gross Out Co-Worker." Something is fishy, all right, but I'm not sure it's the co-worker.

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