have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?

[jnmoore02]

I'm a CNA going to RN school this august. Today at work I witness my first female catheter insertions on a elder patient. Well the nurse that inserted the catheter was a male. He brought me in to observe for educational purposes. Anyways, we brought in a female nurse with us to be safe. At the end of the procedure he told me that as long as i'm a nurse I would need to have a female present anytime i'm working on a female private. Is this something that I should do all the time or is this just a way to protect yourself. Is it true that you have crazy women accusing you of harassment or abuse?

Does anyone have a story or experience? Please share

[Noryn]

With the legal climate the way it is in the United States, I definitely agree you should always have a female present for any type of procedure like that. This is not written in stone, and some do find it offensive or even discrimination however I have heard horror stories of men falsely accused and I will just save myself the headache by having a female accompany me.

A lot of times too, you can trade off tasks. Whenever I worked my female co workers would catheterize younger females while I held down the combative intoxicated patients

[malenurse1]

I always try to have a female present when I have to do anything that exposes a female patients genitalia. I always ask my female patients if they would be more comfortable with one of the female nurses doing things like catheter insertion, suppositories, etc. Likewise my female counterparts have asked me to to do the same with male patients, especially if it is a younger patient. I have had a couple of times when I have been asked to place a foley in a male patient who had gotten an eraction when one of my female collegues had tried. I guess that it is safest to give your patients the option to have a female RN perform these procedures. If they are comfortable with you doing it, CYA and have a female present in the room to assist. I simply tell the patients that the CNA is there to assist so I don't have to break sterile.

Good luck with school, Remember that if you are putting your patients best interests in front of your own and remain professional at all times, this should not be a concern.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I would have a woman with me. You don't have to but better safe than sorry.

I've had co-workers make up stories. Just imagine as a guy in nursing what people could make up - and sue over.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I've been a nurse for 16 years and have never been accussed of sexual harrassment. For intimate female procedures I usually have female staff do it for me and I trade off something for them. Why drag a female in there when they can do it themselves for me. Cop out I know. LOL

Good luck.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

I've never been a chaperone for a male nurse, although I have assisted where assistance was needed. If the assigned RN wasn't comfortable with the patient/procedure I'd trade work with him. If there was a procedure to be done usually the assigned RN would explain the procedure and give the patient the option of a female RN. If they said they were OK then they went ahead. I did notice the guys always let me know what they were doing before the procedure- but now that I think about it female RN's do the same thing usually.

[utexas08]

I always have a female with me, but I have seen sometimes that male RNs will not - some have come out of the room to get a female nurse because the patient refused

[justme1972]

Yes, you should. I'm a student, but I haven't visited a doctor in 15 years that did anything other than routine questions without a female present. As soon as the examination required me to remove my clothing or a male touching anything except my face, look in my ears, throat, etc...they always asked for a female to come into the room.

It's become so common practice now, I have come to expect it. Now, if I went to a doctor and they proceded to do an exam without a female present, that would send a red flag up to me.