Male Nurses: Why no escort?

[pmcd8243]

I've been a nurse for 25 years and a man for 48 years and I always wondered why male physicians require an escort when examining a female patient but male nurses can spend hours on end, on attended, with female patients. It seems like once a week a nurse is accused of assault. Are changes needed? Are men in nursing puttting themselves at risk by caring for female patients without another female staff member present?

P

[utexas08]

i know many women who have male pcps and they always have a female present during exams.

while it's not always realistic to have someone of the opposite sex present during invasive procedures, i think it's certainly desirable.

leslie

So males should have a female present during a male giving any type of exam or invasive procedure?

[Jo Dirt]

I want to tell the OB/GYN there is nothing to fear, he's have to be hurting pretty bad to make a move on me.

But it seems to be the nature of a lot of women to imagine men are always looking at them or lusting after them, even if they look like Sam Kinison's twin sister. I had a patient who was absolutely paranoid about men and continually refused male nurses. She also imagined men were trying to look at her through the blinds in her house at night. One night she was going on and on about peeping tom's and how the thought of them looking at her through the window made her sick. I wanted to say Ms. Wilson, I'm sure you wouldn't be the only one sick if some poor unfortunate man decided to peep through these blinds one night to watch all 400# of you sitting naked on the bedside potty cleaning your dentures... Really, I just don't get it, I'd be flattered to get just one teenie hint of a pass but I know I can dream on....anyway, Men, don't think every woman is waiting for an opportunity to accuse you of being a pervert.

[crissrn27, RN]

The fact is that there are some wacko women out there. If male nurses routinely go in to do GYN (and sometimes other kinds) exams with no one else in the room, at least with my pt population, you can bet sooner rather than later they are going to be accused of something. Totally not fair, and not the other way around (male pts don't accuse female nurses of things, regularly) but around here that is how it is. Needs to change, I know, but how?

[Atl_John]

I am a new nurse, and a male. I find this to be very offensive. Men have never felt that a man needed to catheterize them, and I refuse to accept the reverse. That is just wrong. I will be no more or less careful in providing care than my female counterparts.

Here here, right on celery, I too am a man, and a soon to be a new nurse (Dec). I have found the same as you, most men WANT a female nurse, they can be quite "pigish" as patients. I have had to take the places of some of my female counterparts since a patient was very obnoxious and touchy with some of the nursing students. And then there are some who want a male nurse during catheterizations as another man will "be more gentle".

I find that I at times would really rather NOT have a female patient. I just don't want to deal with the possibility of being accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. What a sad world we live in that it has come to this.

[celery]

I provided AM care to a woman, she said, while I was performing it that she was embarrased. I continually asked her if she wanted me to get someone else to provide this care to her. She continually said no, she was just embarassed. I also told her that this was my job, I was very good at it, that she had absolutely no reason to be embarrased, and that I cared about nothing other than providing her with the absolute best care that I could. Not that it matters, but my wedding ring is right on my finger where it belongs. By the end of the day, she was thanking me profusely because I had told her the truth about being an advocate for her, and, honestly, because I deserved it. She also kept telling her family members what a fantastic person that I was, not that they needed her too, with all of their drinks and snacks in hand, and the comfort they felt from seeing not only the rapport that I had developed with their sick family member, but also with them. All of you women out there who think there is something wrong with me being your nurse...I encourage you to reserve your judgement until you have had me for your nurse. I think you might change your mind.

I don't work in GYN, so I have no idea what that environment is like. But, if there are going to be rules about nurses who are men doing exams on women in GYN, then it only makes sense, and eventually ambulance chasers would zero in on it, that women who are nurses must abide by those same rules in male urology.

[danh3190]

We always have male RN's and male docs chaperoned by a female staff member, ANYTIME they go behind closed doors, whther it's an eye exam or a GYN exam. Not to have a witness in a closed room is just begging for trouble.

Wow. How can you afford it?

I know I'd rather have a chaperone present when I'm with a female patient but that wouldn't be fair to the hospital.

What about male aides helping a woman to the bathroom etc.?

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

I don't think my facility has any policy requiring chaperones for male doctors or nurses, and certainly it hasn't been a regular practice in any unit I've worked.

I've done foley placements and pericare without a female present. I don't usually ask whether a patient objects to a male performing the task, but of course I respect their wishes if they ask. I frequently do take a female aide along--nearly all our aides on my unit are female--if I need help because the pt is large or frail, and there have been a few times I've gotten a "sense" that the pt was uncomfortable without her actually saying so, so I've asked a female nurse to do the procedure. Once or twice, I've had a patient I was worried about--a lot of my patients have altered mental status and/or psych co-morbidity-- so I brought a female to chaperone, but on the whole I've found female patients remarkably accepting and have had very few problems.

Of course, as a nurse, my pockets aren't nearly as deep as an attending physician's. I'm close to what some of my lawyer friends call "sue proof".