Newbie questions: Assisting Male patients Issues

Nurses General Nursing

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hi there,

I am planning to take nursing this year but i just have a few questions for the female RNs if you dont mind.

1. if a male patient says he needs help (or assuming he really cant do it alone) to urinate in the plastic bottle, are you obliged to assist him? like actually hold and place his "p*nis" in the bottle. Or can you ask a male nurse to do it for you?

2. again, if a male patient says he is too weak to bathe himself (or again he really is too weak), are you obliged to bathe him in bathroom shower? him being naked and everything? I would not mind giving a bath to a woman, but not a man....

Are these part of the official job descriptions for a US registered nurse?

Thank you in advance for your replies.

cheers!

Wendy

Specializes in ED.

I am finishing up my first year of nursing school, and I've seen a lot of male and female "parts" and it really is no big deal. And yes, you have to deal with both sexes as a nurse, I dont' think you can try to find a male to help out every time. I have given males bedbaths, helped them with the urinal, and placed many rectal suppositories. It is just part of the job.

Specializes in Emergency.

I actually think that it's sweet and refreshing that you have these questions. That said, when the time comes, I'm sure you'll be able to do what is needed. Good luck!

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

I remember being scared to death of having to do anything with/for/to a member, as I had never even seen, much less TOUCH one before nursing school. When it came time to do it (simple bed bath), my heart was pounding a thousand times a minute, but it was really not that big a deal.

I've gone on to successfully catheterize, clean, swab, & pretty much whatever the job calls for, in whatever field, neos & pedis to geris. I think you will learn to do what you have to do. It may take some "getting used to" but you will. You know you're just doing a job and the whopping majority of your patients do too. You'll be ok.

Specializes in emergency.

Be more concerned about the females!!!

Inserting a male foley is easy, and assisting them to urinate is straight forward as well.

try digging for a few minutes to find the urethra!!!....or a giant splatter all over the bed pan!!

Woman have more variances in anatomy, which makes it definitly more challenging when it comes to this type of care, not to mention they are more susceptible to UTI.

I can honestly tell you that you have to get over the embarrassment if you truely want to be a nurse. I am a first semester student and my second day of clinicals I had to do an In and Out Catheter on a male patient. Not to mention baths every clinical day. I have had 6 pts so far this semester and only 1 has been female. My third pt was a cocaine abuser who would not stay dressed from the waste down! We had to send him back to his room several times during my shift for walking down the hall naked!

Oh the life of a nursing student!!! :nurse:

hi there,

I am planning to take nursing this year but i just have a few questions for the female RNs if you dont mind.

1. if a male patient says he needs help (or assuming he really cant do it alone) to urinate in the plastic bottle, are you obliged to assist him? like actually hold and place his "p*nis" in the bottle. Or can you ask a male nurse to do it for you?

2. again, if a male patient says he is too weak to bathe himself (or again he really is too weak), are you obliged to bathe him in bathroom shower? him being naked and everything? I would not mind giving a bath to a woman, but not a man....

Are these part of the official job descriptions for a US registered nurse?

Thank you in advance for your replies.

cheers!

Wendy

Consider these few thoughts....

Sick people are glad to have help, they don't care who's helping them. If you are really sick or weak, aren't you glad for help? Or would you rather lie there in pain or wet the bed. Of course, you want help.

All of us are pretty much raised with some element of modesty and boundaries. When we get into nursing school, part of the training is that you get desensitized enough so that you can do the tasks your patients need. Actually, there is no "bad" or "dirty" part of a body. All the parts have purpose, and if the part isn't working, there's a problem. If you look at it like that, it may help.

Oh--something that really disappointed me about my classmates in nursing school, when it came time for the education on all that "intimate" care, the nursing instructors bugged out and left us to watch a video, and all the 20 somethings kept loudly going "ew" and "ick" and such. Bugged the heck out of me.

I think if you are called to care for those who need care, you will do just fine. If you are not, you'll soon find that out. You've gone this far, if you want to be a nurse, get on in there and learn to be one. You will soon know that you, like the rest of us, can overcome our personal sensitivities and do what needs to be done.

Very good question, by the way.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

On my unit we have to take care of people who sometimes have both their wrists broken, splinted and have no use of their hands, as well as quadraplegic patients who need total care.

So the answer is yes and yes.

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Oh--something that really disappointed me about my classmates in nursing school, when it came time for the education on all that "intimate" care, the nursing instructors bugged out and left us to watch a video, and all the 20 somethings kept loudly going "ew" and "ick" and such. Bugged the heck out of me.

Really? Our intimate care/physical exam video wasn't even worth commenting about. Really hokey, for lack of a better word.

And fortunately, we were all mature enough to keep our comments, if we had them, to ourselves. Off topic.

Hi everyone,

I would just like to thank you all for giving me a true picture of what to expect. These were the only issues really and i am very happy to know beforehand that these are the realities of being a RN.

I will also now do a search on other nursing duties (which may not be for everyone) which my friends who are about to finish school may have forgotten to tell me about.

Thanks again!!

:)

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