If you are a male can you ask to only work for male patients?

[dbtw]

I am taking the CNA course with a view to becoming either CNA or HHA. During the course I was shocked that in caring for female patients you have to view and touch the female genitalia which to me is a bit too much as a male and I would rather not do. I think that female workers can do that no problem. While I wouldn't be thrilled about cleaning males it would be tolerable.

What could I do to ensure that I only work for male patients? Would I have to go directly into HHA for male patients only? Will going into LTC require me to view and touch the female private part 100%?

Also does the training involve the instructors making sure that you can clean both sexes' private parts?

I'm in the middle of the course and there is no refund, and wondering if there is any way to work without having to view and touch at least the opposite sex's genitalia.

[Mr Sacdiff]

I'm assuming OP is 18 or maybe not even that old? Have you ever touched female genitalia in your life? I would recommend you seek another career field if this thread is even serious. If you're uncomfortable with female genitalia, I'd hate to see what happens when you meet your first male patient with C. diff.

[Missingyou, CNA]

If you can't get past washing females, consider a different line of work. You won't get far as a CNA if you can't wash anyone's private parts and not think twice about it. It is a major part of the job.

Talk to your instuctor about being uncomfortable before you do clinicals. They may/maynot require you to do female care.

It is unlikely that any nursing home/hospital will allow you to do male only care. It just wouldn't work!

You can work through home care and tell them you only want male clients...but it will severly limit the work you can do.

When I first started working as a CNA 20 yrs ago, I was uncomfortable caring for men....after a very short time, it goes away. It's just another body part.

Most of the residents (in nursing homes anyway)just don't care if it's a male of female washing them, some don't even notice (because of illness)who is cleaning them.

[kenya1005]

You have to be able to care for both.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

I don't think you can get out of it in school but maybe you could go work in a male correctional facility? Just brainstorming.

[Krzysztof]

I'm in the middle of the course and there is no refund, and wondering if there is any way to work without having to view and touch at least the opposite sex's genitalia.

In the interest of full disclosure, what are your thoughts on caring for individuals of indeterminate sex or s/p gender reassignment surgery? Patients in those categories may well complicate this further.

[lulupaige]

I've worked as a CNA for almost three years now and from my experience you never really get to choose whether or not you get male or female patients, however, majority of the patients on the unit I work on are female. Now whether or not that's the case where you are looking for a job I'm not sure but, like others have said, you are getting yourself into a profession where you really just need to get used to it.

If you can't handle it then maybe it just isn't the field for you to get into :) I know when I first started working I was second guessing whether or not I wanted to do this but, after a while u get used it and now I'm on my way to becoming a nurse! Everyone handles it differently!

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

I asked on Yahoo Answers and someone said:

It looks like there are places that will only let male workers help the male clients when it comes to bathroom and changing.

How does one find the companies that are like that?

That states, group home. Totally different than hospital or NH. The number of CNA jobs in group homes is probably pretty small.

Being exposed to a lot of naked flesh can be quite jarring to a young person, but it is something you'll probably get used to as time progresses. And as others have said, the amount of times you'd actually be in contact with female genitalia I generally pretty small

[Sun0408, ASN, RN]

I don't think you can get out of it in school but maybe you could go work in a male correctional facility? Just brainstorming.

Do they have CNA's ??

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Do they have CNA's ??

A quick search here on AN turned up several threads about this but I'm on my phone right now and lack the needed know-how on how to link to them. I think a few shifts with male offenders would change my mind about caring for females in a more typical hospital/LTC environment; but I'm not a guy. I do remember when mother/baby nurses would float to regular med/surg and insist we give them all female assignments; we'd be like, "Wouldn't you prefer a couple of walkie-talkie guys who do their own cares? No? Okay, here's you're assignment of total care nursing home grannies, but don't say we didn't try to give you a fair shake!"

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

It's the medical field. It's just part of the job. I'm thinking you need to find another line of work. If you can't perform the tasks assigned to you then you shouldn't be trying for the job. It drove me crazy as a manger when people would come in and say oh, I can't do this, or I can't do that. You can't pick and choose. You need to do the work or find something else.

[SirenoftheSea]

Are you sure becoming a CNA is right for you?

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

Well the only way I see this being possible would be you working in home health. Now granted you would need to find an employer willing to work around this. This would also limit the number of cases you could take.