Male Doctor vs Male Nurse and intimate female procedures

mcknis · Apr 21, 2010

Good question! Depends on where you work for the majority. When I worked the floor and was the only nurse available to a patient, I was the one who placed foley catheters and assisted MDs with other procedures. When at all possible, I had another female staff member present with me for those procedures for the pts privacy. now being employed in the ER, I do not perform any intimate procedure and if a catheter is needed, a female is present for those procedures. Good luck with school and make sure you cover your butt all the time. It could always come back to bite ya one of these days.

Livinstrong85 · Apr 21, 2010

Thanks for your reply. That's kind of bothersome to me, however. I don't feel like I should have to have a female present for any procedure, especially if the patient is comfortable with me. I know it's to "cover your butt", but I feel like the only people who would accuse you of something are the "crazy" ones, and no one would take them seriously anyway. I don't know, just seems ridiculous to bring a female with you. I mean, we are professionals. Male doctors don't do that, do they? Why should they "get away with it" so to speak, and yet male nurses should be walking on eggshells?

ItsTheDude · Apr 22, 2010

i think most females prefer females for intimate stuff, gyn is a good example, i don't know many women that pick a male doc over a female doc when they have the choice.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Apr 22, 2010

I don't know, just seems ridiculous to bring a female with you. I mean, we are professionals. Male doctors don't do that, do they? Why should they "get away with it" so to speak, and yet male nurses should be walking on eggshells?

Actually, virtually any time that I or my daughter have had any sort of invasive exam/breast exam by a male PCP, virtually all of them have had a female present, either nurse or MA. Even if I said that I was comfortable without the chaperone.

An informal poll among friends and fellow female nurses confirms pretty much the same. Male MDs rarily do any gyn/breast procedure without a chaperone.

On the units that I have worked with Gyn MDs, the male MDs ask a nurse to come in the room, if an invasive procedure is expected. And the time that I had a biopsy of a lymph node in the armpit/to side of breast, done in hospital by a male MD, despite me being draped, because the proximity...he held the procedure until a nurse could be present. And most bring a "chaperone" if doing a breast exam.

Thus, MDs are not "getting away with it".

Now, quite frankly, I have no problem with my male MD (same one for 16 years) doing an exam without a chaperone. Given the position of my feet during said exam, if the MD got out of line, I could do some serious damage.

imintrouble, BSN, RN · Apr 22, 2010

Thanks for your reply. That's kind of bothersome to me, however. I don't feel like I should have to have a female present for any procedure, especially if the patient is comfortable with me. I know it's to "cover your butt", but I feel like the only people who would accuse you of something are the "crazy" ones, and no one would take them seriously anyway. I don't know, just seems ridiculous to bring a female with you. I mean, we are professionals. Male doctors don't do that, do they? Why should they "get away with it" so to speak, and yet male nurses should be walking on eggshells?

It would only take ONE female pt to accuse you of an impropriety. Your job, your career, your life could be compromised. Crazies do not wear signs on their foreheads, and anyone could misinterpret the actions of a nurse. Why would you want to trust your future to a pt you don't know. I wouldn't. I doubt there are many nurses here that would. It is not a mark of innocence to go alone, or a mark of anxiety to take a female with you. It's just being smart.

rn/writer, RN · Apr 22, 2010

Add to the above post that there are women with past abuse issues who might sincerely misunderstand something you're doing. There are also crooked souls who want to sue someone so they can get a settlement from the insurance company. And there are twisted sisters who try to get a rise out of a male practitioner and take offense if he's not interested.

Better to be safe than sorry. And by that I mean use a chaperone, and carry professional Liability Insurance.

P-medic2RN · Apr 22, 2010

cover your back side at all times. the one you least expect is the one to bite your a$$. and you will lose!!

azhic13 · Apr 22, 2010

I'm starting school this fall as well, and for me personally I would feel more comfortable having a female with me when performing an intimate female procedure, just for the whole coa thing. Unfortunately there are things in the world that you just have to be accused of, even if you're not guilty, the accusation alone is hard to get rid of. (or at least it seemed that way in the service)

groovy jeff, RN · Apr 22, 2010

there have been lots of threads in this regarding this topic.

op- i strongly recommend that you do a search as there are lots of men here who have been burnt on this topic.

it really doesn't matter how comfortable you are; it all about the patient. i always ask if it is ok.

there have been times when i have had to do pericare, catheters and such, that i felt ok doing. there have been other times that the patient has set off my 'crazy woman' detector and i have either had female help or found another nurse to do it.

do yourself a favor by changing your thought process on this and getting malpractice insurance.

good luck & stay groovy

Urban_Durga · Apr 28, 2010

The hospital for which I work instituted a chaperone policy as a direct result of a male clinical staff member being prosecuted and incarcerated for a situation that came down to he-said/she-said. They were alone in a room. She said he had 'fondled' her, and he couldn't prove otherwise. This happened 4 or 5 years ago, and the man in question is STILL in jail.

Is it necessarily fair that, due to your gender, you have to think twice about performing a procedure alone that you have been trained for professionally? No, it isn't. Despite this sense of un-fairness, is it still wise and super-prudent to have a chaperone? Absolutely.

I am female, and have requested chaperones for intimate procedures on both men and women. In fact, it is our hospital's policy for all clinical staff, regardless of gender, to have a chaperone present for any and all intimate procedures (which include peri care, genitalia, breasts, etc.). I like our policy because it is very non-biased; whether we're male or female, we're required to have a chaperone...even if we're working on intimate anatomy that's of the same variety as our own. Policies such as these move out of the realm of the discriminatory, and into the land of covering everyone's ass, period.

Unfortunately, there are crazy people out there...of both genders. You have the resources and power to protect yourself from them by following best practices, being vigilant, and keeping your head in the game where it really matters...the best possible care of your patients.

elkpark · Apr 28, 2010

Plenty of women do object to male physicians and seek out females.

Every male physician I've ever known does use a female staff "chaperone" for any type of intimate exam/procedure -- even my physician with me (although we've known each other for ~25 years, we've worked together in the past, and I've told him it's really not necessary).

As others have noted, it's not "fair" but it only takes one bad experience to ruin your career.

There is plenty of discussion of this topic on other threads on this site, if you're interested in what's already been discussed.