Male Nurses/female Patients

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:banghead: I'm interested in knowing if anyone has the issue of male nurses refusing to perform certain nursing functions simply because they are male. Having worked in a large teaching hospital and smaller community hospitals, there seems to be a huge difference. In the teaching hospital, male nurses did everything a patient needed, regardless of gender. In the smaller community hospitals, the male nurses sought out female nurses to take care of all manner of female patient's hygiene, all gyn exams ,and anything else a female patient needed. Have we become such a litigous society that we base our practice on gender? Do you find yourself taking care of your male colleagues patients as well as your own simply because they are afraid to touch their female patients?

I find much the same response toward waiting for a female aide. Some do, and some don't care. Occassionally, a lady who prefers to wait for a female at the beginning of the shift is more than happy to have me do it by the end of the shift--I'm available, and while most of our aides do try to respond promptly, they're pretty busy. When the choice is a male nurse right now or a female in a few minutes, comfort sometimes takes precendence over modesty.

A few times, when I've asked an aide to assist a modest female, I've gotten looks or remarks suggesting I was using my gender as an excuse to get out of "dirty work." And of course there are those who think all nurses would rather spend twenty minutes looking for an aide than five putting a patient on and off a bedpan. Fortunately, this is uncommon, and I don't believe I've ever noticed even a hint of it from a fellow nurse.

I agree, though, that older females--even some who've never had a male nurse before--seem generally less perturbed than younger ones.

Come to think of it, the times I've been "sexually harassed" (well, flirted with, playfully) have all been older ladies.

It seems to me that our society tends to see the elderly as less sexual beings, and this seems especially true of women. I think part of the reason they may be less modest is that they see themselves as less sexual. Now, I know from growth and development that this is not a fair assumption, but it is still a fairly pervasive cultural perception, and I've also noticed that the elderlier I get, the less sexual I feel (and frankly, it's kind of a relief!) I also notice that when a woman in her 80s pats the bed beside her and invites me to hop in, I tend to feel happy she's feeling so frisky, rather than feeling threatened. Even older men can seem threatening to women, and some (of all ages) seem to have trouble distinguishing between flirtatious and nasty.

Once I had a male aid offer to put me on the bed pan, then he went and he then went to get my nurse to get me off. I did not ask him to get her, but I was 18 so that may have had something to do with it.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
Once I had a male aid offer to put me on the bed pan, then he went and he then went to get my nurse to get me off. I did not ask him to get her, but I was 18 so that may have had something to do with it.

I'm a little shy, myself, caring for young women. I might have done the same--wiping seems a bit more personal than just sliding the bedpan under, and people usually aren't in quite such a hurry to get off the bedpan.

We occassionally get pediatric patients in the epilespy monitoring unit. Usually, they are ambulatory, so baths and toileting aren't an issue, and they always have a parent staying with them. One of the nice things about teens is that they usually have heart sounds you can hear with your stethescope above the clavicle--it may not be apical, but they aren't there (usually) for cardiac problems, so as long as it's regular, I don't fuss. And they aren't with us long enough to get bedsores, especially since most are OOB a good bit.

We do get young women for patients with more--I want to say serious, but that sounds like I think epilepsy isn't serious, so let's try conventional problems. Brain tumors and traumatic injury can strike any age, and we've seen women in their 20s with strokes, possibly r/t birth control pills and/or smoking. I pretty much have to do a regular assessment on them, but if they are shy, I can usually find a female who'll help out with the personal parts, or with procedures like Foleys.

Generally, I explain what needs done and ask whether they prefer me to go ahead and do it, or find a female nurse. Sometimes I get a sense that they are uncomfortable and find a female without asking, but usually I ask, because it might just be my discomfort I'm sensing.

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I'm a little shy, myself, caring for young women. I might have done the same--wiping seems a bit more personal than just sliding the bedpan under, and people usually aren't in quite such a hurry to get off the bedpan.

We occassionally get pediatric patients in the epilespy monitoring unit. Usually, they are ambulatory, so baths and toileting aren't an issue, and they always have a parent staying with them. One of the nice things about teens is that they usually have heart sounds you can hear with your stethescope above the clavicle--it may not be apical, but they aren't there (usually) for cardiac problems, so as long as it's regular, I don't fuss. And they aren't with us long enough to get bedsores, especially since most are OOB a good bit.

We do get young women for patients with more--I want to say serious, but that sounds like I think epilepsy isn't serious, so let's try conventional problems. Brain tumors and traumatic injury can strike any age, and we've seen women in their 20s with strokes, possibly r/t birth control pills and/or smoking. I pretty much have to do a regular assessment on them, but if they are shy, I can usually find a female who'll help out with the personal parts, or with procedures like Foleys.

Generally, I explain what needs done and ask whether they prefer me to go ahead and do it, or find a female nurse. Sometimes I get a sense that they are uncomfortable and find a female without asking, but usually I ask, because it might just be my discomfort I'm sensing.

Ya. I like when they explain what the options are. that time it was wait for a nurse to come unhook my IV since it was attached to my bed, or use a bed pan provided by him. it wasnt a hard choice at all. ;)

also I have no problem at all with male nurses or docs or aides or anything. I could care less what gender they are, if they treat me like they care about me and with the respect I deserve as a human being, regardless of what happens (like the time I had needed to go to the bathroom, my nurse wasnt even told by the person answering the call lights and i wet the bed because I just could not hold it any longer, was embarrassed but what can you do.)

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Well your husband needs to get over it. I wonder if the female nurses know that he sees foleys as a sexual experience (because he obviously doesn't want a male nurse to do something SEXUAL to him), and he wants a female nurse to do them? I also wonder if he knows that these people are there to help relieve pain. What do you think about your husband wanting a FEMALE to do his foleys, because he would otherwise think if it was a male, then it's sexual. Have you ever thought that your husband LIKED getting touched by a female patient? I mean, that's what it sounds like to me, if he's that close-minded.

AMEN!!:up::up::up::up::up::up::up:

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I believe it is about respect and communication. I'm in my last semester of an ADN program and have never had a patient refuse my care either because I'm a student or because I'm male. I try to take time (which I have more of since I only get 1 or 2 pts.) to learn a little about my patient and if able, let them know a little about me. Starting Foleys is one thing that is very different from the lab to a real person. I've been fortunate to have had good nurses to help me with the procedure and understanding patients who trusted me enough to do the procedure. Never has it been a male-female thing with me, but I completely understand why some patients might be uncomfortable with the gender thing. Bottom line is if I let the patient know it's OK to not be OK with me doing such a procedure, they seem to be more OK with me performing it.

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Girl here. I wouldn't have a problem with a male nurse performing intimate care as long as they were kind and respectful. Part of me prefers it because the male nurses I have seen are all very warm. I do however feel uncomfortable with having a female nurse there to watch over them. I feel the same way at the GYN. I feel much more at ease with the doc or nurse and myself versus a third party present as well. I understand why males like a chaperone but that's just not for me. I went to the urologist once and he bought in a nurse. I asked for no nurse and liked how he handled it. The nurse stays in the room, but a curtain is pulled around you. They can hear everything, but can't see. I felt it protected both the doctor, and my modesty.

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Yep, I know what you're saying. I also know in the "real world" I won't have that shadow and I'll have to deal with things as they happen. I guess it's just the fundemental element of getting to know each patient and how they deal with me. Point is, it's human-to-human contact and are we (dudes) appropriate and caring in the right way? I think I know (hopefully) when it's not right and I need help. Maybe because I'm a guy, I go a little bit overboard to explain why I'm there to treat them and am always trying to justify nurses are nurses, regardless of anatomical differences. A bit of a chip perhaps. I'll learn....

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homosexuality is not a race or gendered. It's sexual. Next thing you know, someone who is into beastiality will want to marry a dog. At this point our society does not fully except homosexuals when they do and they will, i.e. cival rights movement, pass laws protecting said rights.

And there's the problem. People into beastiality, for the most part, don't want to marry an animal, they don't want a loving relationship with one, they don't want to marry one, they don't want to have kids with one, they don't want to grow old with one.

The majority of homosexuals aren't in it for the sex. Just like I don't love my girlfriend only for the sexual aspect of our relationship.

On the note of men being homophobic about a male nurse giving a cath. Gay men are far more sexualized than straight men. Once a person labels a man as gay, society tells us that their entire person is defined by their sexual habits, Anything he does is because he's gay (and that usually means, thinking everything he does is to get some sexual gratification). It's where we get the stereotypes of gay men being pedophiles, or gay men having numerous/anonymous partners (it happens, but just as much as straight men). Straight men are seen as pigs, and predators, but nothing near how people see the gay population.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

So, I was leaving work the other morning and heard one of the dayshift nurses remark: "So, I'm the only male nurse on the floor, today, and they give the gyn patient to me?"

He had a point, but what struck me was that I had taken care of the same patient a couple of nights before and hadn't thought a thing about it. Not saying it was a picnic, checking her groin dressing, but while I had her she was a-fib in the 150s-170s, so I had other issues at the front of my mind.

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Too bad male patients don't get the respect that female patients get!

do a search here whoa...inappropriate

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing, CPEN, Pediatrics, Obstetric.

At the risk of dragging this on for another year;), i have some interesting observations as a guy RN who works in L/D. I have not read all posts, so excuse any repeats, but to read all 27 pages might take longer than rereading Potter and Perry Fundementals.....anyway, one thing we all need to realize is there is no way, at all, of knowing which patients will or will not object to our care. At first I thoght the teen age pregnancies were going to be tough, but as a 23 yo I have been able to connect with them better than most of the other nurses. I thought, also, that married women who have long birth plans and a midwife may object, but I have had no problems on that score, as I have always been willing to go out of my way to do everything to make their delivery special. Of course, then we always here about the abused patients, and I always try to stay clear of that, but last month I had a patient who was abused by her ex and keeping her pregnancy secret, and they seemed really to like me. I just say this to show there is no generalization that works, and that applies to every thing in life. Oh, certain things may be more likely, but we never know, so we just have to wait and let the patient decide. There is always someone else who will let you. Oh, by the way, I have taken over for a female nurse's labor patient when the patient requested a new nurse, so we do our share of others work too. That's why we have more than one nurse on the unit, duh.......:wink2:

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I certainly agree, I generally have a chaperogne when I am doing anything but med pass. I was a Drill Sergeant for females and I have seen too many times first hand what accusations can and are made. My wife is senior management in a hospital and told me it is just a good idea. I am currently working in LTC and patients do become confused. 20 years as an Infantryman has taught me, in order to not be wounded, don't be where the projectile crosses your path.

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