Male Nurses/female Patients

[ern91]

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?

[ecurulz]

because I want to and it seems like the best option for me. now can you answer the question I had? thanks!

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

because I want to and it seems like the best option for me. now can you answer the question I had? thanks!

I can try. There are certainly some jobs available with a nursing degree that would not likely entail much exposure to women's "private parts." Staff nurse at a male prison, for example. Or sales rep for a medical supply company. Used to see ads for nursing jobs in the Middle East, in some parts of which it might be preferable to avoid contact between nurses and patients of the opposite sex.

But in hospital bedside nursing in the US, I don't see any realistic way to avoid doing some personal care on women. A high proportion of patients in the hospital are older people, and women live longer than men. I haven't studied it formally, but my guess is I see more men in their 50's and 60's, and more women in their 80's, and definitely 90's. And most jobs in nursing want someone with at least some bedside nursing experience.

I would imagine there are some men who never experience any discomfort caring for female patients, but I think I'm probably more typical. It's a little uncomfortable, but it gets easier with practice. This also seems true for the patients: those who've been in the hospital more than once or twice are less embarassed, generally.

I didn't mean anything particularly hostile by my question. I am, still, a little concerned that your perception of what nurses do may be a little unrealistic. Somewhere on some thread, I saw a comment about inviting Mike Rowe, of the TV program Dirty Jobs, to follow a nurse. That could never happen, partly because of privacy concerns, but mostly because the world is not ready to see what nurses really do.

[JoI8815]

I'm about to go to nursing school.....they let male nurses see women's private areas and bathe them? I wouldn't be comfortable and wouldn't want to do that as a male nurse.

I thought that was a given...of course...whether you want to or not there will be some point in your career where you will see the private areas of the opposite sex...just be neutral about it and as the above person replied, you will get used to it after some practice...I had some surgery done a while back and before I went unconscious, I remember seeing two male doctors and a male nurse in the room. I even consented for a male student to do a breast exam on me:icon_roll...no biggy...he probably was nervous but these things are part of the job description...

[nads786]

Somewhere on some thread, I saw a comment about inviting Mike Rowe, of the TV program Dirty Jobs, to follow a nurse. That could never happen, partly because of privacy concerns, but mostly because the world is not ready to see what nurses really do.

can you expand on what you mean by that?

[GN Dave]

I'm about to go to nursing school.....they let male nurses see women's private areas and bathe them? I wouldn't be comfortable and wouldn't want to do that as a male nurse.

You may not want to move forward with this career chioce then... if nothing else, you'll be in big trouble during your OB clinical rotation!!

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

can you expand on what you mean by that?

Perhaps I'm being a little overly dramatic, but I do get the impression that the world sees nursing as a rather nicer, prettier occupation than it often is. Even perusing these boards, you could get the impression that things like cleaning up poop, caring for persons of the opposite sex, or backbiting co-workers are our biggest challenges. They are challenges, to be sure, but, at least to me, don't compare to things like a patient who has been apparently stable for 2-3 days is suddenly in uncontrolled A-fib in the 170s,

or explaining to a family member while their loved one who appeared to be recovering from a stroke is now on comfort care. Even if the patient has no objection, placing a urinary catheter in a female can be difficult, and a little uncomfortable, but try having someone ask, "Am I going to get through this?" when you don't really know, or you do know that their chances aren't good.

Which isn't to say it's all bad, of course. It can be fairly rewarding to be there when a patient needs to talk about the realization of their own mortality after a serious event from which they will fully recover, and they just need to work out how they are going to look at life for the next 20-30 years, or when the prescribed pain meds work and they think you're a saint for administering them as ordered. Taking a patient out of restraints, or getting them up to the bathroom for the first time can be pretty satisfying.

Still, there are those times when one patient who isn't terribly ill is mad because they have to wait a few minutes for ice water while you're down the hall, fighting an heroic battle keeping someone else alive long enough to make it to the ICU, who may well die a few hours later in spite of it all.

I'm not sure the world is ready for all of that, and then some.

[dtinnan]

during my clinicals the other day, and i was assigned a 74 yr old male pt to provide total care. I told him i would be his nursing student for the day, and after all the supplies were gathered, i told him i would give him a bath. (total knee replacement, 1st day post op) i was informed by my patient " not even my wife is gonna give me a bath. i'll do it myself, unless ya want to send in one of those pretty girl nursing students" we had a good laugh, then i left him to bathe himself, returned when he finished. all the "pretty girl nursing students" had a good laugh when i told them about it. but on the other hand... 3 of the female students have been given the opportunity to remove catheters from their pts. but as a guy i haven't been afforded that opportunity yet. during check-offs we drew to see if we tested on wound care or cath insertion, except me. i was told i'd have wound care. i was assigned a female patient wednesday, but only because her name sounded like a guy's name, so my instructor thought she was giving me another guy. when it came time for bathing, the tec did it (female). oh, hey! i did get to empty her cath bag!! way cool, huh? lol

[muesli]

I have worked in a large-town facility and am now in a rural facility. I have also been a pt in a university hospital. In all three, it is preferred that male RNs do not do female caths and help with gynie exams if at all possible. The men I know do not foist their female pts on the women, they just ask us to help with certain things that should require a chaperone if they were to do them.

It's kind of sad that there is a double standard like that in those hospitals. A female nurse doesn't need a chaperone or witness to cath a male pt, for example.

Double standards like that also exist in the hospital I work at. When a male surgeon would mark the breasts, thighs, or other private area of a woman's body before she went into surgery (even though the pt was AxOx3 and only feet away from a host of people behind a curtain) policy stated a female witness had to "chaperone" him.

There should be policies in place to protect all patients from abuse. But is it just prejudice that makes policies like this?

[ms. papa RN AGAIN]

I am an RN and I am ashamed to say that when I admitted to the hospital to deliver my daughter last year and saw that my nurse was a man I thought to myself "this sucks". I didn't think he was gonna grope, ogle or otherwise abuse me, I just really hoped for a woman, maybe with personal experience with lady partsl delivery to hold my hand and tell me everything would be okay... I know cheesy. However, he was only with me for the admission and then another, and another, and another nurse came in. All the rest were females but out of the 4 total nurses assigned to me none of them came across as caring. The guy at least made small talk and spoke to my spouse (he was scared and needed some level of TLC for himself). In hindsight I may very well have been better off if he had stayed with me. The ladies just sat by the monitor watching TV during the day. (I was induced so it did take awhile) I still regret the gut instict I had at first and hopefully if I get a male again when I deliver in April I will be more mature. :icon_roll

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[nursemike, ASN, RN]

Gut instincts are strong. They're hard to ignore, and sometimes they shouldn't be ignored. But I'm happy to hear you're looking toward the future with an open mind. Truthfully, I'd feel lost in a perinatal setting, but if you fell and hit your head (God forbid!) I'd treat you with respect, and so would every other male nurse I know. Not to say every male nurse I know is a great nurse, but most are pretty good.

[Azzurri]

I work in a large teaching hospital in the ED and I don't shy away from doing any of pt care just because the pt is female. But there are some circumstances where a female nurse needs to be present with female pts.

For instance if the doctor wants to do a pelvic exam and that doctor is male, then a female nurse has to be in the room with the pt, but if its a female doctor, then I can be in the room. This isn't just my beliefs its our ED's policy to ensure no false accusations are made about inappropiate behavior from the doctor during the lady partsl exam, and its more so just a witness. Sure a male nurse can be a witness to a male doctor, but our hospital doesn't want to take any chances with how malpractice suits are going these days.

Another example and this one is just something alot of the male nurses in the ED believe in, not neccessarily a policy but alot of us guys feel this way because of the example in the last paragraph...and that is when the female pt is in her pubescent teen years or early 20's, we sometimes ask a female nurse to either be present or perform the EKG on the pt or when placing a foley. Now there is an exception to this, for example a trauma pt or anything critical but for most routine EKG's this is how we practice with that age group.

Some may disagree with the last comment but that's just how I was taught by other male nurses that have been there for a while.

[PsychNurseWannaBe, BSN, RN]

It is a shame that there is a double standard. It really is the very definition of sexual discrimination. If a peer of the opposite sex can perform a procedure, then the other opposite sex should be able to do it as well. So to say that my female coworker can do something but I can't because I am a male, thats discrimination. Now, it the patient prefers the same sex to be in the room, then I don't look at it as discrimination, but if management makes a fuss, or wants me to have a chaperone to witness my professional nursing skills in practice... I think that is just wrong. When I come across this, I just roll my eyes because many times these patients have a male MD, but don't want a male RN. Whatever! Again unless it is a patient's preference... that I will abide by it, no questions asked.

I had to have a chaperone many times. Do you know how humilitaing it is to have a female aide sit there and "make sure you didn't do anything inappropriate"? Grrrr....