Is this common?

Nursing Students Male Students

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Hi everyone, just started my PN/LN course and have a placement in a LTC facility, everything was going well until... One of the PSW asked for help with a lady on a lift, as soon as I entered the room she started yelling at me to get out. I quickly left the room and waited outside, I heard the PSW talk with the lady and explain that the lift required two people and that she could either have me (a nurse in training) or wait for one of the other PSW to become free. A few minutes later I was asked to come back in and we moved the lady with the lift, she was not happy about it.

As a male nurse should I expect to encounter this a lot or was I just unlucky for my first placement?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

What was the patient so upset about? Was her 'modesty' respected? Or was she frightened because you were an unfamiliar face? It could have been any one of a number of things that caused the upset.It's good practice to make sure you introduce yourself to patients prior to touching them. The staff person should have done this - introduced you, by name, to the patient rather than just pressuring her into accepting the situation.

Make sure that your clinical instructor is OK with your 'helping' activities. I appreciate that you are trying to do your best and providing an extra pair of hands is always appreciated, but if you clinical instructor is not on board, it may be perceived to be overstepping your bounds which could get you in a peck of trouble.

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I had spent 20 minutes earlier in the morning speaking to her, so she knew who I was. I did my best to respect her modesty, the PSW had said she was getting someone to help move her so she was aware that someone else was going to help. I did say hello as i entered the room, at which point she started to scream "get out" this really shocked me as I was under the impression that from talking to her earlier, that i have built up some re pore with her.

The course placements are very hands on, we had an initial orientation last week and this week we shadowed PSW, helping in their daily activities. At the end of the shift there was a debriefing in which I brought this up with the instructor, though at the time I don't think I realized how much this had upset me, and has bugged me all weekend. I'm sure that I didn't over step my bounds of what was expected while on placement, as next week I'm to give full client care to a resident by myself (as i said its very hands on).

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double post.

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One of the things to be careful with, is that as a student, you have not been trained to use a lift. Usually that training is in the format of an inservice by the facility. If anything were to have gone wrong, you would have been liable, as well as the staff member. If you were a third, that would have been okay, as those lifts are normally operated by two people.

What is a PSW?

You could have tried using theraputic communication try to see what was wrong.

"Mrs Johnson, you seem upset...."

But yes, get used to sexism especially in clinicals. (I use the sexism term lightly)

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One of the things to be careful with, is that as a student, you have not been trained to use a lift. Usually that training is in the format of an inservice by the facility. If anything were to have gone wrong, you would have been liable, as well as the staff member. If you were a third, that would have been okay, as those lifts are normally operated by two people.

I was trained on the use of a few models of lifts during my induction, hence why I was there to help the PSW as they are required to use 2 people, both need to have training.

What is a PSW?

It is a Personal Support Worker here in Canada

You could have tried using theraputic communication try to see what was wrong.

"Mrs Johnson, you seem upset...."

You are totally right that i should have tried some theraputic communication to deal with the situation, I'm very new at this and my first instinct was to leave the room as quickly as possible so as not escalate the situation. I guess this is something that i'll learn and pick up as I go along.

But yes, get used to sexism especially in clinicals. (I use the sexism term lightly)

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I find that Mrs.Johnson you seem upset would sound like sarcasm. I would have not said that in that situation. When I was doing clinicals in the ltc I found some of the residents had an issue with the males. When I got to the hospitals though I haven't had any issues with anyone. I wouldn't worry about it though if they don't want a male to help then they will have to wait sometimes.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

I rarely have issues dealing with females. I can only think of one specific case and that was a lady newly arrived from Iraq who was not at all comfortable with having me provide her care. The only practical consequence was that I had a female colleague do her initial assessment and 12-lead.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I would say you were just unlucky. I work with male nurses and PSWs and I haven't seen any such reaction from patients.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Don't worry, the occasional patient will have a problem but the vast majority can easily be won over with your awesome personality.

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There wasn't an issue this week, so hopefully it was just an isolated incident. Thanks for the advice and support.

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I'm just starting clinicals in the Fall but work as a CNA per diem for home care agencies. Most people won't have the reaction you got from the female patient but keep in mind that there may be some female patients that are uncomfortable with a male nurse and won't express it. I've also seen reactions from male patients as well because they'd rather have a female nurse. In those instances the male patient's concerns can be rooted in homophobia or that they think having another male take care of them might project the wrong sexual orientation image to others. You sometimes can't win either way. Keeping in mind that the type of work you're doing requires a certain amount of sensitivity to others and introducing yourself more carefully can go a long way towards avoiding these issues some patients have with male nurses.

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