Male pts.

postmortem_cowboy · Apr 16, 2007

I wholeheartedly agree. I've had male patients that would totally open up about their concerns and also have had female patients that wouldn't.

Case in point, one night I took a M/S shift, had a post op patient X24 hours for a hip. I'd gone in to do my H2T assessment when he pipes up "I need to tell you something that I didn't feel comfortable telling the female nurse from days." Well it ended up being he was bleeding away from the opsite and into his groinal area (I think I invented a new word there) and his testicles were really swollen and black from the seepage of blood into the area. Now, as a guy, yes it's much easier when it's something like that, but if it's having your tonsils out, nah, shouldn't make a difference. When I was an EMT I had a male patient uhm... how do I put this couthly "stroke his thing" in the back of the ambulance. Now i'd told him to stop on several occasions, but due to the fact that the guy was mentally not there, he just kept going, even my attempts (gloved at that point) to stop him went unnoticed and he disregarded it until he was satisfied with the job he'd done and the outcome (sorry punn wasn't intended) he'd wanted to achieve.

It's human nature though to be more comfortable about things of a more personal nature with same sex. And yes i've gotten that look after being called "doctor" and corrected the patient/family that "i'm his/her/your nurse" of oh... he's gay... and just for the record, no i'm not. And that's another complaint of mine, what does being gay have to do with being a nurse anyhow? like that means something? Like gay people are only nurses, they can't be construction workers or drive dump trucks or something, but a guy is a nurse and the wheels churn... "he's gay"... preposterous!!!! People watch too much damn TV. I've also on the other side of the fence had female patients that requested me in particularly simply because I was a man. And even for catheterizations. I had a post op female one night that was in for hemorrhoid surgery, and she'd had a straight cath PRN, ended up cathing her like 5 times in one shift. The next night she was still there and not able to push on her own, and she'd asked the female nurse especially for me if I was on shift. So it goes both ways. (punn not intended)

Wayne.

gitterbug · Apr 16, 2007

Cowboy,

The nurse on days was off on her assessments by a mile. Bleeding into the scrotal area is not uncommon after a hip pinning, the patient should have been asked and checked for discomfort. His scrotal area elevated on rolled towel and ice applied prn. An assessment is an assessment, head to toe, but most especially in ortho procedures.

postmortem_cowboy · Apr 17, 2007

Alot of things "should have" happend, but didn't, the story I told was to illustrate that male patients don't necessarily speak to female nurses in regards to these types of things.

Wayne.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 17, 2007

i had a patient tell me he just masturbated and the ejaculate was very hot "what does that mean?". nope don't think he told that to a female (and he didn't use those terms either) :)

not only did he probably tell your female colleagues about that, he may have demonstrated (or attempted to) as well. i think that's less a request for information than a desire to shock you or make you uncomfortable. did it work?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Apr 17, 2007

not only did he probably tell your female colleagues about that, he may have demonstrated (or attempted to) as well. i think that's less a request for information than a desire to shock you or make you uncomfortable. did it work?

no. he was dead serious......believe it or not. he seriously wanted to know if it was a bad sign to have hot semen because it never was that way before. seriously.

guess that's another good thing about being a male nurse...men don't deliberately expose themselves in a sexual (so they think) manner, or deliberately try to make us uncomfortable the way they do with females.

postmortem_cowboy · Apr 18, 2007

Should have told him to get his testicles out of the boiling pot of water and that might help.

Wayne.

gitterbug · Apr 18, 2007

Ruby,

I guess we have to take the male POV as gospel on this one.

gitterbug · Apr 18, 2007

Cowboy,

My point was IF the previous nurse had done an adequate assessment, this man may have been spared a great deal of discomfort. I know "Should Have's" happened everyday in actual practice. I myself am guilty, but I really do hope this is not a regular occurance on this ortho floor.

postmortem_cowboy · Apr 19, 2007

well, in all actuality, that was the second patient of 2 that had surgery in a 24 hour period from a single surgeon that boffed both. The other, was a patient that was under anesthesia for over 10 hours in a hip replacement that got botched, the doc, broke the head of the femur off during the course of the surgical proceedure, and didn't have the necessary screws and all to fix the head of the femur, so he decided to close her up, and do the fix and the hip all at the same time once the right materials came in. Upon final count out in OR they came up a sponge short..... so.... they had to reopen her, get out the sponge and close her up a second time. When I came on shift for my night M/S shift, this was the first patient that I had to deal with, patient was 10 hours + under ansesthesia, markedly non-responsive and back on the floor X's 2 hours when I got her. One blown and one pinpoint pupil later and she was down getting a CT and being rolled into ICU. This gentleman was the second mishap from the same damn surgeon, and same day surgical proceedure that I had to deal with... sort of makes you stay on your toes when a couple of surgeries go bad all in one shift. Like I said, alot of things should have happend, and didn't but the patient didn't feel comfortable with speaking to the female nurse about a problem that had arisen since his surgical proceedure. Now it's all too possible that the bleed into the testes happend hours after he'd gotten back and the signs weren't apparent until I came on shift.... he woke up noticed what was happening, and saw a male nurse and brought it to my attention. Very possible that he came back from recovery with little-no visible signs of this at that point and she hadn't missed anything.

Wayne.

gitterbug · Apr 19, 2007

Cowboy,

Understand better now. Wow, I am sure glad I do not have to worry about having any type of surgery from this guy. I do not profess to know all of the in's and out's of a THR, but I am sure the surgeons at our trauma center cover every possible problem before they go in. Hubby has had many, many ortho problems, and with cardiac problems on top of that, I have been very aware and involved in his recovery processes. I do not mean to sound snippy about the other nurses' assessment, but I do know that deep sedation is necessary for most ortho procedures, so a through assessment and a recheck are vital to insure a patient does not suffer an unnecessary problem. Your patients are lucky to have you for a nurse, you sound like a competent and caring nurse. Male or female, a nurse just needs to do the job to the best of their ability. I hope you have a great day.