Male nursing student and female patient

[StudentNurseM1]

i am a 22 year old male nursing student who would like some insight before my next clinical day. If i am to give a female patient a catheter or need to care for them when they are "vulnerable". Is it common for them to ask for a female nurse? i have been asked to leave by an older patient because she needed help going to the bathroom. Does this happen a lot?

Either male or female nurses or nursing students are welcome to give any imput on what you have expierenced or seen in you clinical setting or in your career of nursing, thank you.

-StudentNurseM1

[Accolay]

Honestly sometimes I will ask someone else to be in the room with me depending on what we're doing. If it's a female patient that may have a history of mental illness or other bizarre behavior history, I'll definitely have someone help me.

But if you're going to put in a catheter in a female, chances are you're going to need another hand or two anyway. Our hospital policy is actually to have two people insert catheters, one person being the observer to try and decrease the number of CAUTIs.

[labordude, BSN, RN]

I don't have chaperones when I take care of my patients (who are all female) unless the procedure I am doing requires two people. In an area like OB, having to have a chaperone because I am a guy would damage my credibility and rapport with the patients. For the few who have not wanted a male nurse, it took me literally 15 seconds to walk out of the room and find someone to switch assignments with. Stop letting gender control the care narrative unless there is a reason to.

[jjsiegal]

Wow...talk about gender discrimination.

I doubt a Male Patient would request a Female Nurse.