men and women in same hospital room??

[brooke0428]

Hey ya'll! I'm working on a paper for my management class where we are basically the charge nurse and have to make room assignments out the the RNs, LVNs and UAPs.... anyway my question is.. can you have a man and a woman in the same room together?? I've been looking online but I can't find anything that would say either way! I asked our prof if it was a mistake and he indicated he purposely did it so basically I have to be able to justify why it isnt appropriate or could be appropriate. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas where I could find that info??

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

The times we've allowed it: pts. were related somehow (i.e. husband and wife), and "full house" when there was no choice, and there were no other beds in house.

[JennieO]

It would never happen at my hospital and we are a level 1 trauma center. Ithink it would be awful for PR.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Nope, unless related and they wanted to.

In ICU everyone is in the same big room, but they are too sick to remember.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

brooke0428. . .as a former nursing supervisor, one whose job responsibilities included bed control during my shifts, i can tell you that, yes, there are times when you can put a male and female together in the same semi-private room. it is done when the male and female are husband and wife, parent and child, or brother and sister (often in pediatrics) and this arrangement is requested and beds are available to make this accommodation. nursing homes will often do this all the time with husbands and wives as long as they are getting along (saw one situation in a nursing home where a husband and wife who were admitted were put in the same room and started having a physical fight and had to be separated into different rooms from then on). i can also think of emergency situations where there are just no beds. i would put a male and female who were both comatose together in the same room with a privacy curtain between them, but only as a temporary measure until another appropriate bed opened up and only with approval from someone higher up in administration. then, a bed change would be made immediately.

[brooke0428]

Thanks for your help ladies!!

[bklynborn]

In the emergency room women and men are held in mixed rooms with privacy curtains. In the observation unit there are 4 bed rooms which often hold mixed patients.

[Jules A, MSN]

What an interesting topic. I never really gave it any thought and pray that I will be the only Pt in the room if I'm ever hospitalized.

Had to smile at Daytonite's story about the married couple that had to be separated in the nursing home. I think by then DH and I might both want a private room anyway.

[bflogrl]

Hi. I volunteer in an inpatient hospice facility and we have 4-bed rooms where we routinely have men and women in the same room -- it does not seem to be a problem.

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

Generally, you do NOT want men and women in the same room unless there's no choice or are related. At our hospital, we often have to tell supervisors that we CANNOT put patients in an empty bed because the other patient is of the opposite gender.

Think about it though....would you want to be doing something gender-specific with a member of the opposite sex in the bed next to you? Also, what if said patient needs something "feminine" and is too embarrased to ask you with a man next to her?