Modest or Over-Sensitive

[housecarl79]

Modest or over-sensitive ?

A friend Charlie is upset at what he considers a lack of patient respect and dignity at a large local hospital. In for a urological procedure lying on the exam table, a male technician abruptly pushed his gown - nothing on underneath- right up to his shoulders in preparation, the tech said, for the doctor arriving.

There were several female staff in the room- the hospital insists on no gender discrimination- and Charlie had been chatting to some of them earlier. He was mortified that they were all now seeing him bare from the shoulders down. To increase the upset, the doctor did not show on time and Chas lay there with his gown up for some time as everyone stood around waiting .

One of the women he had chatted to came up and started to talk to him again. Charlie told her how embarrassed he was that she was seeing him with his private parts exposed, and so were her colleagues. Oh, she said, don't mind, we see that all the time. !

The doctor did arrive and the procedure went well but Charlie thinks he should complain about the staff attitudes. I agree they ignored completely his modesty needs. I wonder though if he is being over-sensitive. He did know that the procedure must involve some exposure and presumably that there would be some women on the staff. And why didn't he ask to be covered up.

If he does complain, it should be about the male tech who prepped him far too soon, and left him undraped.

That's my opinion.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Everyone is at fault for this patient's lack of privacy. Charlie even told one of the women that he was embarrassed about being exposed, and she apparently laughed it off. If he was surgically prepped and could not be covered up due to the sterile field, other accommodations for his privacy, like pulling a curtain and all but one standing on the opposite side, should have been done.

Can I just say that bone-headed behavior like this is why conscientious and thorough healthcare workers are subject to micromanaging actions like AIDET, scripting, hourly rounding sheets, and management stalking during bedside report? The reason those things bug me so much is because I know how to talk to a patient, keep them informed, and treat them like human beings. Apparently, many people do not, as your friend's experience shows.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Is this a homework assignment?

If this is NOT a fictional scenario and this actually happened, then I'm appalled.

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

I have to look, but wasn't there a guy here a few months ago who claimed this same scenario happened to him?

He made several posts about it, wasn't a nurse, it was around the time there was a thread going about patients being cared for by nurses of the opposite sex.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

It's a simple matter of dignity. There's a reason being naked is considered a form of torture.

I'll bet the staff at that hospital didn't consider themselves torturers, but their victim did.

Sometimes it's the simplest things that make us human.

[ProgressiveActivist, BSN, RN]

Unacceptable. It takes 5 seconds to open and place a sterile towel. He should report this to the patient care rep.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Charlie is neither modest or over sensitive. Charlie is an average Joe, that does not want his genitals for all to see.

The doctor, the female staff, and the male tech were all insensitive. Any one of the staff could have covered Charlie with a sheet.

Sounds like the doctor wants the patient "prepped" as they finally waltz into the room to perform their godly procedure.

God forbid.. the urologist should have to pull the gown up !

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Not sensitive behavior on the staff's part.

Why didn't "Charlie" pull his gown down?

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

Does Charlie have any upper extremity impairment that would prevent him from pulling the gown back down?

[TheGooch]

so we blame the patient.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

so we blame the patient.

No, it was just a question.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Just because we see it all the time doesn't mean people like to show it all the time. No, "Charlie" was not being overly sensitive.