Modesty Issues

Make sure all doors or curtains are closed.

Ask family to leave the room, if possible (depending on if someone is needed for translating).

Explain every little thing you are going to do, before you do it, and while you do it. Explain everything happening, explain what the pt. might feel physically, so they aren't caught off-guard when it happens. Ask if there's any questions, and answer all questions.

Put warmed plankets on legs when doing a Foley.

Make the procedure as "clinical" as possible by not using any slang, also keep as much of the pt covered as possible. There are some people who are going to get embarassed no matter what. Another idea would be to ask if they have any questions after you explain the procedure and before you start it.

Two great answers are above...and try not to blush.

I still need to work on the "blushing" part. Too bad Britney Spears didn't own a part of Bard. Foley trays might come with a small tube of concealer. Oh well.

Thank you all for your responses. Any others would be welcome.

Tory

I still need to work on the "blushing" part. Too bad Britney Spears didn't own a part of Bard. Foley trays might come with a small tube of concealer. Oh well.

Thank you all for your responses. Any others would be welcome.

Tory

:rotfl: good one!

It took me a while to be comfortable with it too. I mean, how often in life do you walk into a stranger's room and grab his member? Never happened to me until becoming a CNA. Before I became an RN, I had pretty much gotten over my modesty. The thing that hit me one day, is that these people have usually been through this several times, and that THEY aren't as embarrased as ME!!! :imbar I also try to put a blanket across their bended knees so they can't actually see what I am doing. For some reason that seems to help- both with them AND me.

I mean, how often in life do you walk into a stranger's room and grab his member?

Had an incident the other day, a pt. had a tight foreskin. First i couldn't get the thing to go back, THEN couldn't get it to go back over!!

What didn't help matters is that there wasn't much to take hold of. Plus 5 sets of eyeballs watching. :stone

Yikes, what a nightmare. I've only seen this on sedated/asleep patients. I can't imagine it on an awake one!

Luckily the pt. WAS asleep. I know that won't always be the case though :stone

That's another aspect that I could use a bit of help with. What if the pt "is" awake..? He assumes you're inexperienced or fumbling but actually you're not. What do you say while all this is happening to ease his mind that you know what you're doing. If the anatomy is small I wouldn't want to mention that and possibly make him feel even more humiliated.

Explain that it sometimes takes a few tries to get it in, and that if you're unsuccessfull, you'll get someone else to try.

thankfully, 99% of my patients that i catheterize are asleep. when they're not, i usually explain everything fully ahead of time, and i make sure all the doors/curtains are closed. where i work, we do have a "difficult cath cart" available for those times when a pt has bph or some other narrowing of the urethra, and we call a urology resident to do the foley. this had to happen for one particular pt who had an epidural, and his prostate was really enlarged (we found out later it had narrowed down so much, a 10 fr. catheter would not pass through). explaining all this to the elderly gentleman with profound hearing loss was a real challenge! the urology resident was glad we called, we prevented a traumatic foley insertion, and this guy's bladder cancer was later discovered during a diagnostic cysto.

i think the worst is young guys and kids because the young guys are worried about pain and/or having an erection, and the kids are just scared witless. if you explain like crazy, and keep things very clinical and distant, you do better. sometimes distraction during the actual insertion is a good thing. your mileage may vary.

That's one of the things going against me because of my age. I've been told (by a pt.) that most men are more comfortable having this procedure done by a nurse in their 40's or 50's rather than one approaching 20. Especially with pts. my age who have control issues with a woman taking the upper hand so to speak. I do my best to remain clinical and professional yet I've been asked more than a few times to see if there's a more "seasoned" nurse available. The other nurses tell me to respond with "the other nurses are taking care of their own pts. right now and I'm your assigned nurse but I do make every attempt to fulfill their request. I feel bad that they're in for surgery in the first place and do not want to make their experience any more uncomfortable. And on the other hand, I do not want my collegues to take on the extra work that I'm being paid for. It's a big dilemma for me and I'm hoping to pick up a few tips with this post to make the going easier. Many thanks to all who've responded. Tory