Patients in Peds being a guy.

Nurses Men

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Hello everyone.

I have a burning question about guys working Peds/PICU. How is it worked out whether you have a male or female patient? Do you find yourselfs working with more boys then girls?

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I would imagine it would depend on the staffing available, pt age, and how comfortable the pt and their family are with a particular gender nurse. I know in my peds clinicals there was a teenage boy that preferred male nurses, and that was accommodated when possible. But I'm sure they could/would try to keep all pts and family members happy.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

Hi! I am a pediatric nurse in a PICU and also a male. I have equal amounts of patients who are females and males. I have not seen any difference in staffing except when sexual abuse is suspected in the patient or the patient has a history of it. This is not due to incompetencies in the male nurse, but rather the comfort level of the patient who may have been in a traumatic experience who may not want a male to see her naked or vulnurable. I am ok with that and prefer not to take care of girls and young women who may be uncomfortable with that.

That being said, it doesn't happen very often and I take care of just as many 17 year old girls as I do 12 year old boys.

I do notice myself inserting Foleys in all the teenage boys though hahaha (again this is because the patient's comfort level as he may not want a young female nurse seeing his member).

I'm happy to answer any questions you have anytime. Feel free to PM me anytime you have any questions about male nurses in pediatrics.

Take Care,

Daniel

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Thanks Daniel. Unfortunately I do not have the ability to PM anyone yet.

Does your hospital generally assign a main RN for the duration that the patient is in PICU? I believe it is referred to as a charge nurse in team nursing.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

At the hospital I work at, we work three 12-hour shifts per week and they're not always consecutive. So, they try to put us with the same patient if we are working consecutive days, but it doesn't always work out that way. Patient turnover can be pretty quick, or we can have apatite not for a week or more.

Feel free to email me at dcorbinrn (at) gmail (dot) com if you have more questions.

:)

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