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Discussion

prenursing student

Hello everyone

Hope everyone is doing well in this situation. I have a question about nursing clinical if you guys can answer my question I appreciate it. So I got accepted into my nursing program as a transfer student. I have a pretty good GPA and also hardworking student. I do not want to invest my intelligence in something which is not worth it. I choose nursing. My goal is to be a labor and delivery nurse. My problem is that I can work with babies and females. I can clean them, serve them, etc. But I cannot clean males private parts as my religion does not allow me to do it and I do not feel comfortable. Is there any solution for this situation? During the clinical at the nursing program, can I ask my mentor to give me a female patient or put me in the baby section? Do I have a right to do that? Some people told me to change my major but I love serving people and working with babies.

Thanks in advance.

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    • Featured Replies

    Hopefully others will chime in, but when I took my Anatomy course for pre-nursing, there were some students in the class who either had a religion objection to working with and looking at cadavers OR they claimed they were squeamish. Neither of those reasons flew w/ the teacher. She told us if anybody skipped out on these labs, it would be an automatic "F" for that lab day. This was at a community college.

    You really must think about if this profession is going to be a right fit for you. What happens if you're taking care of a male and he needs bandages changed in the private area and you're the only one available? Will you leave him there? Just something to think about....

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    • Admin
    9 hours ago, Hazel Sedat said:

    But I cannot clean males private parts as my religion does not allow me to do it

    It may be of benefit to have a discussion about this with your religious leaders. Many, if not all, religions that normally restrict personal care of the opposite gender have exceptions for health care personnel.

    It is not realistic that you will never care for a male patient during school. You cannot ask to be placed in the baby section for every clinical experience in school- there are requirements to be able to graduate and sit for the licensing exam to have completed a well-rounded nursing education, not an education specific to a single specialty. Additionally, labor and delivery nursing jobs are never a guarantee. It tends to be one of the more popular specialties with far more applicants than open spots.

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    • Author

    Thank you so much for your time. I can take care of male patients with everything except cleaning or touching their private parts. So if I get my BSN what else can I do with it without working in a hospital? Can I become a school nurse or do I have to have experience for that?

    Thank you so much for your help.

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    • Admin
    9 minutes ago, Hazel Sedat said:

    Can I become a school nurse or do I have to have experience for that?

    That does not necessarily eliminate the need to care intimately for males. Students these day are in school who previously would not have been. Some need straight cathed. Some have toileting issues.

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    • Author

    Thanks again. I appreciate your time and help. So do you have any advice for me please? What do you think I should do in this situation?

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    2 hours ago, Hazel Sedat said:

    Thanks again. I appreciate your time and help. So do you have any advice for me please? What do you think I should do in this situation?

    As Rose_Queen mentioned, you should really have a talk w/ your religious leaders/advisors. See what they say.

    Also, most school nurses have some years of experience due to having to work on their own and needing to now how to act fast in emergencies.

    One way to look at this is, if you are tasked with cleaning or having to touch the male genitalia, you must remember that you are doing this as a medical professional. By no means is this some type of sexual act or sexual in nature. Think of it as: "My job is to help heal the human body and that is what I am doing."

    Keep in mind that new grads end up in Med/Surg units quite a bit for the first job. There are also enemas given. Will that be an issue for you as well? OB/Gyn / Labor/ Delivery units always have a bunch of new grads who want positions there. Chances are very good you may end up in Med/Surg your first time around. Guaranteed you'll see bodies of males there.

    I really hope you can find a solution from your religious leaders that will let you pursue your goal. Good luck to you!

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