Pubic hair

[nurseJLoo]

My female patient wants me to shave her pubic hair, she cant do it herself she only has limited movement of one arm . Should I do it? (I would rather not) any advice? Update-this is a LTC Vent patient who is not going home. Believe it or not this isn't the first patient that asked me to do this I had another patient with ALS ask me to trim hers with an electric razor because she said the hair gets caught in her underwear and pulls. I had got "pulled" to her unit and she asked me to do it -had her own electric razor-so me like a fool assuming the nurses were doing it for her went ahead and did it then i found out that only a few people would do it for her. What do I look like? the personal pube trimmer? also she was a real pain in the butt about how it was trimmed, I dont want to relive that nightmare!

[Gennaver, MSN]

My female patient wants me to shave her pubic hair, she cant do it herself she only has limited movement of one arm . Should I do it? (I would rather not) any advice?

What about trimming with an electric trimmor, (or scissor and comb) then again there is always and electric shaver which she might better manage with a little help.

I DO believe that helping a patient or client remain their level of care and their dignity IS a part of my job description.

If I was incapacitated and wanted someone to help me trim my neck hairs and the rejected me because "it wasn't in their job description" then I would think they are cruel!

I hope you find a way to help this patient or else help her, humanely, to find help for the care she requires.

Gen

[Gennaver, MSN]

Ah..No.

reminds me of a pt who requested that I remove her piercing south of the border.

Ah..no again. I told her to have her boyfriend help her with that. along with the piercings north of the border on "thelma and Louise".

Hello,

Ah, yeah, I would help with those.

So what, its a body piercing, not a sex toy.

There is a body piercer here who actually gives presentations at local hospitals to instruct staff on the proper way to remove body jewellry, very helpful for ER staff to know that some balls screw out, some need special equipment and others have other needs.

Gen

[URO-RN]

That's simply too personal a job for a nurse to perform on a pt. Think about it this way, no matter the sexes involved (female/female), that could be interpreted as an overt sexual act.

Try to imagine EXPLAINING that to your supervisor after a complaint is made. And people complain about weird things. She may decide she doesn't LIKE it. She may decide that you nicked her too many times. Shoot, she may decide that you LIKED it too much. Whatever, that's not something I would want to explain to management.

If that's not enough to cause you to reconsider and reaffirm something you already have a desire NOT to do; nothing will. At a minimum, I'd run it by my manager first. If you don't think you could explain that to your manager BEFORE the fact; imagine doing so AFTER the fact.

And besides, I'll tell you right now; your manager won't approve.

~faith,

Timothy.

:yeahthat:

[URO-RN]

Hello,

Ah, yeah, I would help with those.

So what, its a body piercing, not a sex toy.

There is a body piercer here who actually gives presentations at local hospitals to instruct staff on the proper way to remove body jewellry, very helpful for ER staff to know that some balls screw out, some need special equipment and others have other needs.

I dont work ER/Trauma or OB so if they do it in an emergency that's fine ; they have to make life or death decisions ...as far as shaving a pt, again I don't work in the OR, typically this is where the getting shaved for a procedure/surgery is done.

I am a floor nurse, and as a floor nurse this is not part of my care. I will shave a man's face, if asked, Clip hairs on pt chest with scissorsif he's got a hairy chest but no, shaving pubic hair for aesthetic reasons is out of the question.

[URO-RN]

Oops. I better clear something up:

Clip chest hair on a man's chest w/ scissors if he will need tele. Those stickers are painful to remove.

Anyway, I am outta here... have a feeling this thread is heading in the wrong direction already.

[AmyC.RN]

They would have to pay me alot more if those services were included.

[VirtualMe]

Just out of curiosity, if you don't feel it's appropriate to shave a female patient's legs, do you feel it's appropriate to shave a mail patient's face?

I would probably say "no" to the public hair shaving, too.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

FTR even though this is beyond OT, i think everyone should know how to remove piercings just in case an emergency situation happens.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

So what, its a body piercing, not a sex toy.

I think most people are aware of that :stone

[LilRedRN1973]

I routinely shave my female patients' legs and underarms if needed (I work in a Trauma/Neuro/Medical/Surgical ICU and many of our patients are there for several weeks, if not months). I have also been known to paint toenails if time allows (I work nights and there are some slow moments) if the patient was someone who kept up on stuff like that. I don't mind and it puts a smile on many of my patients who are in their 30's and 40's that have been unable to shave their legs since admit. A husband of a recent patient told me I was the first nurse who thought to shave his wife's legs and he told me that it meant the world to his wife since she never went more than 2 days without doing those things.

But pubic hair? Hmmm....I don't think I would be all that comfortable doing that. Is there anyone else who could do it for her? A boyfriend or husband, perhaps? = )

Melanie = )

[luvmy2angels]

I have also shaved female pts legs, but I would have to draw the line at the pubic hair.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

No way/no how!

There are too many potential boundary violations to even contemplate.