Sexual Harassment of Nurses?

[TurtleCat]

I'm going into the nursing field and this is something I was a little worried about. How common is it to be sexually harassed or touched inappropriately while doing peri-care or bathing male patients? It's not the cleaning of the male genitalia in itself that bothers me, but being touched or made to do things against my will would frankly make me uncomfortable. I've asked around and some people told me that chances are it's pretty unlikely, saying that if a guy's well enough to harass you in that manner he can probably do his own care. However, I have heard cases of Alzheimer's/dementia patients groping and sexually harassing caregivers/CNAs/nurses, in which case I guess you gotta kinda be patient and understanding since they basically have the mindstate of a toddler, but admittedly it might still make me a little uncomfortable. I was wondering what's done about patients like that, it seems to me like kind of a difficult issue since these patients still deserve quality care, but at the same time the staff should be protected from uncomfortable situations. In the case of a demented/confused patient, can you tell them to stop and that it's inappropriate and they'll usually lay off, or no?

I posted about this topic before and was told to "please get over myself and never go into nursing." I was hoping to maybe receive more understanding replies this time around, I don't think there's anything wrong with being concerned about being inappropriately touched by a patient. Not everyone deals with that kind of thing very well, and I don't see how that in itself makes me a bad person or means I should never be a nurse.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

When I worked in a rehab facility, one of my female coworkers had a male patient who she was trying to teach to self-cath. She said that he was enjoying it a little too much (claiming not to understand, asking for repeat demonstrations, etc.). We worked out a deal in which I took over her teaching duties. He learned a lot faster. It was amazing how much he actually retained, when there wasn't a woman there to touch him.

If you run into a situation in which a patient might be inapporopriate with you (or has been), set limits immediately, then report it to your supervisor. This might be a bit more complicated with Alzheimer's patients, who usually don't understand what they are doing. Just be aware that they sometimes grab, pinch and punch.

[tokebi]

From my experience working in LTC for a few years, I will also tell you it is not a common occurrence. I find that dementia/Alzheimer's patients are more often frightened of what you're doing to them, causing aggressive behaviors. I have never seen or heard of sexual harassment from confused patients at my workplace. The closest I've experienced was a pleasantly confused elderly male patting my head as I bent down to take off his shoes for bed and then pulling my hand saying, "Will you take a nap too?" All I had to do was firmly re-orient him by saying, "No. I am your nurse. You are living in a nursing facility." Depending on how confused they are, explaining to them what's inappropriate may be useless. However, you can set limits and boundaries in simple terms, which will work better.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having your concerns. Especially if you had unpleasant experience in the past, I totally understand the fear. However, past experience can develop into hyper-vigilance and make you feel like there are perpetrators everywhere when there aren't. I'm not saying this is the case with you. I'm just hoping you wouldn't let that happen to you. You said "not everyone deals with this kind of things very well." If you feel that you're one of those, then learn to deal with it. Others won't be around all the time to protect you but you can protect yourself by being prepared and developing confidence.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I have had a lot of verbal suggestiveness from elderly male patients. More than I would have ever imagined. No inappropriate touching or asking for inappropriate care, just verbalizations on my body parts, some of them benign (smile, eyes, skin) and some not so benign. I am learning to draw those boundaries fast. Mostly I just deflect/change the subject.

[itsmejuli]

I understand your concern OP, yes it does happen occasionally. Not every person on this earth is an angel.