Sexual Harrassment?

Dratz · Jul 6, 2006

Dratz, you chart exactly what you see: "On arrival in pts' room, pt exposed his genitalia to this RN"...........
You chart what you say to the pt and what his response is.

Ok, thanks for the information.

NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN · Jul 6, 2006

When you blush and stammer and pretend to ignore the issue, you feed into the behavior, and it inevitably worsens. Like bullies, it only encourages them.

I agree because I had seen it happen. You have to find the courage yourself to firmly tell the patient that this behavior is not acceptable. If someone else does it for you, and you are still blushing in front of the man, he will continue doing it.

chadash · Jul 6, 2006

I agree because I had seen it happen. You have to find the courage yourself to firmly tell the patient that this behavior is not acceptable. If someone else does it for you, and you are still blushing in front of the man, he will continue doing it.

:yeah:

banditrn · Jul 7, 2006

You guys are right - situations like that need to be dealt with immediately or it will continue or escalate.

I have told a couple of them that I wasn't impressed & to put it away, but the guy I REALLY disliked made a comment about wanting to grab certain parts of my anatomy - I told him that just because he was lying in the bed didn't mean he couldn't be charged with sexual harrasement and if he ever talked to me like that again, that's just what would happen.

As he was a very prominent local businessman, he could understand the implications of that. :uhoh3:

Spritenurse1210, BSN, RN · Jul 7, 2006

Accidently spill his ice water in his lap.

:lol2: I had a patient like that. he always wanted me to help him with his urinal (shudder)

vampiregirl, BSN, RN · Jul 7, 2006

On a couple of occasions, I've had male residents at a LTC facility expose themselves when I went in to a room to provide care, etc. If they were A&O, I would calmly tell the resident, "I see you need your privacy right now" and leave the room, closing the door behind me.

steelydanfan · Jul 7, 2006

Please do not go down the route of finding a male nurse to take care of the patient. What a cop out! (and I'm not a male nurse)!

You need to get over your timidity, because NO one, and that includes patients have the right to sexually harass you.

If you can't handle it yourself, go to a supervisor, state the problem, and work out a scenario for confrontation with backup.

It is hard if you have not done it, but trust me, we have all been there. It is

a learning experience.

burn out · Jul 7, 2006

Thanks for all the suggestions but I just don't think I can get the courage up to confront someone in this situation.I have charted everything, I told the supervisor and she did nothing to help me , I told the physiciain and he did nothing to help, I asked every male employee walking by when I had to enter the room to go in with me. I still just feel badly because I let this happen and couldn't deal with it, if it had happened to someone else I would have been right there defending them but when it happens to me I just can't do it.

tryingtomakeit, RN · Jul 7, 2006

This reminds me of one of my coworkers when I was working as a home health aide. This particular patient's wife would leave each time one of us came in so she could take advantage of the time we were with him to shop, etc.. One day my coworker went in to find him lying on the couch exposing himself. He made it obvious that he had done it on purpose when he didn't try to cover up when she walked in. She calmly sat her bag down, grabbed a towel and said, "Let's put the "little fellow" away now ..." and threw the towel over him. He never tried it again!

ShayRN · Jul 7, 2006

Your patient needs to be confronted and told to stop this. However you could also look at what inside of you makes you so uncomfortable with this abusive display. You can get over it and be a better nurse. After long enough time as a nurse some of us just don't respond to this sort of thing. It is hard but worth thinking about.

Excuse me? If we were employed at a department store and found a man exposed the police would be called immediately, but because I am a nurse that gives someone the right to sexually harrass me? NO WAY! We just had a man on our unit last week that started masterbating when the nurse was drawing his blood, we called the police on him and never had a problem after. I may be a nurse, but I am a woman first and foremost, I am entitled to go to work without putting up with this crap. If the op is uncomfortable going into the room by herself, in my opinion, she is being sexually abused. I say forget the chain of command, the next time it happens, walk out call the police (or security which ever is available in your hospital) and take them in with you. Just wait and see how quickly things get changed.

Indy, LPN, LVN · Jul 7, 2006

Well, I've only had one patient whom I could categorize as trying to harrass me sexually. I interrupted his statements and told him "one more comment like that and I'm going to call security to come talk to you." That was all it took. He behaved well and told the next shift all about his "bi*ch nurse" from the shift prior. He did, in truth, make me nauseous. The things he was saying, were actually to his daughter, he was talking to her on the phone and talking about me. Next night he had visitors, his daughter and her friend. Their behavior told me the family tree didn't fork (I am fairly certain she was not a minor).

There have been some patients I've had, male and female, who are less than modest and don't seem to be very careful about covering themselves up. I do a lot of groin checks (post cardiac cath) and usually when I do the first one I have some comment about being modest, just so they know my intentions. I can usually check a groin, put tele stickers on, give SC shots in the belly, etc. without exposing the patient if they'll follow my lead and listen, and only expose what needs to be seen. Even then I'll apologize for making the patient uncomfortable.

The ones who show more, if they intend to do so, get a headshake and a "I don't need to see that" comment, sometimes followed by a quick reminder of what negative consequences could ensue if I don't do my job. As in, "I don't need to see that, but I do need to make sure you don't bleed to death." It's still business with me and I don't let the patient have the reins, so to speak.

I think everyone has to find their own level of comfort in dealing with patients. I don't personally find it necessary, normally, to call security, or god bless it, call the police, on my patients. Not to say there's not someone out there crazy enough. Despite the analogies to walmart or other public places, hospitals are different. Healthcare is different. Why? It's a job where people suffer and die. And they bleed and they poop and they sometimes are unable to care for themselves. So we are expected to be able to handle exposure and deal with the whole human if the situation calls for it. People that do expose themselves deliberately are taking advantage of this fact. If you let them have control, you're feeding the problem. On the other hand, I do think that it's almost squeamish to take an attitude of "I shouldn't have to deal with this on the job" to begin with.

/ramble off

LoriAlabamaRN · Jul 7, 2006

I've been in this situation myself, with a resident who is convinced he has the most magnificent tallywacker in the free world, accuses us of "wanting to play with it" and offering to "knock you up." I charted like crazy in the behavioral notes, and he was told the next day by my wonderful DON that he was going to be sent to a psychiatric facility for an evaluation because she would not tolerate him abusing her staff like that. About ten minutes later he called her desk pleading for another chance and swearing that he would be good. So far, no more problems!