SURVEY QUESTION!!!

[nurse2211]

Have skulked on the site for a couple of years but never posted before. There's lunch for three riding on the outcome of this survey question. The three us have agreed to accept the results collated herein to determine the winner. We recently had a debate about patient modesty and the proclivities and preferences of each gender.

QUESTION: REGARDING MALE PATIENTS ONLY: The majority of male patients in the office for a routine physical or an issue or injury between between the knees and the sternum, prefer to: (please assign a percentage with your answer, in the event the results are close. We need a definitive winner)

a) Wear all their clothing, only removing pieces when directed to by the attending doctor.

b) Wear the cloth or disposable paper exam gown.

c) Remain in their underwear.

d) Be naked.

Polling closes Wednesday, as lunch will be Thursday.

Thanks for your participation!

Long Island nurse

[loriangel14, RN]

They will likely do what they are instructed to do.

[runnergirl86, BSN, MSN]

A) 100%

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

It's not just the men; why in the world would anyone undress in an exam room at the docs office unless instructed to do so...no brainer, it's A :)...99.9%

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

It is "A" 99.9% of the time.

Women are used to going for an appointment/ER whatever and putting on a gown. Layers, bras, heaven forbid spanx....the layers are best peeled off in private, and covered with a gown, with one's panties folded in between one's jeans on the chair (HAHAHAHA--true story).

Men, however, are more used to chit chat of "How about them Eagles, Doc" talk, "gotten any fishing in lately...well, I got this private issue...."

The best is the look on their face when the nurse asks them to undress and put the gown on....99% of the time they tie it in the front...and wrap themselves up like a burrito with the sheet. But you have to ask. Even if the gown is lying on the bed. If the nurse assumes that a male patient will know the drill, if the male patient ends up on the bed (and you can't hardly pry them from the chair) the only thing that is on the gown is the patient's feet.....

And so it goes...

Let us know the results!

[nurse2211]

OK, looks like I'm going to lose. Oh, well. Maybe it's a geographical thing. Most of our male patients in for a physical exam almost instinctively disrobe to undies or put on the disposable gown - without the asking. Almost none are fully dressed when the doctor arrives.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

OK, looks like I'm going to lose. Oh, well. Maybe it's a geographical thing. Most of our male patients in for a physical exam almost instinctively disrobe to undies or put on the disposable gown - without the asking. Almost none are fully dressed when the doctor arrives.

Are you in the United States and what kind of doc office is it (if you would)? So, do you lay out a disposable gown for them; when you say instinctively...I'm curious what that means.

Thank you,

[nurse2211]

As to your question, I work on Long Island, about 50 miles east of New York City, although I also spent nine years in a hospital in Manhattan.

Our policy here is to request that the male patients use the disposable paper gowns, which most of them hate. Some will just strip down to undies. Some dutifully comply, but hardly any of them just sit there fully dressed. Apparently, as demonstrated by some of the answers, that's not common in other parts of the country -- or maybe other parts of the world, since I know not from where the posters hail.

Spice of life, I suppose.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

As to your question, I work on Long Island, about 50 miles east of New York City, although I also spent nine years in a hospital in Manhattan.

Our policy here is to request that the male patients use the disposable paper gowns, which most of them hate. Some will just strip down to undies. Some dutifully comply, but hardly any of them just sit there fully dressed. Apparently, as demonstrated by some of the answers, that's not common in other parts of the country -- or maybe other parts of the world, since I know not from where the posters hail.

Spice of life, I suppose.

If you haven't figured it out yet, your survey question did not make it clear that you were putting the patients in the rooms with a request to strip down to their undies and put on a disposable gown. Your question, the way you presented it, made it sound like you put someone in the room and left them there; that they knew they were going to have a physical, and that was it.

You did not make it clear that the patient was, in fact, given instructions to strip and put on the disposable gown. People can't read your mind....you need to include all details in survey questions like that. How were we suppose to know that you had given them instructions to strip and put on a gown unless you told us?

[nurse2211]

I thought it was implied with the question, as that's the standard line to virtually all patients (male as well as female, once they're led to the exam room) However, upon further review, I can see you're absolutely correct. Mea Culpa! I should have been clearer.

I guess it should read: Once a male patient, who is in need of a routine physical or examination of a knee injury (for example), is led to the exam room and instructed to don the disposable gown, history has proven that he is most likely to:

A) Put on the gown, as instructed.

B) Ignore the gown and simply disrobe to undies.

C) Remain completely dressed until the doctor arrives and then only remove clothing as doctor directs.

D) Be naked.

Once again, thanks for setting me straight.