This is very hard to put into words without trying to offend anyone in particular.
For those patients that have been confined to their bed/room for long periods of time, is there enough privacy given to them where they can 'release' their tensions in the form of masturbation? Are spouses/partners allowed to be intimate with the patient? I know this is a touchy subject, no pun intended. But sexuality is part of recovery as there is proven facts of the benefits of an orgasm.
Please note, this thread is not intended to vulgarize this subject. Seriously. What is your opinion, if any, on this matter?
I really don't think the hospital is the place for this kind of stuff either. At least you know I'll never be engaged in sexual anything when I become the patient. And when you're sick, who thinks of this stuff. If I get too horny, I'll wait until I get home
BUT, I did find two males going at it. No curtains pulled or door closed. All I remember saying is "OOPS!" I closed the door for their privacy and went back later with the meds. :imbar :imbar :imbar !!!
I also agree that the hospital is not the place for secret rendevouz (spl?). As for long term care, it's their home so they should be allowed to have what little pleasures they can. My only rules are that they do it in private and that it be between two consenting adults.
It is the home of residents who reside in LTC, but (and it is a big but) what about STDs?
Especially with our elderly this is a rather taboo subject but the problem is growing.
LTC residents who engage in sexual activity are no longer Just the married couple, the couple who develops and maintains a long term relationship or simple self pleasure.
I know of one LTC resident who was a young disabled woman who offered sexual favors in return for money, cigarettes, candy and (it was believed) other residents pain meds. She was unable and/or unwilling to care for herself after these liasons and her partners did not assist her. It was left to the staff to clean her up.
Further more it was suspected that some of her partners were Hep B or C positive, HIV positive, etc. We do not routinely test for these illnesses, so are we responsible if one of our residents becomes ill? Should we routinely test for STDs? Do we call the police for suspected prostitution? How do we best protect our residents?
Then there are couples who one partner is a resident (for what ever reason) and they engage in sexual activity in a room with the curtain drawn, but what if the roomate is in the room awake, aware, but unable to remove themself or turn on the call bell to ask to be removed?
Is this scenerio abusive? I would think so if it were myself or my family member.
I've aLso seen residents get "reputations" leading to depression and so much anxiety that they refuse to leave their room.
laughingfairy- You make some really good points. I read something awhile back about HIV and the elderly. It's a serious problem and something that isn't talked about very much in LTC.
Enjoying this thread. This is the sort of thing they don't teach you in nursing school! :chuckle
One night in the ED I was getting report and one the patients had supposedly been masterbating with his self-cath and had a retrograde or reverse ejaculation and lost the cath. Have any urology nurses heard of such a thing? Or was it just that he lost his grip on the cath?
I don't know anything about what goes on in LTC, but when I was in school and finishing my psych rotation, I was assigned to a lady that I was told to "keep an eye on"....this pt had earned the right, over time and good behavior to go out on this facilities' grounds to smoke unattended 3x/day.
One day, they took pts to the local mall for some shopping and were amazed that she had so much money to spend at as she had no family or friends contributing to her pt account. When asked how she got the money, she simply stated that she'd "earned it".....after installing a camera in the smoking hut outside, all caregivers soon realized exactly how.
She even told me during our talk that she liked it and planned to continue. The male patients that she serviced seemed pleased with this arrangement as well.
night owl
1,134 Posts
I really don't think the hospital is the place for this kind of stuff either. At least you know I'll never be engaged in sexual anything when I become the patient. And when you're sick, who thinks of this stuff. If I get too horny, I'll wait until I get home
BUT, I did find two males going at it. No curtains pulled or door closed.
All I remember saying is "OOPS!" I closed the door for their privacy and went back later with the meds. :imbar :imbar :imbar !!!