Why is it "legal" for patient to decline male nurses?

[carti]

I don't know if that is the right word I'm looking for. Why is it considered "ok" and acceptable for patients to decline male nurses caring for them or even just for procedures such as putting in a Foley?

Background: I'm a senior nursing student (male) and I've had about 3-4 patients my entire nursing school career who refused to have a male nurse come in. For example, today at clinicals, I had a female patient with an order for a Foley before discharge, and she told my preceptor for me to leave the room. Another example, during my 2nd semester, I experienced 2 different occasions where the patient refused to have any care by a male whatsoever.

I feel like that is literally like a White couple coming into a restaurant and refusing service from a Black/Latino server and requesting a white server.

Why can't the hospital just say, " If you don't want a male nurses, then leave?" I think it's crazy that in the year 2019, no one bats an eye if a patient refuses care by a male nurse, and the automatic response is " Don't worry! As a male nurse you have to get used to it! ? "

[carti, BSN, RN]

29 minutes ago, Tenebrae said:

As a rape and sexual abuse survivor, I know that not all men are like the men who assaulted me.

That said, having a male handle my intimate bits would absolutely set off PTSD which is why I would choose to have a female nurse do anything that personal.

Because dear lad, its not about us as nurses, its about the patient. We dont have to like their rationale or reasoning, however they have every right to make decisions around the provision of their healthcare.

I'm sorry for your experience, but then again you can say the SAME thing for any ethnicity/gender/race.

If my sister was raped by a black man, would it be ok if everywhere she went to declined to have a black server? Would it be ok if she requested her daughter be removed from her 3rd grade class because her teacher was a black man? Would it be ok if she refused to board a plane because the pilot was black?

Not all people are the same. I still don't see how this affects ANYTHING whatsoever. I want to see how this entire forum would react if there was a good portion of patients who declined White women from being their nurses. Obviously, that would gather way more attention. But since guy only make up a very small portion of nurses, this isn't a "big" issue in the nursing world. Oh well, maybe in 15-20 years, patients will get told to leave if they refused a nurse based on the nurses's identify.

[carti, BSN, RN]

On 2/28/2019 at 4:40 PM, FolksBtrippin said:

The patient can refuse anyone and no one is going to think poorly of a female patient who wants her Foley inserted by a female.

You can get your panties in a bunch about it, if you want.

But try for a moment to imagine what it will be like when you start demanding to see a lady's private parts so that your equal rights as a male are protected.

Maybe you are smart enough to see how poorly that will go for you, even if you are not humble enough to put the patient's needs above your own.

If you can't get a grip on how outrageous you are being please consider changing your major. Computer science maybe.

It's a form of discrimination so obviously I'm going to speak up about this problem. You telling me " Just deal with it" is what they used to tell minorities back in the day when they would argue for their rights. It's people like you who have backwards thinking and are anti-progressive. Whatever tho!

And for sure, I will change my major! After working hard for 4 year for my BSN! I will totally change it when I am 1 semester away from graduating because someone on the internet told me! Lol.............

[emmjayy, BSN, RN]

41 minutes ago, Cowboy96 said:

I'm sorry for your experience, but then again you can say the SAME thing for any ethnicity/gender/race.

If my sister was raped by a black man, would it be ok if everywhere she went to declined to have a black server? Would it be ok if she requested her daughter be removed from her 3rd grade class because her teacher was a black man? Would it be ok if she refused to board a plane because the pilot was black?

Not all people are the same. I still don't see how this affects ANYTHING whatsoever. I want to see how this entire forum would react if there was a good portion of patients who declined White women from being their nurses. Obviously, that would gather way more attention. But since guy only make up a very small portion of nurses, this isn't a "big" issue in the nursing world. Oh well, maybe in 15-20 years, patients will get told to leave if they refused a nurse based on the nurses's identify.

You seem awfully unable to grasp the difference between a person's right to REFUSE service (for any reason whatsoever) and a healthcare provider's duty to PROVIDE service regardless of the patient's race, gender, orientation, etc.

Yes, it would be okay for your hypothetical sister to refuse to RECEIVE services based upon someone's skin color. It would probably become inconvenient for her to do so, but her right to refuse would remain. It would NOT be okay for your hypothetical sister to become a nurse and then refuse to PROVIDE SERVICES to someone on the basis of their skin color. See the difference?

[carti, BSN, RN]

32 minutes ago, emmjayy said:

You seem awfully unable to grasp the difference between a person's right to REFUSE service (for any reason whatsoever) and a healthcare provider's duty to PROVIDE service regardless of the patient's race, gender, orientation, etc.

Yes, it would be okay for your hypothetical sister to refuse to RECEIVE services based upon someone's skin color. It would probably become inconvenient for her to do so, but her right to refuse would remain. It would NOT be okay for your hypothetical sister to become a nurse and then refuse to PROVIDE SERVICES to someone on the basis of their skin color. See the difference?

Nah, I ain't having that lol. This is 2019, not 1920. You guys might support this, but this is gonna change.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

49 minutes ago, emmjayy said:

You seem awfully unable to grasp the difference between a person's right to REFUSE service (for any reason whatsoever) and a healthcare provider's duty to PROVIDE service regardless of the patient's race, gender, orientation, etc.

Yes, it would be okay for your hypothetical sister to refuse to RECEIVE services based upon someone's skin color. It would probably become inconvenient for her to do so, but her right to refuse would remain. It would NOT be okay for your hypothetical sister to become a nurse and then refuse to PROVIDE SERVICES to someone on the basis of their skin color. See the difference?

what they said

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

16 minutes ago, Cowboy96 said:

Nah, I ain't having that lol. This is 2019, not 1920. You guys might support this, but this is gonna change.

Until you can grasp the fact that patients have the right to make decisons about their own healthcare, you will struggle in nursing

We dont have to like their decisions, the fact remains they are their decisons and to force our perspective on them because we think their decison is wrong is tatmount to abuse

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

@Cowboy96, perhaps you should take a good hard long look at your career path. You've started some interesting topics here, this one where you want patients to bend to your will to provide their care despite their fundamental right to autonomy and your post about the "least demanding" nursing jobs so that you can take your remaining medical school prereqs. Health care is not about you unless you are the patient. Health care, and especially nursing, is about returning patients to their optimum level of health. If that means providing them such comfort measures as providing caregivers of a certain gender when dealing with intimate procedures, so be it. Stop making it about you.

[Wuzzie]

17 minutes ago, Cowboy96 said:

Nah, I ain't having that lol. This is 2019, not 1920. You guys might support this, but this is gonna change.

Nah, it isn’t going to change. As a millennial in the midst of the current societal uproar about safe-spaces and triggers you seem extraordinarily obtuse. Like I said before. I really think you should skip getting a job in nursing and go to med school like you plan. You’ll be much happier.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

33 minutes ago, Cowboy96 said:

Nah, I ain't having that lol. This is 2019, not 1920. You guys might support this, but this is gonna change.

Nah, it's not gonna change. You try to inflict yourself on a female who doesn't want you to insert her foley, you will be fired, if not charged with battery.

I really don't believe you are for real. I think you just like to stir the pot because you are incredibly bored. Maybe a hobby might help.

I don't know why everyone thinks you should be a doctor, either. Doctors have to respect patients' autonomy also.

[AnnieNP, MSN, NP]

Cowboy96, I think you should consider another line of work. I have doubts that you will survive in any type of healthcare setting.

[Wuzzie]

14 minutes ago, Horseshoe said:

don't know why everyone thinks you should be a doctor, either. Doctors have to respect patients' autonomy also.

Cowboy96 has previously posted he’s just using nursing as a stop along the way as he pursues being a doctor. See his previous post about wanting an easy, laid back job that won’t interfere with his studying. He was thinking psych or post-partum because his experience there was the nurses don’t really do anything. Oh and he also didn’t think he should be forced to take OB while in school because only 1% of men go into it as a career.

[ShadowNurse]

I sincerely hope your nursing school never sees what you have said here, Cowboy. I would dismiss you from the program if I were your director of nursing education. And I certainly wouldn't let you into medical school either. You are not suited for this line of work in any capacity. Hopefully you do something not dangerous to patients that gets you dismissed instead.