You've Got To Be Kidding Me

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

We got a new admission the other day. A very sick 82 year old woman. I reviewed her chart and was surprised to see these questions:

1.Have you been sexually active in the last 6 months? She answered yes ---( you go girl!)

2.What gender do you consider yourself to be?

3. What pronoun do you want us to use?

I was surprised since none of the hospitals where I come from would never ask an 82 year old woman what gender she considered herself to be.

[bluegeegoo2, LPN]

To quote the great Bob Dylan: "The Times They are A-Changin."

[3ringnursing, BSN]

I work in an organization that deals with the indigent population doing primary care, BH, and infectious disease from a wide variety of clinics scattered all over town.

We've had those questions on the documentation area of our EMR since I started over 3 years ago. But - with the big disclaimer BUT - our organization invested in LGBTQ sensitivity training, and lot's of it, so those question don't even make me twitch an eyelash now as anything but standard.

I have men that call telephone triage preferring to be called female names, and vise versa. No problem. I can do that.

I've always been a flexible, ease going person, so it is all in a days work to me.

[sideshowstarlet, BSN, RN]

LOL! That's never been a question with the Meditech system my hospital uses, the AOD (Answers on Demand) system my old nursing home uses, or the crappy 100% paper charting my first nursing home used. I asked a friend who works in pediatrics, and it's not a question in the Epic system they use either. Could this have been in response to a complaint? That's where a lot of extra paperwork seems to come from.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

1.Have you been sexually active in the last 6 months? She answered yes ---( you go girl!)

2.What gender do you consider yourself to be? Human

3. What pronoun do you want us to use? Your Majesty

[oceanblue52]

The gender questions can seem a bit odd at first, but it's nice to see that facilities are developing better awareness of LGBTQ populations, which can actually have a huge effect on treatment. As far as sexual activity, that is probably because geriatric populations are at very high risk for developing STDs. Does your facility follow up with testing or more focused assessment?

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

Yep, it's LGBTQ awareness. It may not be super-prevalent in the LTC-age generation (depending on where you live), but I really like it. If you have a transgender or gender neutral/ambiguous patient, it is way less awkward (for the patient and staff) to have that charted/established than to try to figure it out while talking to the patient (or pulling out the bedpan!)

Regardless of the patient's sex (anatomical), it's considered respectful and builds a therapeutic rapport to use their preferred pronouns based on gender (identity). I actually kind of wish that there was a question for all patients at intake about how they'd like to be addressed (i.e. first name, Mr./Mrs. last name, nickname, Ma'am, His Royal Highness GuyinBabyland, lol)

[Ann27]

Welcome to our current culture where there are no absolutes. They should clarify the gender question, though: What gender to you feel like...today?

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

Good for them!! I think this is great. The questions are awkward to ask at first but then they just become part of the assessment.

[BedsideNurse]

I am not anti LGBTQ, but if I'm admitting a critically ill patient to ICU and have to start asking about pronouns (after the 10 minute vaccination interrogation) I'll lose my mind.

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

On my unit, when admitting a patient, we always ask what they would like to be called and then put that on the whiteboard. If I don't know (like if they are post-op drowsy) it's Mr/Ms. until they direct me otherwise. When i worked OR and did my pre-op interview, i asked the same thing because if a person answers to Bob, he may not respond when someone hollers at him "Robert, take a deep breath!"

If the person has dementia, I might ask family what they answer to. if no family? The default Mr./Ms./Sir, Maam.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Every time I go to the doctor I wait for them to ask "Are you sexually active?" so I can say, "No, I usually just lie there!!"

I ran a SNF in a community that was LGBTQ friendly before there were so many initials to choose from. Our one question: What do you want us to call you? Mr/Mrs Macguilicutty ,Bob, or Mary?

In one hospital around here, the nurses are not allowed to chart he or she. The only pronoun used is they. Sorry...I'm a she. Please use that pronoun. I guess it helps since there are so many foreign doctors and their misuse of pronouns has nothing to do with gender identity.

And, no, we don't do routine testing for STDs. If the resident has symptoms we will but not routinely.