"You're are nurse, it's part of your job, so go and do it" Sharon ordered. She was of course talking about my patient, Mrs Smith. Mrs Smith was forty years old and was day two post an abdominal hyseterctomy. The catheter had come out and needed to be replaced because she was having trouble passing urine. "I can't go down there" up until now I had never had a disagreement with my preceptor. "I'm sorry, but you are going to have to do it. I have to catheterize men, so you have to do women." I could see Sharon's point, but it still didn't make it seem right. "Sharon, I've never done one before, this is crazy" Sharon then went on to give me some very detailed instructions.
I explained to Mrs Smith what was going to happen. "You're going to do it?" her face showed absolute horror. "Well I'm supposed to, but if you'd prefer, I can get one of the girls to do it." Mrs Smith's face instantly registered relief. "I'll got get someone now"
It was only my third week out of college, and as such I didn't really know what my options were in this situation, and that is why I had a preceptor, Sharon, but she wasn't giving me any options.
"She doesn't want me to do it" I said to Sharon. She shook her head in disgust "More likely you gave her the choice. You're a nurse, act like one. Tell her you're a professional and it's part of the job." I could see that I was not going to convince Sharon otherwise and went in search of another nurse.
"Ah, you can't go and give a catheter on your own" Leslie said. Leslie was another young nurse like myself, she had been one year ahead of me in nursing college, "You need a chaperone." I felt a shiver go down my spine as I thought at the potential trouble I could have got in if I had gone ahead and inserted the catheter. I even imagined my name making the front page of the local newspaper with the headline "Male nurse assaults female patient." I explained to Leslie what Sharon had ordered me to do and she couldn't understand why she would be so carelss. "Well, if I need a chaperone, then a female may as well do it" I reasoned. Leslie kindly offered to do the job for me.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Jobs that a male nurse shouldn't have to do
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3 comments:
I think you make a valid point. Not about not doing the catheterization because you are male, but because the patient was uncomfortable with the idea. Kudos to you for telling "Sharon" to get stuffed. I would've done the same if I were a male nurse in your position. There's absolutely no reason to make everyone in the situation uncomfortable.
Interesting accounts. A few questions:
-- Why is this gender question almost always approached from the perspective of a male nurse working on a female patient and not vice a versa?
-- Why is it just assumed that it's perfectly okay for a young female nurse to work a vulnerable teenage boy, and it's not okay for a young male nurse to work an a vulnerable teenage girl?
-- Why is asking a patient for his or her gender preference for a intimate exam or procedure considered such a no no. It seems male nurses ask that quesiton of female patients but female nurses rarely if ever ask it of male patients. Why?
-- Why all these assumptions? Where do they come from? What facts or data or studies do we have to back them up? Are they based on stereotypes of prejudices, or can we really back them up with emperical studies?
-- Why is this subject rarely discussed? Is there the assumption that it isn't important or just doesn't matter?
Hi MER, to answer a few of your questions. I think gener is almost always approached from a male working on a woman is due to nursing historically and still predominantly a female profession, plus women are still the huge majority of some sort of abuse/attack by men.
As for a nurse working on a young teenage boy, in every case where I've worked the nurses asked myself or another male nurse to help, which we did.
I feel I use common sense, not political correctness when gender issues come up. I'm not a sexless profession.
I like your comments.
Thanks.
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