[bayleaf36ff]

all this brings me to the part I haven't shared yet... At my hospital, many of the units/floors have policies against men cathing females. For example, in our ED, the men cath the male patients, and the women cath the female patients. That's policy. Women are allowed to cath men, but men are not allowed to cath women. On my unit, it's unwritten policy... We cath the males, and the women cath the females. There's always 2 or 3 guys working, so it's never been an issue.

[OldSquidNewNurse]

I had the opposite reaction in regards to being male. During my last clincial on an Ortho Med/Surg floor a male who was in his early 20's with a C-4 to T-1 fx didn't want me to bath him (homo Phobia even through I'm not gay, not that's there's anything wrong with that). So I assisted the LPN in bathing him. Anyone else come across a simular situation?

[Ricu]

Hi Squid,

I have had similar experiences and I agree with your assessment that there may be some degree of paranoia of some sort. This is I think more common among younger guys. They have a thing about vulnerability or physical contact with other men. It may be some kind of homophobic reaction- any psychologists out there care to comment? Your patient probably has something more going on given the nature of his injury. Is there paralysis? Is it permanent? He likely has some body image crisis especially in terms of his sexuality. Any idea how he's making out?

R