BLOKES may come across all beards and bluster, but underneath they’re sensitive souls who are not sure which way to turn when confronted by naked ladies.
OK, so some men are fuelled by high octane testosterone and are as sensitive as a brick, but it seems that female flesh can leave male nurses feeling isolated and embarrassed because they are not trained to provide intimate care to women patients.
Research reported in Nursing Standard (Sept 6) says that male nurses lack formal preparation in dealing with female clients. As a result, they develop their own strategies when providing intimate care.
Some men focus rigidly on the task, blotting out the patient’s gender, while others use humour to dissipate the awkwardness they feel.
But such strategies do not always work and the subsequent embarrassment experienced by male nurses could explain why they are four times more likely to leave the profession than female nurses, the study suggests.
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A nurse who took part in the research says that providing intimate care is more difficult for men, “especially with an exceptionally pretty patient”. He adds: “I am more aware of my gender because female clients do not always look at me as a nurse.”
And nor, it seems, do female nurses. Another respondent said that when colleagues are going home after work, they often say “Have a good shift, girls”, which can leave male nurses feeling excluded.
A consultant in emergency nursing tells Nursing Standard that both male and female nurses need more guidance. “There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding how intimate care should be carried out.”