Saturday, June 18, 2011

Really, Sir?

I did not realize that using a urinal was so complicated. My rather healthy young adult male patient assured me that he genuinely needed my assistance to urinate in the ubiquitous plastic container. He was not in any way paralyzed. He was not one of those males so obese that he needed help locating his penis. He simply wanted me to position and hold it in place while he used the urinal. That would be a no.
Of course he later used the urinal successfully all by himself.

7 comments:

  1. Maybe he was just lonely?

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  2. We had an guy like that in the ER recently. He told the nurse he was so weak that he needed her to open his pants, find his penis, and hold it in the urinal for him.

    She told him she'd send somebody right in to help him, left the room, and flagged down the nearest student nurse with a beard. (Hi there.)

    The second I walked in, he had a miraculous recovery and found the strength to walk all the way to the toilet.

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  3. I like that approach, Scrub Ninja. That is one reason why we need more male nurses!

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  4. Ha! Definitely the time to find the largest, hairiest male nurse to assist.

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  5. 'atta boy! cookies for the big boy?

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  6. I have often noticed that perfectly capable patients and family members change in a hospital setting. Most Changes are due to a sense of entitlement or fear. I always push tough love. I have however had to rub cream into testicles of perfectly capable man. I'd like to believe it wasn't cause he was a pervert,although I've run into those too.

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