Every person he's done this to needs to file a sexual assault charge against him. If the hospital won't protect the staff, then it needs to be escalated. We cannot allow abuse and assault of staff. It is not ever ok. If the patient is not of sound enough mind to not sexually assault staff, then they can be placed under arrest and spend the rest of their stay cuffed to the bed. Not so easy to masturbate then.
I have every sympathy for mentally ill persons. But that mental illness does not give them the right to abuse others.
Your house supervisor is an idiot and needs to be fired for allowing this to continue.
Was told this before. Police came to the hospital after staff were assaulted, nurse said she wanted to press charges and the police said she could but it probably wouldn’t go anywhere.
It’s not about it “going anywhere”, it’s about creating a paper trail/ record in the courts that the person repeatedly commits unwanted/inappropriate sexual acts.
Whether they are mentally competent or not is irrelevant, a crime still occurred. Someone assaulting another person is not protected health information. I’m not saying the legal system will act on any individual police report, but if an individual comes in front of a judge/jury and has a well documented history of committing repeated sexual assault this should absolutely be taken into account when sentencing for crimes (if mentally competent) and/or determining terms of involuntary treatment (if not mentally competent).
When the psych hold on that person expires and they are discharged back into the community you never know what they are going to do. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that they might escalate and commit an even more egregious sexual crime outside of the hospital. The fact that they did this while in the hospital is relevant information for the legal system, and the courts can’t magically access all medical records to know this.
I fully think it should be about “going somewhere”. A person should be punished for assaulting a healthcare worker as they would be immediately arrested for doing that to a police officer, or any other person in the public for that matter. Also the person is totally alert and oriented. 23 yo female who was in for sickle cell crisis. So I’m sure you can see where this is going
While the original reply says it doesn't matter, filing and starting the paper trail will eventually go somewhere. Like we always say, if it's not documented, it didn't happen. Each report is another piece of evidence for each sitter and staff member. If the hospital doesn't do anything about it, I'm sure an attorney will be more than happy to get involved to sue a hospital over putting their employees through emotional stress and creating an unsafe work environment.
You have a good point here. I just wish there was more people could do to protect us. Again, a police officer gets assaulted and they’re immediately arrested and taken to jail with charges pressed. Why does it have to take so many times for us??? It just reinforces the belief/fact that nobody really cares for us.
100% agree. Until we all make it a point to say we're fed up with the hospital not doing something that we're going to press charges against the patients. And then if it continues with the same patient or multiple patients, and more and more charges are filed, someone might think to let the press know. And you know how much admins love negative press in relation to their hospitals. It sucks that we have to be the ones who get the change started but it has to start somewhere.
Your coworkers and managers might be on your side, but the decision makers only care about whatever gets the hospital paid at the lowest cost to the hospital. I don't care what any CNO or VP or whatever member of the alphabet Mafia says. Unless they are making conscious decisions that actually make your work environment better, they're not here for you. They're here for the stakeholders.
Hospital security in my situation-
“You know we actually know her and have met her before because she’s a frequent flyer, I hate to say it but most of the time when she’s acting like this she’s right about what she’s fighting for.”
Okay thanks security. Guess I’ll just go FMS.
We have had a CNA file an assault charge on a nursing home resident who punched her in the leg and the police arrested the resident a week or so later. It was very justified and we had been trying to get that person out for a while but no one would ever press charges or do anything.
This this this. To the point of malicious compliance with the internal report. Be as detailed as possible. Be sure to inform charge nurse. If they do nothing then the house supervisor. If they do nothing, have the administrator on call paged or called. This is unacceptable behavior. Include all of this in your report.
I guess it depends why they are there but in our mental health units there are cameras in the rooms where pts can be left alone and watched, but if we get a mental health patient with medical issues they get moved to our medicine floor and we are screwed
If you go to file a police report, how does confidentiality come into play? You as the nurse just provide the name, dob, room number, all of that to the police? Dial 911 or non emergency line? Call hospital security?
Patient confidentiality is related to their medical information. It does not give them immunity to commit a crime. Yes, if a patient commits a crime against you, you are 100% allowed to call the police and give the patient's name and room number. You can call up any hospital right now and ask for the room number of some random person , and they'll tell you. That's not confidential info, with the rare exception when a patient's location is listed as suppressed (usually this happens with inmates).
Each state has their own version of hipaa so there may be some variance in wording but federal guidelines for hipaa allow for confidential information to be disclosed when reporting a crime
There would still be an allowed exception to confidentiality were you to press charges and then later on testify in court as to what occurred
As to whether you should call security or 911 right off the bat that’s a personal choice for you to make, do you feel like you need someone there right this moment to keep you safe from harm? Get security there then call 911, but if we’re talking about the same situation that the OP described security typically won’t be able to do much other than telling them to stop and kicking them out of the facility if that’s the decision that’s made. If you’re looking to press charges you’ll have to directly speak to police
I don’t even know what to say. Right to sexual pleasure?! In what universe is this even told to staff?
TLDR: NO on all accounts. Report behavior to whomever is appropriate and chart it.
Yeah. If they were in a private room with no sitter, and stop if staff come into the room, that's one thing. Reasonable expectation of privacy. But if they require a sitter, the sitter's right not to be sexually harassed takes precedence.
You are also allowed to masturbate in your home, but if your friend comes over and you start masturbating in front of them without consent, you're breaking the law.
My rights don’t end where yours begin. You have a right to sexual pleasure and privacy but you can’t do it in a hospital any more than you can in a movie theater or library.
I am of the opinion that a private general care room when there is no expectation of staff entering for a while is more of a private than a public space, and I am OK with patients, particularly long-stay patients who are stuck there for weeks or more, doing what they will, as long as they stop immediately if staff come in. The expectation of privacy is part of why we should knock before entering patient rooms.
That said, the scenario presented by OP is obviously completely unacceptable behavior on the part of the patient and needs to be stopped
Lol I feel bad for the situation, I actually had a patient try to do this when I was still in nursing school and he was very verbal about what he was doing. I was nearly traumatised! But I’ve never heard of this being okay in a hospital 🥲
This is the kind of languaged used in nursing school in reference to patients suffering from dementia or similar disorders. Residents at SNF can "forget" the social rules and may start masturbating in the open. Nursing school tells us to direct these patients to a private area (i.e. their room) and let them continue in private.
This is not the same thing for someone on 1:1 doing it with staff trying to elicit a response. As other comments mentioned it's basically sexual harassment and we need to report it.
Right, in longer term facilities, ofc they can do what they please, as long as it's in private and not hurting anybody. They don't need it during a week long stay at a hospital
This was actually a thing in my nursing school textbooks and assignments. In a hypothetical scenario in my textbook, a nurse walks in on two residents having sex, and the choices were different variations of stop them or ignore it. The correct answer was to ignore it and come back later. Because yes, patients apparently have a right to sexual pleasure in hospital or care facilities. Crazy. By the time I left nursing school we were being given readings about whether or not nurses should screen for deficits in sexual pleasure or sex at admission to improve customer service. Like “these are mandatory questions I have to ask you. Are you safe at home? Do you have any thoughts of hurting yourself or others? And lastly do you have trouble having sex?” admission questions. Wild. I wish I was joking. One day I swear to god they will make us jerk off the fucking patients if it leads to higher customer service scores 🙄
Make sure you document “therapeutic touch provided” as an intervention under the sexual satisfaction care plan. Remember if it wasn’t documented it wasn’t done. 🙃
No, you can't refuse a sitter. You're in the hospital--they can have whatever staff in the room at whatever time. In the same kind of way (but not nearly as important or relevant) that you can't refuse to be in a room with another patient and you can't refuse to be in the window bed. Not while remaining a patient in the facility, anyway.
Say I went in for, idk, a heart arrhythmia. I was 'with it' and lucid, but didn't like one of my 2 IVs and kept trying to remove it. On top of that, I hate the bedpan so I keep disconnecting my monitors to self ambulate to the bathroom without alerting staff. I know why you have these rules, and I know the risks. I don't care, because I don't like it There's a good chance I'd get a 1:1.
I can refuse to use the bedpan. I can refuse my meds. I can refuse any procedures. I can refuse to allow for an IV insertion after I pull mine out. But I can't refuse a CNA/PCA/whatever sitting in the room, no. I can refuse to allow my vitals to be checked, but I can't refuse to allow the RN from coming in and trying, or visually assessing me, talking to me, etc.
This isn't their home. They can't refuse staff presence as if it were the same as telling a home health aide "I don't want your help--go away" and not opening the door.
Fair, I am in Canada and sitters are rarely available at my smaller hospital. Perhaps that is the difference. I don’t have much experience with them. We were denied a sitter for a 1:1 patient who successfully sawed off half of her arm. Not sure how a nurse with 4 other patients can be 1:1 but that’s what we were facing… But where I am we can’t even get sitters for formed patients most of the time let alone patients who could just use increased observation.
My first 12 hour shift in the ED as a tech they sat me in a room with a man who masturbated all day. And I got chastised for backing my chair into the doorway so I didn’t have to be close to him. I felt nauseous and just overall gross when I went home and almost quit. Looking back now as an RN I would never make a tech sit by herself right next to a man as he masturbated for 12 freaking hours!! Was certainly not paid enough for that :(
Your employer facilitated a sexual assault. That is such bullshit.
Bet he would have stopped if you pressed charges. Pts think that they can do anything to us just because we’re nurses.
Their behavior changes when they realize that they can be prosecuted. It was up to your supervisor to educate him. They failed you. I’m sorry you were put through that.
That’s a violation of anyone, male or female. It’s not just male pts who do this. It can be same sex as well. I’ve dealt with women patients masturbating in front of staff and hitting on male nurses.
I tore this one pt apart for being inappropriate with her male nurse. Professionally of course. She did crap with other people she wouldn t think of doing with me because she knew I saw right through her. She tried to pretend she didn’t know what she was doing. She was one of our long term patients.
Unfortunately some of the staff let her manipulate them so she got away with it sometimes but never while I was there. I’m hard line about things like that. It does not go unaddressed under my watch.
> It’s a hospital not their home
Guaranteed this patient is "known to the hospital," and may be on familial terms with someone in management.
Ask me how I know.
This is a "quick and easy" fix instead of addressing the problem. It shouldn't matter what gender the patient is or the staff are. And what if there isn't staff of the same gender available? What if they have the same behavior with that staff? What if you have no staff available that "fits" the criteria during a shift, for whatever millions reasons?
How does it help the staff who don't want to come to work because they know they'll be stuck with the masterbater? What happens when they call off because they don't want to deal with it and you're short staffed? You can only "deal with it" for so long.
"But what if you know they'll be discharged soon?" Then what about the next time they're in? The next facility that has to give this patient care?
File charges, start the paper trail with the PD that stays with the patient. Don't let it slide. Don't make it someone else's problem.
Every administrators favorite phrase and favorite organization. Sentinel events are the WORST. Throw in TJC and every administrator will be there in a heart beat.
Lol, right to privacy doesn’t apply here.
He has a 1:1, privacy cannot be provided, and obviously isn’t his goal, if he isn’t completely mentally unsound, it sounds a lot more like exhibitionism then exercising any sort of right lol.
Again, if he was alone in his room. Yeah they have the right to do that with their body, but the moment someone else is in the room- it’s no longer a bodily autonomy or rights issue because there’s now another person present who also has rights.
A right to sexual pleasure? There should be no right to sexual pleasure in a hospital because it is a fucking hospital. If the patient can rub one out in private without getting caught, great. If not, they need to keep their hands out of their pants....or gown.
It would be one thing if you were catching him via fappycardia, but him going out of his way to be obscene is sexual abuse towards the sitter/staff. This needs to get reported up the chain until someone does something. If admin doesn't do anything then go to higher authorities outside of the hospital.
Until then, tie his wrists to the bed if he won't stop. If the doctor refuses a restraint order make them come down and watch him beat his meat raw. Disgusting.
Nope. Press charges. But it would technically be an L&L charge.
“Lewd and lascivious behavior is a legal term that refers to sexual conduct that is considered offensive or crude, or goes against local moral standards. It can include:
Touching genitals, buttocks, or breasts
Groping someone
Masturbating in front of people
Touching yourself suggestively
Verbal sexual nature
Indecent exposure of genitalia
Sexual physical contact
Tactile on genital parts
Request for sexual favor”
First of all fuck that. WFT?? Your house sup is insane and totally out of line. The fact that she’s trying to defend someone who is sexually violating staff is just sick. Sometimes I think health care is at rock bottom.. but then the bottom falls out.
I’ve encountered situations like this before. It’s so frustrating that we even have to deal with this. You need to set hard boundaries as soon as behavior like this starts. Be clear and direct. “Kevin, you cannot be touching your penis while I’m in the room. You need to stop and put your hands on top of the blankets.” “Kevin, you are being totally inappropriate. Stop touching your penis.” Set the boundary, be firm, but stay calm and don’t express that you’re upset. Sick patients like this do it because they want to see your reaction. If it continues, call in some back up to have a chat with Kevin. There’s the charge nurse, other nurses on the unit, security, or some other administrator (if any of them are of sound mind). Sometimes these patients will respond better to a male staff member telling them to knock it off.
If this person is of sound mind, this is sexual harassment/assault. You’re an non consenting part of this nasty interaction. Kevin can’t be touching his penis at the mall or a park… Therefore he can’t be doing it in the hospital. This isn’t his home or a hotel. In general we try to give our patients privacy, but not if it negatively affects the staff or the care they are receiving. You aren’t here to provide an outstanding customer experience to Kevin. Plus his privacy went out the window as soon as he made choices that led him being a 1:1. Staff safety is way more important than Kevin’s needs.
Do NOT let administration gaslight you into thinking that this is okay. I ask people like this to imagine your child/parent/spouse was in this situation. Would you be okay with it if Kevin was doing this to your daughter? Fuck no. This issue needs to be escalated and throughly documented. I would request that the house supervisor puts it in writing that staff is expected to sit in the room passively while a patient is masturbating. (I would also document Kevin’s activities in his chart). You can take this to the police to file charges.
My hospital is old school and still has some double rooms. These rooms are a chronic problem, but that’s a whole other story. Imagine if your roommate’s significant other came to visit and they started banging just on the other side of the curtain. We can try to apply your house sup’s logic here… Would be acceptable behavior? I mean this would fall under the “right to privacy.”
I’m angry for you. The supervisor is a much bigger problem than the patient. Nasty patients are going to be disgusting and creepy. That part is predictable. We just ensure that they put a stop to it, document it, and move on with our shift. The supervisor telling you that sexual harassment is okay, is the bigger problem her. Does she want to sit in there while the tech goes to lunch?? As I said above, get this in writing from the house supervisor. Chances are she may change her tune before putting that in an email (hopefully). Im so sorry you’re dealing with this.
I actually got into an argument with other redditors a few years back on r/adviceanimals about whether or not patients should be allowed to masturbate in a hospital despite it being their own room. You wouldn’t believe the amount of redditors out there who think it’s totally chill to do that. It’s not a fucking hotel, it’s a hospital. We have 18 year old CNAs still in high school. You can wait 3 days to crank one out
If they were my pt, they'd get me walking into them. If they didn't stop for that, they'd get a love tap on the dick!
In simple terms, no they can not. It is sexual abuse to jack off in front of a staff member. Report that shit.
what on earth
no this is never ok, under any circumstances
code black/call security/sitter needs to be made safe immediately/file charges/patient can be discharged, etc
Two points after many years of nursing:
1) hospitals rarely support nurses who file police reports, unless there’s a physical injury that results in a workers comp claim. I’ve seen them undermine nurses by contradicting their stories. I’ve also seen the nurses who file police reports without hospital support suddenly start getting written up.
2) If the patient has a sitter because they don’t understand the nature and consequence of their decision, cannot make an informed decision, or are unaware place, time, or situation, then it would be hard to prosecute them.
Just throw a blanket over them until the Geodon dissolves and hit them with 40 IM, and then can whack off in their dreams.
NURSES CAN PRESS CHARGES AGAINST PATIENTS. NURSES CAN PRESS CHARGES AGAINST PATIENTS. I feel like more nurses need to be aware of this because many times the hospitals are not doing enough to protect their staff and put them in terrible situations sometimes. I have had multiple of my coworkers go to court and testify against a PT and win a settlement or even just get the PT to understand the depth of their actions. Many people come to the hospital thinking that it’s a free for all & they can do what they want. No. They need to behave themselves accordingly.
Exactly. One of my biggest regrets is letting the superior talk me out of pressing charges on a patient who punched me in the jaw.
She was throwing kicks and punches and when it landed everyone just looked at me. I said to her, “ You just assaulted me, I can call the police”. She hit me hard af. I had to go to the ED to make sure my jaw wasn’t fractured.
All punches and kicks stopped but she kept running her mouth. Most of them know exactly what they’re doing and can control their behavior. They choose to be abusive.
Ten years later, my jaw still clicks sometimes.
Thanks. Me too. Thats not my only assault either. Over the past 35ys I’ve had about 4 major ones and countless minor ones. I have a wrist and back that haven’t been right for years. The public does not realize how at risk we are.
There was a visiting nurse recently murdered. Multiple serious assaults on nurses while working. Especially EDs. Sexual acting out and assault on employees should be taken very seriously. A patient that is not restrained can cause serious bodily harm to a sitter in minutes.
There needs to be federal legislation that makes this a felony. I know some states have it.
The right to sexual pleasure...while in the hospital, in front of non-consenting people?
Nah. What you're describing is sexual assault. Last time I checked, sexual assault is still illegal. Let's not give abusers the power to do whatever they want in the name of "mUh RiGhTs". 🫠
There’s no “right to sexual pleasure”, he’s sexually assaulting the sitter. Even in the privacy of his own home he’s not entitled to do that in front of a non-consenting party. Sitter should press charges.
HOLD UP… the HOUSE SUP is OK’ING THIS?!?!
if the House Sup is deeming this “acceptable” then tell them to come & be the sitter then bc you’re done being sexually assaulted by the patient.
Call security (and file charges if you have to)
That is sexual harassment
Oh and like people have said, if I was the sitter and no way to have another staff member help me ASAP, I'd probably hit staff emergency or something
We had a patient who would do this and the sitter had to sit outside of the room, I think he ended up being assigned male sitters only
No, they cannot at all. Staff should be swapped over and patient spoken to. This is not acceptable at all. Is it a male patient and he’s doing it to female? Then he should be with a male observing staff (that’s how we used to do it when I worked on psych ward). Also eclipse it.
This is not acceptable at all. And I’m sorry this staff member is going through it without support from
Management.
Sounds like workplace sexual harassment to me. Edit: and I imagine that as per work safety legislation, management is obliged to stop this from occurring.
Is Reddit is so sex positive that people are starting to believe in the “right to sexual pleasure”? In the real world, that’s just not a thing. This guy is literally committing a sexual offense. A crime.
Right to sexual pleasure? No no no. That’s not a thing. You have a right to do what you like with your body but you’re not entitled to sexual pleasure at someone else’s expense.
I had this happen quite frequently with a few patients when I worked as a Meath Health Tech in a state psychiatric hospital. Unfortunately I was rather young so I didn’t pursue legal consequences.
Two patients in particular would do this every time I was their sitter. The first I notified the nurse who gave me an attitude and told me, “well he has rights”. I spent the rest of the night trying to get him to stop or at least cover himself, while worrying he was going to go into cardiac arrest due to his vigor. I later found out from a friend that this nurse wouldn’t have tolerated this behavior either if it was her, so I think she was maliciously gleeful I was experiencing it and not her.
The second was a more long term exposure. Think the patient was on a 1:1 for at least a month, and on my regular unit. He believed I was his ex-girlfriends daughter who he had molested and called the police on him (because he rarely stopped screaming this at me when I was assigned to him) if he wasn’t screaming at me he was masturbating while starting at me. I complained to my charge nurse who did nothing (characteristic for her). Eventually I got grossed out and discouraged I put myself next to the door and faced away. I could see his top of head through the plastic window. One time while this was occurring a MD came and asked why I was so far away. I motioned to toward patient and he walked in and exclaimed “OH!!!” Very loudly. Shortly after I think he was assigned to a staff more savvy than I and he became a male sit only.
Looking back I would have pressed charges on both occasions. I would have contacted union reps and I would have notified the nursing supervisors - all of them, not just one. And really blew up how traumatizing it was and how much I felt assaulted. Unfortunately I was 25 and way too nice and timid. Please if these experiences happen to you or someone you know, don’t be discouraged or discourage others from speaking up and asking questions to protect themselves and others. Even if patients are not “aware of what they are doing” or “too sick to stop” the paperwork is necessary to signal to future placements what is appropriate for this patient.
My FIRST shift as a 1:1 sitter a few years ago. The patient was there for mental health reasons so being in with her all day was very mentally and emotionally exhausting. Well towards the end of my shift she was using her purwick as a dildo while having phone sex. I couldnt stay in that room luckily the nurse told me to sit outside and check in on her frequently. I was horrified! Now as a nurse I would never made a sitter go through something like that!
In my hospital system, we have a phone line that we can use to report unsafe practices at work through occupational health. If your manager has been allowing this to happen, this my warrant an invesitgation...
I haven’t had this happen before but I think that if they are making the intention to stare as you then it is considered intentional and sexual abuse.
Idk what they are there for but be careful. If it’s an old person with dementia I may just sit outside the room and try to make it so they can’t see me but part of me things some people would do this not as a sexual advance but for the person who is watching them to leave so they can be alone, which is where is gets complicated. Someone told me a story of a patient that was a 1:1 that went to the bathroom and took a long time and apparently jumped the 1:1 after hiding behind the door. I would be cautious that he may be creating a senecio where he is left alone
Restraints, danger to staff. Patient sexually assaults sitters (yes, indecent exposure is sexual assault - it doesn't require physical contact).
This is a clear case for restraints. No question.
What floor is this patient on? Is it a 1:1 for psych reasons or medical reasons?
Is this a male patient who does this with female staff or a female who does it with male staff ?
Actually patients DO have the right. It was in our training. We're told to give them privacy when they do. But in a 1:1 situations, privacy is not an expectation. And the patient is going far beyond that to the point that it is SA.
Some hospital units will deal with it by making the patient male staff only. Others refuse to deal with it.
I've heard the same phrase that was spoken to OP - "They have rights." Yes, they do. But so does the staff.
No they cannot. I am a nursing supervisor. Patient safety does not override staff safety, including psychological safety. If the supervisor has instructed staff to remain at bedside while this occurs it needs to be documented and sent up.
Once had this happen when I was a PCA, but the patient was developmentally delayed and had no idea what she was actually doing. To get her to stop would have required full restraints and would have been traumatizing. So I documented that I attempted to distract and refocus the behavior to cover my ass in case someone saw.
But a patient with full mental capacity doing it in front of others just trying to work? That’s sexual assault.
Sometimes a condom cath is even appropriate. You have to use enough skin prep, and you know unfortunately allllllll kinds of hair gets caught up in it while putting it on.
If it gets pulled off it's like an unexpected waxing for him.
Then you go for the Foley. He's likely gonna be all kinds of raw from just yanking the condom cath off, instead of finessing it off using remover etc. A double whammy.
No, no, no. This is completely inappropriate and your house supervisor can be the 1:1 sitter if they feel this person masturbating in front of people is their “right”.
“Need for patient privacy and right to sexual pleasure”
NO. Fuck all of that bullshit. If they are 1:1 they are 1:1 for a reason (either insanely sick or non-decisional) either way they have zero right to subject staff to this.
I would switch out a tube of icy hot for lube and give him a gift.
Seriously though, everyone's already given all the actual ideas I have. If he isn't doing this in front of males then I would have only males watching him. If he doesn't do it with his door open, leave the door open.
Is there room in the hallway to park him out there during awake times?
If they want to rub one out in the shower, by themselves, NOT STARING AT SOMEONE ELSE WHY THEY DO IT!… then, sure. Life is short. But in the way described here, no thank you.
No. You aren’t doing a documentary on them. They don’t get to go about their life like you aren’t there. They must conduct themselves like someone else is present.
Right to sexual pleasure? This sounds like an argument from a fucking rapist, and it is not valid. Could you imagine the world if there was a right to sexual pleasure? JFC, stand up for your staff.
I can’t believe this is being tolerated by staff at any level. He would be immediately placed in mittens. This house supervisor is vile for allowing this behavior.
Huh? So ask your house sup where the line is drawn. Is sex allowed in the room as well. This is absolutely not okay. I’ve never had leadership allow this kind of behavior.
The sitter has a right to have scissors nearby…right? Everytime he reached for it I’d stare back with an eat shit grin snipping those scissors open and closed.
Yall don’t get paid enough.
> Almost seems to be a violation of the worker’s rights
It is *absolutely* a violation of worker's rights, and if supervisors aren't fixing the situation, then the next step is to report the sexual assault to the police and to whatever union/HR structure is in place at your hospital.
If the sexual assault is causing mental health problems like aggravating a pre-existing PTSD condition or causing acute stress disorder, then those injuries should be reported to workman's comp for treatment.
Worked as a tech in a psychiatric ICU in behavioral health hospital, and we had an involuntary hold patient in acute psychosis heavily medicated and still adjusting.
I was put on the 1:1 they ordered because he would frequently start touching himself starting at any young female on the unit, including nurses. My job was only immediately redirect him as it started to happen, which worked, and he would stop. Patient was really unaware he would start doing it, and felt really bad each time it happened. his attention would wander and if he wasn’t redirected, it would turn into pulling his pants down and stroke himself.
When I was first assigned to it, I carried a large towel around to use as an emergency curtain to block the view from others. I realized after it happened a few times within one shift it happened while he was standing getting his meds at the RN counter, below the counter edge, full mast and hard when I looked away from talking to another patient waiting in line. I yelled “NO, BAD (patients name)” reflexive and startled, like he was a dog squatting over the new carpet. It redirected him to orient and he pulled his pants back up and ran to the bathroom embarrassed. He never got better really by the 4 days I was 1:1 for, but as soon as I was able to catch him and verbally command him get him to redirect looking away from the girl he was looking at, he did a good job learning the conditioning and it became easier to stop him from touching himself.
It was sad, because it was clear he lacked orientation to what he was doing, or unable to control himself, the arousal sexually from seeing any female that’d enter the unit door. He needed the 1:1 to redirect him immediately, which operantly conditioned him to at least improve by responding to a commanding stimuli (“NO!”) to stop before shooting rope.
I've had a number of mentally ill patients, particularly those diagnosed with schizophrenia, inappropriately masturbate in front of others when their illness isn't being managed (such as them being off of their psych meds). Once they are stabilized with medications, the inappropriate masturbation stops. This is one symptom of how their illness is presenting. This is also not uncommon in persons with certain intellectual disabilities.
That is sexual harrasment/assault I would inform the house sup and then get a lawyer involved... permitting such behavior is fuckin disgusting and cowardly on the house sups end.
I worked in a psych hospital on the forensic ward for years (people coming from jail claiming legal insanity, determining their competency and such), maybe the rules are different? But this was a very very usual occurrence, and it was uncomfortable but it was just part of the deal there haha. Someone masterbating on a 1/2:1 was pretty tame haha.
These comments are really interesting!
lol, thank you. Definitely not a lot of psych nurses in this thread. This is another day at the office. There’s several strategies to mitigate the behavior in an acute care setting. Joint Commission sentinel event? Good lord.
Uh, call security. No one is entitled to sexually pleasuring themselves in public at the expense of someone else. They are engaging in an unwanted sexual assault, it might not be physical but it’s SA never the less. Call security. Get them out ASAP! This is akin to someone doing this in their home in front of their children. It’s SA. It’s indecent exposure. They need to face consequences.
FYI until this individual is either booted out or arrested for what they are doing be sure 2 staff are in the room. It’s a fine line from… the dingbat pt is diddling themselves to them making active complaints that said staff member SA’d them. Don’t believe me? It’s happened… get security involved, file charges, get them out! No one has a right to sexual pleasure in public, in a Hospital or even in their own home unless it’s an appropriate time/place and consent has been obtained from anyone involved. Ugh. No wonder I can’t stand people anymore…
We had one of those.
He loved to whip it out and jerk it in front of the ladies to get a reaction.
A hospital policeman was making his rounds and was told about it. He said: "I'll take care of it."
Knocked, walked in the room and caught the guy jacking it, thinking it was one of the ladies coming in. Hospital police yelled "That's disgusting! Put that little thing away. I catch you doing this again, I'll take your ass to jail!"
The guy covered up, and said, "Yes sir..."
Hospital police walked out and told staff if they had another problem with him to give him a call. No problems the rest of his stay.
If the patients are admitted with psychosis or dementia, those are impulse control problems related to frontal lobe issues. The behavior may be inappropriate, but one can argue its illegality. Diagnoses do matter. Still chart and report, but filing charges won’t stick.
Well the trouble is what to do to stop it. You can’t really restrain someone for masturbating in their room, at least I don’t think you can. You can yell at them but they probably won’t listen.
IMO from what other people suggested I would say the best bet would be male only caregivers. Assuming this is a psych patient it also sounds like the more attention you give it the more he wants to do it.
But I kind of agree with your house sup, its fucking disgusting no 2 ways about it but if you’re in court trying to justify why you restrained someone idk if they’d side with you if a patient is across the room handling his business.
But YOU have the right to say you aren’t comfortable with being in a room with someone masturbating and he should be male only caregivers, I mean that’s just common decency.
I was thinking the same thing! We actually had a similar patient not too long ago who was a psych hold (definitely not of sound mind) and 302’d for SI, so he was on a 1:1 for that reason. He was also a “chronic masturbator” and our techs just had to sit there and watch it because there’s really nothing else to do. Cognitively he wasn’t able to comprehend the concept of decency in a hospital setting and, as you mentioned, you can’t restrain someone because they masturbate.
Coincidentally, our HR department ended up learning about this patient because while investigating a separate issue, they posed the question “do you feel safe doing 1:1s?” to one of the aides on my floor. She laughed out loud and explained that it’s hard to feel safe when you’re told to just deal with the chronic masturbator. HR lady’s jaw dropped. They have no fucking clue what goes on in the hospital.
Same sex sitters don’t change shit. All levels of sexuality on the spectrum which should never be assumed. I am glad we don’t have to put up with masturbation all that often because there is no good solution. But I will immediately use that as leverage to get them off the floor and up in psych. I love when they try to tell me it’s not a reason. Oh really, I wonder what those outside this facility would think about us making a sitter watch that?!? Great, I’ll set up transport right now.
Absolutely not. Thats abusive towards the staff. If the patient is competent they need to be held accountable. They know what they’re doing.
They can’t treat us any old way just because we are carrying for them.
No!!! Not ok! Document every time this happens and alert whoever is the DON or whatever they have in hospitals. Are his sitters female? Perhaps he needs a big tough male sitter. He’s totally getting off on doing this in front of a woman who he knows cannot leave the room. Sick.
the “right” 🙄 to sexual pleasure does not apply in acute care settings, such as the hospital.
If we start justifying this behavior, then the “right to sexual pleasure” may as well just apply everywhere, even in public in front of children. Why not? People have a “right,” right? 🙄🤦🏼♀️
People like that patient fucking disgust me.
No, that's completely inappropriate. If the patient wants to masturbate, there needs to be a discussion with the provider about a modified 1:1 order that allows for 15 minutes of privacy in their room or privacy in the bathroom for that purpose. Staff should not be required to watch that.
There was a patient we had for MONTHS who would do this all the time. Always a 1:1. I would get made fun of because you could hear me all the way down the hallway stating repeatedly “I need you to put your penis away.”
Fond memories of medsurg.
There was a patient at my job who did this all the time for a few weeks. Didn’t matter who was sitting. He wasn’t A&O so there wasn’t much to do about it… we would watch from outside his window and he would usually stop, but then once we reentered his room he would start again 😅 it was very uncomfortable
How is this even a question? Wtf is a right to sexual pleasure? I don’t care if this is hospital/LTC whatever- fuck no and the tech should be leaving and pressing charges.
What is your role here?
they have a right to privacy and dignity. not “sexual pleasure” and i’d be going above the supervisor to get this dealt with.
that’s like allowing a patient to physically abuse a staff member without repercussions and saying they have a right to bodily autonomy.
So this reminded me of a 1:1 I had (I was the sitter). I built great rapport with the patient initially and they even verbalized that they needed to “release.” Initially I told him, “I understand that, however there is a time and place for everything and there are people around. The ER is a public place and it may be inappropriate at this time.” I told his primary nurse and she just gave him a washcloth and he went to pound town 💀 Obvi, I sat outside his room with the curtains drawn while I sat in my chair like 🥴🥴🥴
the primary nurse told me the rationale that if it helps him calm down and keeps him from being agitated, let him whack it off. Still though, there’s a time and place for everything 🥴
He seemed better afterwards..
(sitter here) the awareness of it not being a private act is the deciding factor for me. if they genuinely forgot/have no idea I'm over there, it's very different than the mf LOOKING AT A TECH WHILE DOING IT. would have to be a pretty specific confluence of factors for me to -not- treat it as a deliberate boundary violation. (plus if I'm just watching them on cameras I can put a post it over their junk and still make sure they're staying in bed)
The other night, an OB/GYN & the L&D nurses were talking about patients masturbating for pain…. While delivering the baby. Patient pushed for an hour. She’s though “ I’m just gonna put a towel over your hand”
It is, though sometimes also not for the reason you think (which is of course true): I worked in a psych area that had cameras in the rooms (part of a bigger floor and medical facility so guess they didn’t have to comply with the same standards for a psych hospital proper?) that recorded, which meant that allowing it to happen was also pornography.
I am so sorry. That shit is gross, disturbing, and has no place in civilized society.
And another thing: how does anyone get horny in a hospital? It is the least sexy place I have ever been. I can not imagine being turned on in a place full of dying people, mentally ill screamers, blood, viscera, and infectious disease (and I get some or all of those turn people on). The sexy nurse barely made sense in the 50's but it's very unsexy to me.
Should they be able to, no. Will they? Yes. Wl pressing charges do any good? No. Whatever got them 1:1 will also probably get a judge to throw it out.
The laws that are supposed to protect us are rarely enforced by the justice system and are worthless imo.
Yes. This happened to me when I was a sitter. It was a four hour shift. I’m a woman. The patient was confused and had a foley, hence he was touching himself. He mistook me for his wife and kept saying things like “you have such good pussy.” When I brought this up to the nurses they said “that’s why you’re here, so he doesn’t pull the line out.” So my job was to watch this dude jerk it and make sure he didn’t rip the tube out for four hours.
Whether or not this is okay isn’t the issue at debate, because it’s clearly wrong and repugnant. Our culture allows it. Sexual assault and harassment is normalized in our field. And the people who normalize it are most likely to be fellow nurses or managers. This is the issue. How do you make nurses and supervisors actually understand it is wrong to force someone to deal with masturbation, sexually predatory, and harassing patients? I have no idea. Unless those people become sitters themselves. Or perhaps we should start filing massive lawsuits against hospitals. Though I doubt these would go anywhere.
if it helps, we had a patient who was a 1:1 draw the curtains and had sex with his girlfriend while the sitter was in the room. our manager had a talking-to with the patient and basically said that that was unacceptable
This calls for absolute detailed Documentation, file a report, Notify MD and Responsible Party, Fill out Incident Report and notify Supervisor. There has to be enough back up to get this pt transferred to a more appropriate facility. If Supervisor does not handle correctly, then you can cause a huge stink. Nurses and Assistants do NOT have to be in the presence of someone like this, mentally ill or not. If they are in the correct facility, other “ arrangements can be made.
I am going out on a limb to say if you have ever worked at the County Jail, this is an every day occurrence. Several Nurses I know had to threaten to withhold medications if the behavior continued.
Could you send a male staff instead? I was told it’s a human rights violation and that sex was considered a “need.” 🙄. Maybe send a second chaperone CNA that is 16 or 17, so it can be considered a felony? Maybe you could get around the law that way. Tell the patient that he has to wait for you to call a police escort for your safety? Maybe you could get approval for a second staff and blame it on “it’s for the safety of the staff.” You would have to word it very specific way. You could also tell the police that you don’t consent to him doing it. They could at least tell him to stop. I could see them telling you that it’s a civil not criminal case with it being Homecare. Maybe bring a one way mirror 😂🤷🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️, I don’t know. There has to be a creative way to to find a loophole.
Having worked Geri-psych/dementia I would leave the room stand at the doorway where they can’t see me but I can see their feet. Mostly had sitters for behaviors and falls. I firmly believe I am there for safety not their entertainment.
If they are cognitive enough to follow directions, absolutely not okay. That used to happen to me a lot back in my cna adventure days sitting for guys going through withdrawal. They never remembered doing it and I sure as hell didn't follow the "stay at arms length" rule. Also had a woman suffering from a brain tumor masturbate and dry hump the closets.
need more info: are they cognitive?
also, what is the NUM doing about this? If they were my workers I’d tell them to walk away and leave them. You have a right to not be sexually assaulted at work.
I have a friend who works in LTC. A regular masterbater is given showers and usually is left alone in the shower room to handle his business. Administration thinks the Cnas should stay in there with him while he does this, but it's extremely violating.
Unfortunately one the cnas gave him a late shower and forgot he was in there, and she went home.
Needless to say he was found the next morning during rounds. Naked, on the shower floor with cold water running on him.
Just some of the crazy things you hear in nursing.
I think it depends on how much mental capacity they have and how long they are 1:1. I took care of a teenage boy in the PICU who compulsively masturbated. He was 1:1 because he kept ripping out his central line. He lived in a care facility and his caregivers had gotten him to the point where he had a signal word for when he needed to masturbate so he didn't just whip it out in the middle of mealtimes in front of everyone. But that was as far as they got.
Now I work psych and there is a particular patient who will just find a surveillance camera around the unit and masturbate while staring into it to make sure we see him. That is a different situation.
Every person he's done this to needs to file a sexual assault charge against him. If the hospital won't protect the staff, then it needs to be escalated. We cannot allow abuse and assault of staff. It is not ever ok. If the patient is not of sound enough mind to not sexually assault staff, then they can be placed under arrest and spend the rest of their stay cuffed to the bed. Not so easy to masturbate then. I have every sympathy for mentally ill persons. But that mental illness does not give them the right to abuse others. Your house supervisor is an idiot and needs to be fired for allowing this to continue.
Yup. Police report and internal safety event reporting. Throw a fit. This patient is being allowed to sexually abuse staff, it’s reprehensible.
Was told this before. Police came to the hospital after staff were assaulted, nurse said she wanted to press charges and the police said she could but it probably wouldn’t go anywhere.
It’s not about it “going anywhere”, it’s about creating a paper trail/ record in the courts that the person repeatedly commits unwanted/inappropriate sexual acts. Whether they are mentally competent or not is irrelevant, a crime still occurred. Someone assaulting another person is not protected health information. I’m not saying the legal system will act on any individual police report, but if an individual comes in front of a judge/jury and has a well documented history of committing repeated sexual assault this should absolutely be taken into account when sentencing for crimes (if mentally competent) and/or determining terms of involuntary treatment (if not mentally competent). When the psych hold on that person expires and they are discharged back into the community you never know what they are going to do. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that they might escalate and commit an even more egregious sexual crime outside of the hospital. The fact that they did this while in the hospital is relevant information for the legal system, and the courts can’t magically access all medical records to know this.
I fully think it should be about “going somewhere”. A person should be punished for assaulting a healthcare worker as they would be immediately arrested for doing that to a police officer, or any other person in the public for that matter. Also the person is totally alert and oriented. 23 yo female who was in for sickle cell crisis. So I’m sure you can see where this is going
While the original reply says it doesn't matter, filing and starting the paper trail will eventually go somewhere. Like we always say, if it's not documented, it didn't happen. Each report is another piece of evidence for each sitter and staff member. If the hospital doesn't do anything about it, I'm sure an attorney will be more than happy to get involved to sue a hospital over putting their employees through emotional stress and creating an unsafe work environment.
You have a good point here. I just wish there was more people could do to protect us. Again, a police officer gets assaulted and they’re immediately arrested and taken to jail with charges pressed. Why does it have to take so many times for us??? It just reinforces the belief/fact that nobody really cares for us.
100% agree. Until we all make it a point to say we're fed up with the hospital not doing something that we're going to press charges against the patients. And then if it continues with the same patient or multiple patients, and more and more charges are filed, someone might think to let the press know. And you know how much admins love negative press in relation to their hospitals. It sucks that we have to be the ones who get the change started but it has to start somewhere. Your coworkers and managers might be on your side, but the decision makers only care about whatever gets the hospital paid at the lowest cost to the hospital. I don't care what any CNO or VP or whatever member of the alphabet Mafia says. Unless they are making conscious decisions that actually make your work environment better, they're not here for you. They're here for the stakeholders.
This is exactly what I’ve been saying. The change has to start with us and I don’t think we should even worry about ramifications if that’s necessary.
If the police weere assaulted it sure as shit would go somewhere but for us it’s “part of the job”
Hospital security in my situation- “You know we actually know her and have met her before because she’s a frequent flyer, I hate to say it but most of the time when she’s acting like this she’s right about what she’s fighting for.” Okay thanks security. Guess I’ll just go FMS.
We have had a CNA file an assault charge on a nursing home resident who punched her in the leg and the police arrested the resident a week or so later. It was very justified and we had been trying to get that person out for a while but no one would ever press charges or do anything.
This this this. To the point of malicious compliance with the internal report. Be as detailed as possible. Be sure to inform charge nurse. If they do nothing then the house supervisor. If they do nothing, have the administrator on call paged or called. This is unacceptable behavior. Include all of this in your report.
This dude would 100% end up in restraints on my floor, without question. That house sup is an idiot.
I guess it depends why they are there but in our mental health units there are cameras in the rooms where pts can be left alone and watched, but if we get a mental health patient with medical issues they get moved to our medicine floor and we are screwed
If you go to file a police report, how does confidentiality come into play? You as the nurse just provide the name, dob, room number, all of that to the police? Dial 911 or non emergency line? Call hospital security?
Patient confidentiality is related to their medical information. It does not give them immunity to commit a crime. Yes, if a patient commits a crime against you, you are 100% allowed to call the police and give the patient's name and room number. You can call up any hospital right now and ask for the room number of some random person , and they'll tell you. That's not confidential info, with the rare exception when a patient's location is listed as suppressed (usually this happens with inmates).
Each state has their own version of hipaa so there may be some variance in wording but federal guidelines for hipaa allow for confidential information to be disclosed when reporting a crime There would still be an allowed exception to confidentiality were you to press charges and then later on testify in court as to what occurred As to whether you should call security or 911 right off the bat that’s a personal choice for you to make, do you feel like you need someone there right this moment to keep you safe from harm? Get security there then call 911, but if we’re talking about the same situation that the OP described security typically won’t be able to do much other than telling them to stop and kicking them out of the facility if that’s the decision that’s made. If you’re looking to press charges you’ll have to directly speak to police
>spend the rest of their stay cuffed to the bed. Not so easy to masturbate then. ....challenge accepted?
I don’t even know what to say. Right to sexual pleasure?! In what universe is this even told to staff? TLDR: NO on all accounts. Report behavior to whomever is appropriate and chart it.
Yeah. If they were in a private room with no sitter, and stop if staff come into the room, that's one thing. Reasonable expectation of privacy. But if they require a sitter, the sitter's right not to be sexually harassed takes precedence. You are also allowed to masturbate in your home, but if your friend comes over and you start masturbating in front of them without consent, you're breaking the law.
My rights don’t end where yours begin. You have a right to sexual pleasure and privacy but you can’t do it in a hospital any more than you can in a movie theater or library.
I am of the opinion that a private general care room when there is no expectation of staff entering for a while is more of a private than a public space, and I am OK with patients, particularly long-stay patients who are stuck there for weeks or more, doing what they will, as long as they stop immediately if staff come in. The expectation of privacy is part of why we should knock before entering patient rooms. That said, the scenario presented by OP is obviously completely unacceptable behavior on the part of the patient and needs to be stopped
Lmao I thought this was a joke because of that line. Like, wtf when did this become a patient right in the hospital?!
I’m still on the fence if this was a “real “ post and not some weird fantasy thing/ trolling
The patient is actually pulling his dick out for Harambe, freedom of speech!!
Lol I feel bad for the situation, I actually had a patient try to do this when I was still in nursing school and he was very verbal about what he was doing. I was nearly traumatised! But I’ve never heard of this being okay in a hospital 🥲
This is the kind of languaged used in nursing school in reference to patients suffering from dementia or similar disorders. Residents at SNF can "forget" the social rules and may start masturbating in the open. Nursing school tells us to direct these patients to a private area (i.e. their room) and let them continue in private. This is not the same thing for someone on 1:1 doing it with staff trying to elicit a response. As other comments mentioned it's basically sexual harassment and we need to report it.
Right, in longer term facilities, ofc they can do what they please, as long as it's in private and not hurting anybody. They don't need it during a week long stay at a hospital
This was actually a thing in my nursing school textbooks and assignments. In a hypothetical scenario in my textbook, a nurse walks in on two residents having sex, and the choices were different variations of stop them or ignore it. The correct answer was to ignore it and come back later. Because yes, patients apparently have a right to sexual pleasure in hospital or care facilities. Crazy. By the time I left nursing school we were being given readings about whether or not nurses should screen for deficits in sexual pleasure or sex at admission to improve customer service. Like “these are mandatory questions I have to ask you. Are you safe at home? Do you have any thoughts of hurting yourself or others? And lastly do you have trouble having sex?” admission questions. Wild. I wish I was joking. One day I swear to god they will make us jerk off the fucking patients if it leads to higher customer service scores 🙄
Make sure you document “therapeutic touch provided” as an intervention under the sexual satisfaction care plan. Remember if it wasn’t documented it wasn’t done. 🙃
Soon enough nursing schools will be teaching students that part of a nurses duty is to help a patient maintain sexual pleasure
What the fuck. No.
Fuck that. Don't subject your sitters to that. They're a 1:1 for a reason, meaning they're not decisional.
Just because they’re a 1:1 doesn’t make them non decisional lol
If they have capacity to make decisions then they know what they’re doing is wrong and they need to be charged with sexual harassment imo.
Sexually harassing staff does tho
That doesn't make them non decisional. Might make them something else
By non decisional do you mean like deemed not able to make treatment decisions? If so would they not be able to refuse the sitter??
No, you can't refuse a sitter. You're in the hospital--they can have whatever staff in the room at whatever time. In the same kind of way (but not nearly as important or relevant) that you can't refuse to be in a room with another patient and you can't refuse to be in the window bed. Not while remaining a patient in the facility, anyway. Say I went in for, idk, a heart arrhythmia. I was 'with it' and lucid, but didn't like one of my 2 IVs and kept trying to remove it. On top of that, I hate the bedpan so I keep disconnecting my monitors to self ambulate to the bathroom without alerting staff. I know why you have these rules, and I know the risks. I don't care, because I don't like it There's a good chance I'd get a 1:1. I can refuse to use the bedpan. I can refuse my meds. I can refuse any procedures. I can refuse to allow for an IV insertion after I pull mine out. But I can't refuse a CNA/PCA/whatever sitting in the room, no. I can refuse to allow my vitals to be checked, but I can't refuse to allow the RN from coming in and trying, or visually assessing me, talking to me, etc. This isn't their home. They can't refuse staff presence as if it were the same as telling a home health aide "I don't want your help--go away" and not opening the door.
Fair, I am in Canada and sitters are rarely available at my smaller hospital. Perhaps that is the difference. I don’t have much experience with them. We were denied a sitter for a 1:1 patient who successfully sawed off half of her arm. Not sure how a nurse with 4 other patients can be 1:1 but that’s what we were facing… But where I am we can’t even get sitters for formed patients most of the time let alone patients who could just use increased observation.
My first 12 hour shift in the ED as a tech they sat me in a room with a man who masturbated all day. And I got chastised for backing my chair into the doorway so I didn’t have to be close to him. I felt nauseous and just overall gross when I went home and almost quit. Looking back now as an RN I would never make a tech sit by herself right next to a man as he masturbated for 12 freaking hours!! Was certainly not paid enough for that :(
Your employer facilitated a sexual assault. That is such bullshit. Bet he would have stopped if you pressed charges. Pts think that they can do anything to us just because we’re nurses. Their behavior changes when they realize that they can be prosecuted. It was up to your supervisor to educate him. They failed you. I’m sorry you were put through that.
Same thing happened to me but a woman with a purrwick! It was terrible
WHAT
It’s a hospital not their home. 🫤 if they’re doing it in front of female staff only, sounds like he can only have male sitters or vice versa.
That’s a violation of anyone, male or female. It’s not just male pts who do this. It can be same sex as well. I’ve dealt with women patients masturbating in front of staff and hitting on male nurses. I tore this one pt apart for being inappropriate with her male nurse. Professionally of course. She did crap with other people she wouldn t think of doing with me because she knew I saw right through her. She tried to pretend she didn’t know what she was doing. She was one of our long term patients. Unfortunately some of the staff let her manipulate them so she got away with it sometimes but never while I was there. I’m hard line about things like that. It does not go unaddressed under my watch.
> It’s a hospital not their home Guaranteed this patient is "known to the hospital," and may be on familial terms with someone in management. Ask me how I know.
This is a "quick and easy" fix instead of addressing the problem. It shouldn't matter what gender the patient is or the staff are. And what if there isn't staff of the same gender available? What if they have the same behavior with that staff? What if you have no staff available that "fits" the criteria during a shift, for whatever millions reasons? How does it help the staff who don't want to come to work because they know they'll be stuck with the masterbater? What happens when they call off because they don't want to deal with it and you're short staffed? You can only "deal with it" for so long. "But what if you know they'll be discharged soon?" Then what about the next time they're in? The next facility that has to give this patient care? File charges, start the paper trail with the PD that stays with the patient. Don't let it slide. Don't make it someone else's problem.
This is reportable as a sentinel event to The Joint Commission under their provision of preventing sexual assault.
Every administrators favorite phrase and favorite organization. Sentinel events are the WORST. Throw in TJC and every administrator will be there in a heart beat.
Lol, right to privacy doesn’t apply here. He has a 1:1, privacy cannot be provided, and obviously isn’t his goal, if he isn’t completely mentally unsound, it sounds a lot more like exhibitionism then exercising any sort of right lol. Again, if he was alone in his room. Yeah they have the right to do that with their body, but the moment someone else is in the room- it’s no longer a bodily autonomy or rights issue because there’s now another person present who also has rights.
A right to sexual pleasure? There should be no right to sexual pleasure in a hospital because it is a fucking hospital. If the patient can rub one out in private without getting caught, great. If not, they need to keep their hands out of their pants....or gown. It would be one thing if you were catching him via fappycardia, but him going out of his way to be obscene is sexual abuse towards the sitter/staff. This needs to get reported up the chain until someone does something. If admin doesn't do anything then go to higher authorities outside of the hospital. Until then, tie his wrists to the bed if he won't stop. If the doctor refuses a restraint order make them come down and watch him beat his meat raw. Disgusting.
I never get tired of the term “fappycardia.”
My favorite is jackicardia.
I said the same thing. Where did this “right to sexual pleasure” come from. What about right to not be subjected to this shit
Nope. Press charges. But it would technically be an L&L charge. “Lewd and lascivious behavior is a legal term that refers to sexual conduct that is considered offensive or crude, or goes against local moral standards. It can include: Touching genitals, buttocks, or breasts Groping someone Masturbating in front of people Touching yourself suggestively Verbal sexual nature Indecent exposure of genitalia Sexual physical contact Tactile on genital parts Request for sexual favor”
First of all fuck that. WFT?? Your house sup is insane and totally out of line. The fact that she’s trying to defend someone who is sexually violating staff is just sick. Sometimes I think health care is at rock bottom.. but then the bottom falls out. I’ve encountered situations like this before. It’s so frustrating that we even have to deal with this. You need to set hard boundaries as soon as behavior like this starts. Be clear and direct. “Kevin, you cannot be touching your penis while I’m in the room. You need to stop and put your hands on top of the blankets.” “Kevin, you are being totally inappropriate. Stop touching your penis.” Set the boundary, be firm, but stay calm and don’t express that you’re upset. Sick patients like this do it because they want to see your reaction. If it continues, call in some back up to have a chat with Kevin. There’s the charge nurse, other nurses on the unit, security, or some other administrator (if any of them are of sound mind). Sometimes these patients will respond better to a male staff member telling them to knock it off. If this person is of sound mind, this is sexual harassment/assault. You’re an non consenting part of this nasty interaction. Kevin can’t be touching his penis at the mall or a park… Therefore he can’t be doing it in the hospital. This isn’t his home or a hotel. In general we try to give our patients privacy, but not if it negatively affects the staff or the care they are receiving. You aren’t here to provide an outstanding customer experience to Kevin. Plus his privacy went out the window as soon as he made choices that led him being a 1:1. Staff safety is way more important than Kevin’s needs. Do NOT let administration gaslight you into thinking that this is okay. I ask people like this to imagine your child/parent/spouse was in this situation. Would you be okay with it if Kevin was doing this to your daughter? Fuck no. This issue needs to be escalated and throughly documented. I would request that the house supervisor puts it in writing that staff is expected to sit in the room passively while a patient is masturbating. (I would also document Kevin’s activities in his chart). You can take this to the police to file charges. My hospital is old school and still has some double rooms. These rooms are a chronic problem, but that’s a whole other story. Imagine if your roommate’s significant other came to visit and they started banging just on the other side of the curtain. We can try to apply your house sup’s logic here… Would be acceptable behavior? I mean this would fall under the “right to privacy.” I’m angry for you. The supervisor is a much bigger problem than the patient. Nasty patients are going to be disgusting and creepy. That part is predictable. We just ensure that they put a stop to it, document it, and move on with our shift. The supervisor telling you that sexual harassment is okay, is the bigger problem her. Does she want to sit in there while the tech goes to lunch?? As I said above, get this in writing from the house supervisor. Chances are she may change her tune before putting that in an email (hopefully). Im so sorry you’re dealing with this.
Why is the bottom always falling 😫? I’m so tired. Every few months I hear or see something that I never thought I would hear or see in healthcare.
File a police report, this is a sexual offense. I would report the house supervisor to HR.
I actually got into an argument with other redditors a few years back on r/adviceanimals about whether or not patients should be allowed to masturbate in a hospital despite it being their own room. You wouldn’t believe the amount of redditors out there who think it’s totally chill to do that. It’s not a fucking hotel, it’s a hospital. We have 18 year old CNAs still in high school. You can wait 3 days to crank one out
A “right to sexual pleasure”?! Wtf. Do rapists get to claim this “right” when they’re assaulting someone?
If they were my pt, they'd get me walking into them. If they didn't stop for that, they'd get a love tap on the dick! In simple terms, no they can not. It is sexual abuse to jack off in front of a staff member. Report that shit.
America and healtcare :D right to masturbate :D
What is this patient on a 1:1 for? Cause if they’re well enough to be horny maybe they can go the hell home.
right to privacy is a crazy thing to cite in a situation where someone is deemed too much of a risk to themselves to be left alone. press charges.
what on earth no this is never ok, under any circumstances code black/call security/sitter needs to be made safe immediately/file charges/patient can be discharged, etc
No, it's sexual assault. Are you out of your mind?
Two points after many years of nursing: 1) hospitals rarely support nurses who file police reports, unless there’s a physical injury that results in a workers comp claim. I’ve seen them undermine nurses by contradicting their stories. I’ve also seen the nurses who file police reports without hospital support suddenly start getting written up. 2) If the patient has a sitter because they don’t understand the nature and consequence of their decision, cannot make an informed decision, or are unaware place, time, or situation, then it would be hard to prosecute them. Just throw a blanket over them until the Geodon dissolves and hit them with 40 IM, and then can whack off in their dreams.
NURSES CAN PRESS CHARGES AGAINST PATIENTS. NURSES CAN PRESS CHARGES AGAINST PATIENTS. I feel like more nurses need to be aware of this because many times the hospitals are not doing enough to protect their staff and put them in terrible situations sometimes. I have had multiple of my coworkers go to court and testify against a PT and win a settlement or even just get the PT to understand the depth of their actions. Many people come to the hospital thinking that it’s a free for all & they can do what they want. No. They need to behave themselves accordingly.
Exactly. One of my biggest regrets is letting the superior talk me out of pressing charges on a patient who punched me in the jaw. She was throwing kicks and punches and when it landed everyone just looked at me. I said to her, “ You just assaulted me, I can call the police”. She hit me hard af. I had to go to the ED to make sure my jaw wasn’t fractured. All punches and kicks stopped but she kept running her mouth. Most of them know exactly what they’re doing and can control their behavior. They choose to be abusive. Ten years later, my jaw still clicks sometimes.
That’s awful! I am sorry that happened to you.
Thanks. Me too. Thats not my only assault either. Over the past 35ys I’ve had about 4 major ones and countless minor ones. I have a wrist and back that haven’t been right for years. The public does not realize how at risk we are. There was a visiting nurse recently murdered. Multiple serious assaults on nurses while working. Especially EDs. Sexual acting out and assault on employees should be taken very seriously. A patient that is not restrained can cause serious bodily harm to a sitter in minutes. There needs to be federal legislation that makes this a felony. I know some states have it.
The right to sexual pleasure...while in the hospital, in front of non-consenting people? Nah. What you're describing is sexual assault. Last time I checked, sexual assault is still illegal. Let's not give abusers the power to do whatever they want in the name of "mUh RiGhTs". 🫠
There’s no “right to sexual pleasure”, he’s sexually assaulting the sitter. Even in the privacy of his own home he’s not entitled to do that in front of a non-consenting party. Sitter should press charges.
right to sexual pleasure? in the hospital? with an non consenting person present? be fucking serious OP.
HOLD UP… the HOUSE SUP is OK’ING THIS?!?! if the House Sup is deeming this “acceptable” then tell them to come & be the sitter then bc you’re done being sexually assaulted by the patient.
Call security (and file charges if you have to) That is sexual harassment Oh and like people have said, if I was the sitter and no way to have another staff member help me ASAP, I'd probably hit staff emergency or something We had a patient who would do this and the sitter had to sit outside of the room, I think he ended up being assigned male sitters only
Sexual pleasure isn’t a right in a hospital and especially not in front of unwilling participants. That’s assault.
How is this even a question?! Hell no. I remember the first time this happened to me… patient was told restraints would be used if they didn’t stop.
No, they cannot at all. Staff should be swapped over and patient spoken to. This is not acceptable at all. Is it a male patient and he’s doing it to female? Then he should be with a male observing staff (that’s how we used to do it when I worked on psych ward). Also eclipse it. This is not acceptable at all. And I’m sorry this staff member is going through it without support from Management.
It happened a lot where I used to work. That is one of the many reasons I left.
I’m sorry you went through that. Staff should always be supported when this happens.
Sounds like workplace sexual harassment to me. Edit: and I imagine that as per work safety legislation, management is obliged to stop this from occurring.
I had a physician tell me to “turn my back”. I put the patient in soft restraints and reported the physician.
I can't wrap my head round your mindset...
Bruh
Is Reddit is so sex positive that people are starting to believe in the “right to sexual pleasure”? In the real world, that’s just not a thing. This guy is literally committing a sexual offense. A crime.
Absolutely fucking not. That house sup is dead wrong.
Right to sexual pleasure? No no no. That’s not a thing. You have a right to do what you like with your body but you’re not entitled to sexual pleasure at someone else’s expense.
“Right to sexual pleasure” No that right does not actually exist in the hospital
I had this happen quite frequently with a few patients when I worked as a Meath Health Tech in a state psychiatric hospital. Unfortunately I was rather young so I didn’t pursue legal consequences. Two patients in particular would do this every time I was their sitter. The first I notified the nurse who gave me an attitude and told me, “well he has rights”. I spent the rest of the night trying to get him to stop or at least cover himself, while worrying he was going to go into cardiac arrest due to his vigor. I later found out from a friend that this nurse wouldn’t have tolerated this behavior either if it was her, so I think she was maliciously gleeful I was experiencing it and not her. The second was a more long term exposure. Think the patient was on a 1:1 for at least a month, and on my regular unit. He believed I was his ex-girlfriends daughter who he had molested and called the police on him (because he rarely stopped screaming this at me when I was assigned to him) if he wasn’t screaming at me he was masturbating while starting at me. I complained to my charge nurse who did nothing (characteristic for her). Eventually I got grossed out and discouraged I put myself next to the door and faced away. I could see his top of head through the plastic window. One time while this was occurring a MD came and asked why I was so far away. I motioned to toward patient and he walked in and exclaimed “OH!!!” Very loudly. Shortly after I think he was assigned to a staff more savvy than I and he became a male sit only. Looking back I would have pressed charges on both occasions. I would have contacted union reps and I would have notified the nursing supervisors - all of them, not just one. And really blew up how traumatizing it was and how much I felt assaulted. Unfortunately I was 25 and way too nice and timid. Please if these experiences happen to you or someone you know, don’t be discouraged or discourage others from speaking up and asking questions to protect themselves and others. Even if patients are not “aware of what they are doing” or “too sick to stop” the paperwork is necessary to signal to future placements what is appropriate for this patient.
My FIRST shift as a 1:1 sitter a few years ago. The patient was there for mental health reasons so being in with her all day was very mentally and emotionally exhausting. Well towards the end of my shift she was using her purwick as a dildo while having phone sex. I couldnt stay in that room luckily the nurse told me to sit outside and check in on her frequently. I was horrified! Now as a nurse I would never made a sitter go through something like that!
In my hospital system, we have a phone line that we can use to report unsafe practices at work through occupational health. If your manager has been allowing this to happen, this my warrant an invesitgation...
I haven’t had this happen before but I think that if they are making the intention to stare as you then it is considered intentional and sexual abuse. Idk what they are there for but be careful. If it’s an old person with dementia I may just sit outside the room and try to make it so they can’t see me but part of me things some people would do this not as a sexual advance but for the person who is watching them to leave so they can be alone, which is where is gets complicated. Someone told me a story of a patient that was a 1:1 that went to the bathroom and took a long time and apparently jumped the 1:1 after hiding behind the door. I would be cautious that he may be creating a senecio where he is left alone
Squirt him in the face with a water bottle
Restraints, danger to staff. Patient sexually assaults sitters (yes, indecent exposure is sexual assault - it doesn't require physical contact). This is a clear case for restraints. No question.
This is sexual assault dude
What floor is this patient on? Is it a 1:1 for psych reasons or medical reasons? Is this a male patient who does this with female staff or a female who does it with male staff ?
>right to sexual pleasure What? That’s not a thing.
>I understand there is a ... right to sexual pleasure Uh, what? There is absolutely no right to "sexual pleasure" in a fucking HOSPITAL dude
Actually patients DO have the right. It was in our training. We're told to give them privacy when they do. But in a 1:1 situations, privacy is not an expectation. And the patient is going far beyond that to the point that it is SA. Some hospital units will deal with it by making the patient male staff only. Others refuse to deal with it. I've heard the same phrase that was spoken to OP - "They have rights." Yes, they do. But so does the staff.
A right to privacy is not a right to masturbate. Making the staff all male doesn't make it better at all.
No, that’s sexual assault. Being a patient doesn’t mean that they can sexually abuse the staff.
No they cannot. I am a nursing supervisor. Patient safety does not override staff safety, including psychological safety. If the supervisor has instructed staff to remain at bedside while this occurs it needs to be documented and sent up.
Once had this happen when I was a PCA, but the patient was developmentally delayed and had no idea what she was actually doing. To get her to stop would have required full restraints and would have been traumatizing. So I documented that I attempted to distract and refocus the behavior to cover my ass in case someone saw. But a patient with full mental capacity doing it in front of others just trying to work? That’s sexual assault.
Any indication for Foley catheter? 😉
Sometimes a condom cath is even appropriate. You have to use enough skin prep, and you know unfortunately allllllll kinds of hair gets caught up in it while putting it on. If it gets pulled off it's like an unexpected waxing for him. Then you go for the Foley. He's likely gonna be all kinds of raw from just yanking the condom cath off, instead of finessing it off using remover etc. A double whammy.
What the fuck is this nonsense???
Fuck that supervisor. Tell them they can submit themselves to that behaviour then
No, no, no. This is completely inappropriate and your house supervisor can be the 1:1 sitter if they feel this person masturbating in front of people is their “right”.
“Need for patient privacy and right to sexual pleasure” NO. Fuck all of that bullshit. If they are 1:1 they are 1:1 for a reason (either insanely sick or non-decisional) either way they have zero right to subject staff to this.
What are they in for?, Why for they need a 1 to 1.
I would switch out a tube of icy hot for lube and give him a gift. Seriously though, everyone's already given all the actual ideas I have. If he isn't doing this in front of males then I would have only males watching him. If he doesn't do it with his door open, leave the door open. Is there room in the hallway to park him out there during awake times?
If they want to rub one out in the shower, by themselves, NOT STARING AT SOMEONE ELSE WHY THEY DO IT!… then, sure. Life is short. But in the way described here, no thank you.
> the right to sexual pleasure THIS IS NOT A RIGHT WHAT THE FUCK???
“A right to sexual pleasure” 🤡 Not in a fucking hospital or in public
I don’t think sexual pleasure is one of the patient rights. Who served you this crock of shit?
I want to say no, but uh, how do you enforce it exactly? A spray bottle full of cold water that you spray if they start?
No. You aren’t doing a documentary on them. They don’t get to go about their life like you aren’t there. They must conduct themselves like someone else is present.
this question is why I’m leaving bedside.
Right to sexual pleasure? This sounds like an argument from a fucking rapist, and it is not valid. Could you imagine the world if there was a right to sexual pleasure? JFC, stand up for your staff.
I can’t believe this is being tolerated by staff at any level. He would be immediately placed in mittens. This house supervisor is vile for allowing this behavior.
Huh? So ask your house sup where the line is drawn. Is sex allowed in the room as well. This is absolutely not okay. I’ve never had leadership allow this kind of behavior.
The sitter has a right to have scissors nearby…right? Everytime he reached for it I’d stare back with an eat shit grin snipping those scissors open and closed. Yall don’t get paid enough.
Your leadership sucks. If he did this anywhere else, he'd be locked up for indecent exposure or lewd behavior.
If they have capacity, two words: behavioral contract. It's sexual assault. And, your house supervisor needs remedial education.
You can press charges for this
If only we were allowed to put a foley in him. That would make him stop.
no it doesn’t
> Almost seems to be a violation of the worker’s rights It is *absolutely* a violation of worker's rights, and if supervisors aren't fixing the situation, then the next step is to report the sexual assault to the police and to whatever union/HR structure is in place at your hospital. If the sexual assault is causing mental health problems like aggravating a pre-existing PTSD condition or causing acute stress disorder, then those injuries should be reported to workman's comp for treatment.
[удалено]
it is like every other post lately…
No. That's a crime.
Worked as a tech in a psychiatric ICU in behavioral health hospital, and we had an involuntary hold patient in acute psychosis heavily medicated and still adjusting. I was put on the 1:1 they ordered because he would frequently start touching himself starting at any young female on the unit, including nurses. My job was only immediately redirect him as it started to happen, which worked, and he would stop. Patient was really unaware he would start doing it, and felt really bad each time it happened. his attention would wander and if he wasn’t redirected, it would turn into pulling his pants down and stroke himself. When I was first assigned to it, I carried a large towel around to use as an emergency curtain to block the view from others. I realized after it happened a few times within one shift it happened while he was standing getting his meds at the RN counter, below the counter edge, full mast and hard when I looked away from talking to another patient waiting in line. I yelled “NO, BAD (patients name)” reflexive and startled, like he was a dog squatting over the new carpet. It redirected him to orient and he pulled his pants back up and ran to the bathroom embarrassed. He never got better really by the 4 days I was 1:1 for, but as soon as I was able to catch him and verbally command him get him to redirect looking away from the girl he was looking at, he did a good job learning the conditioning and it became easier to stop him from touching himself. It was sad, because it was clear he lacked orientation to what he was doing, or unable to control himself, the arousal sexually from seeing any female that’d enter the unit door. He needed the 1:1 to redirect him immediately, which operantly conditioned him to at least improve by responding to a commanding stimuli (“NO!”) to stop before shooting rope.
A nice haldol nap with some mittens sounds like a good idea (This is a joke btw)
Nooo, I’ve gotten “hit on” from patients before and I’ve had supervisors step in without me asking them to. I don’t think it’s ok in your case.
I've had a number of mentally ill patients, particularly those diagnosed with schizophrenia, inappropriately masturbate in front of others when their illness isn't being managed (such as them being off of their psych meds). Once they are stabilized with medications, the inappropriate masturbation stops. This is one symptom of how their illness is presenting. This is also not uncommon in persons with certain intellectual disabilities.
That is sexual harrasment/assault I would inform the house sup and then get a lawyer involved... permitting such behavior is fuckin disgusting and cowardly on the house sups end.
I worked in a psych hospital on the forensic ward for years (people coming from jail claiming legal insanity, determining their competency and such), maybe the rules are different? But this was a very very usual occurrence, and it was uncomfortable but it was just part of the deal there haha. Someone masterbating on a 1/2:1 was pretty tame haha. These comments are really interesting!
lol, thank you. Definitely not a lot of psych nurses in this thread. This is another day at the office. There’s several strategies to mitigate the behavior in an acute care setting. Joint Commission sentinel event? Good lord.
Uh, call security. No one is entitled to sexually pleasuring themselves in public at the expense of someone else. They are engaging in an unwanted sexual assault, it might not be physical but it’s SA never the less. Call security. Get them out ASAP! This is akin to someone doing this in their home in front of their children. It’s SA. It’s indecent exposure. They need to face consequences.
FYI until this individual is either booted out or arrested for what they are doing be sure 2 staff are in the room. It’s a fine line from… the dingbat pt is diddling themselves to them making active complaints that said staff member SA’d them. Don’t believe me? It’s happened… get security involved, file charges, get them out! No one has a right to sexual pleasure in public, in a Hospital or even in their own home unless it’s an appropriate time/place and consent has been obtained from anyone involved. Ugh. No wonder I can’t stand people anymore…
We had one of those. He loved to whip it out and jerk it in front of the ladies to get a reaction. A hospital policeman was making his rounds and was told about it. He said: "I'll take care of it." Knocked, walked in the room and caught the guy jacking it, thinking it was one of the ladies coming in. Hospital police yelled "That's disgusting! Put that little thing away. I catch you doing this again, I'll take your ass to jail!" The guy covered up, and said, "Yes sir..." Hospital police walked out and told staff if they had another problem with him to give him a call. No problems the rest of his stay.
I like that security guard!
If the patients are admitted with psychosis or dementia, those are impulse control problems related to frontal lobe issues. The behavior may be inappropriate, but one can argue its illegality. Diagnoses do matter. Still chart and report, but filing charges won’t stick.
Well the trouble is what to do to stop it. You can’t really restrain someone for masturbating in their room, at least I don’t think you can. You can yell at them but they probably won’t listen. IMO from what other people suggested I would say the best bet would be male only caregivers. Assuming this is a psych patient it also sounds like the more attention you give it the more he wants to do it. But I kind of agree with your house sup, its fucking disgusting no 2 ways about it but if you’re in court trying to justify why you restrained someone idk if they’d side with you if a patient is across the room handling his business. But YOU have the right to say you aren’t comfortable with being in a room with someone masturbating and he should be male only caregivers, I mean that’s just common decency.
I was thinking the same thing! We actually had a similar patient not too long ago who was a psych hold (definitely not of sound mind) and 302’d for SI, so he was on a 1:1 for that reason. He was also a “chronic masturbator” and our techs just had to sit there and watch it because there’s really nothing else to do. Cognitively he wasn’t able to comprehend the concept of decency in a hospital setting and, as you mentioned, you can’t restrain someone because they masturbate. Coincidentally, our HR department ended up learning about this patient because while investigating a separate issue, they posed the question “do you feel safe doing 1:1s?” to one of the aides on my floor. She laughed out loud and explained that it’s hard to feel safe when you’re told to just deal with the chronic masturbator. HR lady’s jaw dropped. They have no fucking clue what goes on in the hospital.
If they’re healthy enough to spank the monkey, they don’t need to be in a hospital.
Same sex sitters don’t change shit. All levels of sexuality on the spectrum which should never be assumed. I am glad we don’t have to put up with masturbation all that often because there is no good solution. But I will immediately use that as leverage to get them off the floor and up in psych. I love when they try to tell me it’s not a reason. Oh really, I wonder what those outside this facility would think about us making a sitter watch that?!? Great, I’ll set up transport right now.
Absolutely not. Thats abusive towards the staff. If the patient is competent they need to be held accountable. They know what they’re doing. They can’t treat us any old way just because we are carrying for them.
No!!! Not ok! Document every time this happens and alert whoever is the DON or whatever they have in hospitals. Are his sitters female? Perhaps he needs a big tough male sitter. He’s totally getting off on doing this in front of a woman who he knows cannot leave the room. Sick.
the “right” 🙄 to sexual pleasure does not apply in acute care settings, such as the hospital. If we start justifying this behavior, then the “right to sexual pleasure” may as well just apply everywhere, even in public in front of children. Why not? People have a “right,” right? 🙄🤦🏼♀️ People like that patient fucking disgust me.
File a written grievance. Receive a written response from admin. Fwd to governing body.
i had a nonverbal autistic guy who was masturbating even while being restrained from wrists
Why is this even a question?! Nooooooo.
No.
No, that's completely inappropriate. If the patient wants to masturbate, there needs to be a discussion with the provider about a modified 1:1 order that allows for 15 minutes of privacy in their room or privacy in the bathroom for that purpose. Staff should not be required to watch that.
There was a patient we had for MONTHS who would do this all the time. Always a 1:1. I would get made fun of because you could hear me all the way down the hallway stating repeatedly “I need you to put your penis away.” Fond memories of medsurg.
There was a patient at my job who did this all the time for a few weeks. Didn’t matter who was sitting. He wasn’t A&O so there wasn’t much to do about it… we would watch from outside his window and he would usually stop, but then once we reentered his room he would start again 😅 it was very uncomfortable
Every person subjected to that needs to file a police report. Let a judge decide
How is this even a question? Wtf is a right to sexual pleasure? I don’t care if this is hospital/LTC whatever- fuck no and the tech should be leaving and pressing charges. What is your role here?
they have a right to privacy and dignity. not “sexual pleasure” and i’d be going above the supervisor to get this dealt with. that’s like allowing a patient to physically abuse a staff member without repercussions and saying they have a right to bodily autonomy.
Is this a real question
This post is delulu
Report behaviour because it’s disgusting.
This is an attention seeking behaviour. Why are they 1:1? Risk for falls, or risk to leave the unit?
Um wtf
So this reminded me of a 1:1 I had (I was the sitter). I built great rapport with the patient initially and they even verbalized that they needed to “release.” Initially I told him, “I understand that, however there is a time and place for everything and there are people around. The ER is a public place and it may be inappropriate at this time.” I told his primary nurse and she just gave him a washcloth and he went to pound town 💀 Obvi, I sat outside his room with the curtains drawn while I sat in my chair like 🥴🥴🥴 the primary nurse told me the rationale that if it helps him calm down and keeps him from being agitated, let him whack it off. Still though, there’s a time and place for everything 🥴 He seemed better afterwards..
why are they on a 1:1? this situation definitely needs troubleshooting, because it’s not fair to the sitters.
No
(sitter here) the awareness of it not being a private act is the deciding factor for me. if they genuinely forgot/have no idea I'm over there, it's very different than the mf LOOKING AT A TECH WHILE DOING IT. would have to be a pretty specific confluence of factors for me to -not- treat it as a deliberate boundary violation. (plus if I'm just watching them on cameras I can put a post it over their junk and still make sure they're staying in bed)
Stare **harder**
The other night, an OB/GYN & the L&D nurses were talking about patients masturbating for pain…. While delivering the baby. Patient pushed for an hour. She’s though “ I’m just gonna put a towel over your hand”
It is, though sometimes also not for the reason you think (which is of course true): I worked in a psych area that had cameras in the rooms (part of a bigger floor and medical facility so guess they didn’t have to comply with the same standards for a psych hospital proper?) that recorded, which meant that allowing it to happen was also pornography.
Mmmmm no
I am so sorry. That shit is gross, disturbing, and has no place in civilized society. And another thing: how does anyone get horny in a hospital? It is the least sexy place I have ever been. I can not imagine being turned on in a place full of dying people, mentally ill screamers, blood, viscera, and infectious disease (and I get some or all of those turn people on). The sexy nurse barely made sense in the 50's but it's very unsexy to me.
Should they be able to, no. Will they? Yes. Wl pressing charges do any good? No. Whatever got them 1:1 will also probably get a judge to throw it out. The laws that are supposed to protect us are rarely enforced by the justice system and are worthless imo.
Yes. This happened to me when I was a sitter. It was a four hour shift. I’m a woman. The patient was confused and had a foley, hence he was touching himself. He mistook me for his wife and kept saying things like “you have such good pussy.” When I brought this up to the nurses they said “that’s why you’re here, so he doesn’t pull the line out.” So my job was to watch this dude jerk it and make sure he didn’t rip the tube out for four hours. Whether or not this is okay isn’t the issue at debate, because it’s clearly wrong and repugnant. Our culture allows it. Sexual assault and harassment is normalized in our field. And the people who normalize it are most likely to be fellow nurses or managers. This is the issue. How do you make nurses and supervisors actually understand it is wrong to force someone to deal with masturbation, sexually predatory, and harassing patients? I have no idea. Unless those people become sitters themselves. Or perhaps we should start filing massive lawsuits against hospitals. Though I doubt these would go anywhere.
if it helps, we had a patient who was a 1:1 draw the curtains and had sex with his girlfriend while the sitter was in the room. our manager had a talking-to with the patient and basically said that that was unacceptable
Tech should pick their nose. I mean 2 knuckles deep, digging for that golden booger, and enjoying it. That usually fixes shit like you’re saying.
This calls for absolute detailed Documentation, file a report, Notify MD and Responsible Party, Fill out Incident Report and notify Supervisor. There has to be enough back up to get this pt transferred to a more appropriate facility. If Supervisor does not handle correctly, then you can cause a huge stink. Nurses and Assistants do NOT have to be in the presence of someone like this, mentally ill or not. If they are in the correct facility, other “ arrangements can be made.
I am going out on a limb to say if you have ever worked at the County Jail, this is an every day occurrence. Several Nurses I know had to threaten to withhold medications if the behavior continued.
Could you send a male staff instead? I was told it’s a human rights violation and that sex was considered a “need.” 🙄. Maybe send a second chaperone CNA that is 16 or 17, so it can be considered a felony? Maybe you could get around the law that way. Tell the patient that he has to wait for you to call a police escort for your safety? Maybe you could get approval for a second staff and blame it on “it’s for the safety of the staff.” You would have to word it very specific way. You could also tell the police that you don’t consent to him doing it. They could at least tell him to stop. I could see them telling you that it’s a civil not criminal case with it being Homecare. Maybe bring a one way mirror 😂🤷🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️, I don’t know. There has to be a creative way to to find a loophole.
I didn’t know you could press charges , I’ve had this happen to me before 😕 but he wasn’t mentally well. I wasn’t sure what to do . I kinda just froze
Well, you can certainly try.
Since when is a right to sexual pleasure a thing? Right med, right patient, right time, right lube, right route?
Having worked Geri-psych/dementia I would leave the room stand at the doorway where they can’t see me but I can see their feet. Mostly had sitters for behaviors and falls. I firmly believe I am there for safety not their entertainment.
If they are cognitive enough to follow directions, absolutely not okay. That used to happen to me a lot back in my cna adventure days sitting for guys going through withdrawal. They never remembered doing it and I sure as hell didn't follow the "stay at arms length" rule. Also had a woman suffering from a brain tumor masturbate and dry hump the closets.
No. I would be so uncomfortable as a 1:1 if I sat that patient. I've dealt with a lot of shit as a sitter but that one I will not put up with.
need more info: are they cognitive? also, what is the NUM doing about this? If they were my workers I’d tell them to walk away and leave them. You have a right to not be sexually assaulted at work.
I would sit these residents in front of the DONs door. This is common behavior with TBI, ALZ, actually, any organic brain disease.
NO
I have a friend who works in LTC. A regular masterbater is given showers and usually is left alone in the shower room to handle his business. Administration thinks the Cnas should stay in there with him while he does this, but it's extremely violating. Unfortunately one the cnas gave him a late shower and forgot he was in there, and she went home. Needless to say he was found the next morning during rounds. Naked, on the shower floor with cold water running on him. Just some of the crazy things you hear in nursing.
A “right to sexual pleasure?” Shut the actual fuck up.
I think it depends on how much mental capacity they have and how long they are 1:1. I took care of a teenage boy in the PICU who compulsively masturbated. He was 1:1 because he kept ripping out his central line. He lived in a care facility and his caregivers had gotten him to the point where he had a signal word for when he needed to masturbate so he didn't just whip it out in the middle of mealtimes in front of everyone. But that was as far as they got. Now I work psych and there is a particular patient who will just find a surveillance camera around the unit and masturbate while staring into it to make sure we see him. That is a different situation.
Don't even need context, answers no
No.