What's the deal with having opposite sex personel in health care? I never questioned this. I guess on a psychological basis if the patient is unconfortable then something should be done about it. But the reason why the patient would be unconfortable is another matter altogether.Bill Would Let Patients Pick Nurse Gender
By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER, Associated Press Writer
JUNEAU, Alaska - Faith Myers, an Anchorage woman with schizophrenia, has been in and out of mental institutions since 2000. She said she felt violated during the time she spent at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute in Anchorage because male nurses would regularly see her and other female patients bathing, using the bathroom and dressing.
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API changed its policies in 2004, allowing patients to request a staff member of the same sex to be in the same room, but not necessarily as the nurse who performs the intimate care duties.
Myers said the policy does not go far enough.
Myers, 53, is pushing lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow patients to choose the sex of the their nurses in intimate care situations.
Rep. Les Gara's bill would allow mental health patients in institutions with a staff of 10 or more to make a gender preference for intimate care. If a staff member of the same sex is not available to accommodate the request, the hospital must document the reason.
"It's about the basic right of the most vulnerable patients to be treated with dignity," Gara, D-Anchorage, told the House Health, Education and Social Services Committee last week.
He argued that patients who have suffered sexual abuse could be further traumatized by having a member of the opposite sex bathe or clothe them.
Myers said she was strip searched by two male nurses when first admitted to API in 2000, after being denied her request that it be performed by female staff members.
While living there on and off through 2003, Myers said male staff members would regularly walk into women's bedrooms, bathrooms and showers unannounced.
"I've had them walk in while I'm on the toilet and ask to take a tour of student nurses through," Myers said. "I said, 'I'm on the toilet.'"
Myers and her partner Dorrance Collins made multiple requests to the API and the Alaska Mental Health Board beginning in 2001 to allow patients the gender choice. They filed 19 separate grievances in 2003, primarily focusing on the staff gender issues.
Karl Sanford, chief nursing officer at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, said Gara's bill overrides a nurse's judgment.
"I am offended by this because it is my job as a nurse to make an appropriate assessment of the patient upon admission into the facility and to make sure that that patient's issues are dealt with appropriately," he told the committee.
Sanford said he also is concerned about "legislating in response to patient complaints."
"I think it's a bad policy to follow," he said.
The Alaska Psychiatric Institute also opposes the bill.
API director Ron Adler said the institution is working to update its policy. The Alaska Mental Health Board recommended in March that API revise its gender sensitivity policy to allow the staff gender requests. Adler said API will comply with the recommendation, which goes beyond the 2004 changes, and that a state law is not necessary.
"If a patient comes in here and wants a female to provide intimate care, we will make every effort to accommodate that," he said.
Adler called the bill "feel good legislation" and argued that API is the only institution with a staff large enough to have to comply with the law.
Gara said the bill likely would apply also to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage and Fairbanks Memorial Hospital if the hospital "grows a little bit."
He said API had no willingness to make the changes until faced with the proposed legislation.
"They could have done this a year ago," Gara said. "I'm concerned that the moment the pressure disappears the regulation will disappear."
The bill was approved last week by the House Health, Education and Social Services Committee. It now heads to the House Finance Committee for consideration.
What do you guys think about this?
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Originally Posted by Templedog
