Sleep study - am I overreacting?
Last night I had my sleep study followed by chest X ray, gall bladder/liver, labs and pulminary/cardiac tests in the morning. While I knew the sleep study would not be comfortable, what I wasn't expecting was that I would be alone with a male tech all night who could enter my room whenever he needed to ajust a connection.
Before we started, I asked him to announce himself or knock on the door, so I wouldn't wake up with him standing over me. That would be a major freak-out moment. He didn't like me asking him this.....kind of got an attitude.
I thought that I would have a female tech - they have to put on all those sticky connections. I was really uncomfortable.
What's interesting is that there was another lady in the room next to me.....I met her the next day at the hospital, we were both getting tests done. She said she thought the guy was creepy and that she was uncomfortable with the fact that a guy was there.
It didn't help that the rooms were in a section of a nursing home, all by themselves.....if we screamed no one would hear. Nothing happened, but am I wrong that this could be unethical?
Before we started, I asked him to announce himself or knock on the door, so I wouldn't wake up with him standing over me. That would be a major freak-out moment. He didn't like me asking him this.....kind of got an attitude.
I thought that I would have a female tech - they have to put on all those sticky connections. I was really uncomfortable.
What's interesting is that there was another lady in the room next to me.....I met her the next day at the hospital, we were both getting tests done. She said she thought the guy was creepy and that she was uncomfortable with the fact that a guy was there.
It didn't help that the rooms were in a section of a nursing home, all by themselves.....if we screamed no one would hear. Nothing happened, but am I wrong that this could be unethical?
That would have creeped me out completely as well! I was given the option of a male or female tech, they had 1 of each at the sleep center I went to. I'm sure he was professional and all that jazz but in this world, huh you never know! I'm glad everything went OK, and that your over and done with that part of the journey!
Unethical no, uncomfortable yes. I had a sleep study last August and there was a female and a male present. I would let the sleep study center know how you felt. Maybe they overlooked it or had someone call in sick. Glad nothing happened. Not all us guys are creeps, but enough to understand the concern. Good luck.
I don't think it's really unethical. I don't know of any ethical guidelines established for sleep studies, but maybe some sleep study association has written some. I'm thinking that having a male tech would be kinda like having a male x-ray tech - not considered unethical, but some women might be uncomfortable.
Now, there are ethical guidelines established for some medical procedures. Like, if a male doctor is doing a pelvic exam on you, there is always supposed to be a second person in the room.
It seems like it would be difficult for the sleep study people to always have both a male and female tech on duty, unless there was enough work that they needed two techs. And it seems like it would be hard for them to ask each patient if they wanted a male or female. However, your request that he knock on the door was not at all unreasonable, and if you felt too uncomfortable, it would be OK to refuse to do the sleep study right then. You could call a supervisor the next day and ask if there was another day you could do it when there would be a female tech or you could do it somewhere else. Kinda like it would not be unethical for a male doctor to do a breast exam for me but I am not comfortable with that so I see a female doc.
Now, there are ethical guidelines established for some medical procedures. Like, if a male doctor is doing a pelvic exam on you, there is always supposed to be a second person in the room.
It seems like it would be difficult for the sleep study people to always have both a male and female tech on duty, unless there was enough work that they needed two techs. And it seems like it would be hard for them to ask each patient if they wanted a male or female. However, your request that he knock on the door was not at all unreasonable, and if you felt too uncomfortable, it would be OK to refuse to do the sleep study right then. You could call a supervisor the next day and ask if there was another day you could do it when there would be a female tech or you could do it somewhere else. Kinda like it would not be unethical for a male doctor to do a breast exam for me but I am not comfortable with that so I see a female doc.
Kelly
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
When I had my sleep study and the subsequent CPAP pressure and mask adjustment done, there was only a woman technician present. I'm a guy, so I didn't feel uncomfortable (although she was creepy as hell, and talked non-stop), but I could see how you would feel uncomfortable were the roles reversed. If that was my wife, she would have felt very uncomfortable and would not have slept. I probably would have gotten a text in the middle of the night to come pick her up.
HW: 418 SW: 386 CW: 225 GW: 210 
Yeah, I was like that too. It took me hours to fall asleep, then I felt like I just dozed.
I actually did tell the scheduling person that I was uncomfortable. Their answer was, "You shouldn't feel like that." Uuuuhhhh.....what? How can you tell someone how to feel?
Anyway, when I found out (the day of the test) I had already driven two hours, gotten a babysitter, and couldn't possibly reschedule. That was the option they gave me.
I think they should give people the schedule of when the female and male techs are working, then we could pick the night of our test.
It also didn't help that the guy was a real jerk when he was putting the electrodes on. Oh well, past history, right? It helps to vent. Thanks for the responses!
I actually did tell the scheduling person that I was uncomfortable. Their answer was, "You shouldn't feel like that." Uuuuhhhh.....what? How can you tell someone how to feel?
Anyway, when I found out (the day of the test) I had already driven two hours, gotten a babysitter, and couldn't possibly reschedule. That was the option they gave me.
I think they should give people the schedule of when the female and male techs are working, then we could pick the night of our test.
It also didn't help that the guy was a real jerk when he was putting the electrodes on. Oh well, past history, right? It helps to vent. Thanks for the responses!
Maybe your post will help give others a "heads up" so that they can ask ahead of time if this si something that would be an issue. With my PTSD, there is no way that I could have done the sleep study under the conditions you described -- male tech going in and out of the room all night, being in a secluded area of the building, etc..
Quite honestly, unless someone has raised the issue before, the people who run the program likely have not even considered that some female patients might be really uncomfortable with a male tech (since having male technicians wprking with female patients in other medical cir****tances is not problematic (e.g., xray or ultrasound techs).
If the guy was a jerk, perhaps you should talk to the supervisor to let him/her know what the tech did and how uncomfortable it made you. They need to have some kind of "bedside manner" in they are going to work with patients.
Lora
Quite honestly, unless someone has raised the issue before, the people who run the program likely have not even considered that some female patients might be really uncomfortable with a male tech (since having male technicians wprking with female patients in other medical cir****tances is not problematic (e.g., xray or ultrasound techs).
If the guy was a jerk, perhaps you should talk to the supervisor to let him/her know what the tech did and how uncomfortable it made you. They need to have some kind of "bedside manner" in they are going to work with patients.
Lora
14 years out; 190 pounds lost, 165 pound loss maintained
You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.
He certainly shouldn't have gotten an attitude about you asking that he knock or announce himself. He doesn't know that you haven't been the victim of an assault who awoke to find her attacker in the room. Happened to someone very close to me so they would have completely freaked out if they had woke up and discovered him there.
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