While I was in icu and in hospitals thereafter I got the impression that male patients get more time and attention than female patients.
I have tried, without success, to convince myself that I was imagining it, but a quick online search found many articles telling a similar story of unconscious bias throughout healthcare.
Has anyone else noticed it?
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Cant really say as I did not notice too much what was going on around other patients as I was too ill with Sepsis and when I had covid I was in an ICU isolation room on my own. When I did come round from covid I was moved to an area on my own in the ICU and there were no other patients around me. When I was moved out of ICU I was in a small male ward and then when moved to a community hospital again it was a small male ward.
I do wonder where this country is going. If you want to interpret it that way you will find bias of some sort anywhere. In my case in icu we all had 1 to 1 care. When I stepped down that all changed and one nurse was caring for multiple patients even when some elements of care took a considerable amount of time. Oh and I’m probably bias because I am a male.
The only thing I know is that before I went into hospital it did not realise how ill you could become, and the efforts that the doctors and nurses and physios put in to make you well again.....I will always be eternally grateful, and they have my total respect in doing the work they do.
Well said
Sounds like you got lucky yourself ! And no I haven’t noticed it.Staff way too professional for that lark.
I was a general nurse many years ago and then worked in psychiatry and never perceived any gender bias we did our job to help people as best as possible and in ICU staff are 1;1 if not more per patient. I cannot praise the care they gave especially during the worst of Covid.
Kit10 I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. I suffered from peritonitis and 4 quadrant sepsis in August 2020 and was in an induced coma for 12 days. The ICU staff were incredible and gave me the best care, and thanks to them I am alive and well. Yes I am female
Yeah well like I said in another post there is a postcode lottery, which I seem to have lost.
Never heard anything so ridiculous? That sounds like a challenge.
Ridiculous stories, all true:
The staff member in ICU who, when I laboriously spelt out a message asking for a physio, said "Physio? Physio? That's not a word, I don't understand" and walked away.
The care home kitchen who got the message I'd asked for a boiled egg, and sent it, along with a soup spoon to eat it with.
The same kitchen another day sent a boiled egg and a knife and fork to eat it with.
(It is easier to eat a soft boiled egg with a knife than with a soup spoon, though I wouldn't recommend either)
The nurse (not in ICU) who left me lying on the floor for an hour, before she finally got the idea that I really couldn't get up, and sent for a hoist. (Yes I did complain, and yes I did get an apology.)
I was a nurse prior to being sick. I can promise unless you have a bad nurse no patient is getting more attention due to gender we prioritise care based on need.
You may find men are less likely to seek help and end up in a worse situation than women and therefore NEED more care or are heavier so require more people to move them about. Similarly if they are aggressive (due to delirium, mental illness or general confusion) they require more staff to deal with however this is nothing to do with staffs perceived bias.
Please consider this thread closed now as some people are getting upset by it. If you perceive you have been treated unfairly this is not the forum to complain about it. You need to make a formal complaint to the hospital concerned to ensure they investigate.
I think it is good to hear someone elses perception of their experience in ICU. I am sure most of us can list events that perhaps did not go according to plan, but in hindsight pale into insignificance against the overall great care received. I certainly have a few 'amusing' anecdotes over my 6 months in hospital.
Interesting issue you raise, I find the probability of its accuracy somewhat remote. The kind of bias you refer to could only come from a "hive mind" mentality of any particular group of people. This is certainly possible in some situations - those of a somewhat stagnant environment.
The medical, and specifically that of ICU is dynamic and ever changing - simply due to the nature of work carried out within the environment. An ICU environment is constantly changing, with most patients in & out within a 5 day period.
With that, different patients have differing medical needs and care - this is coupled to the various teams treating a patient. For example a team treating a trauma patient will differ to that of a cardiac patient. There would obviously be an overlap in the care teams.
There are other considerations to be taken into account. In general, males tend to be more assertive than females - again a generalization. In turn this could lead to them being a little more expectant and demanding on staff than females.
I was in ICU for an initial 4 weeks with Sepsis and then returned after contracting Covid on a ward, and was there for a further 10 weeks. I never noticed anything other than appropriate high standards of care. I can see from my diary and my clinical notes just how well I was looked after. There were a few Carry On moments , but I would not be here without the ICU team for sure.
I’m both a healthcare professional who’s working in ICU, and was an ICU patient last year.
I can say, hand on heart, there just isn’t bias to our patients. Once a person becomes so ill, they become a patient and the goal is to get them better / discharged home.
Whilst I was a patient, still sedated - maybe intubated, definitely delirious….I could hear the staff laughing with a male patient - a patient who had just been brought onto the Covid unit to be intubated …. I remember thinking ‘OMG all that fun & laughing, it might be the last thing he’ll ever hear / see / do. They communicated more / different with him, as he was awake still and we were not.
ICU patients are so ill, treating the person and the illness is all that matters. To us it doesn’t matter who / what you are, right / poor / identity / sexuality / good or bad person…..you are our patient and we will fight to get you better.
The more I read on this site about how others experienced care, the clearer it becomes to me that what I have experienced was not as good, in many ways.
I will be contacting PALS.
I am female - I was in a 3 week coma with H1N1, in a large isolation room with 2 nurses with me 24, 7 and an additional nurse replacing and adding to my various drips and pieces of kit. When I was out of the coma they were really great. They were all about the patients and getting them better to leave. I didn't notice any gender bias in ICU or the next specialist ward I was ambulance transferred to, just people wanting you to get better.
But...these were specialist wards and all the staff were passionate about doing a good job caring for their patients .
I have seen so many examples of age discrimination and sex discrimination in general wards as well as total incompetence in nursing staff in those wards - not being able to attach a drip correctly (female), giving a female patient a drug that the red wrist band indicated that they were allergic to, forgetting to feed them (males & female) so that we ended up going home and getting them a hot meal, not making sure that they were correctly hydrated which led to hallucinations which were then incorrectly diagnosed as dementia (female) - unfortunately the list goes on and one of the patients died.
But poor nursing standards is down to what the hospital and senior nursing staff accepts...we had a meeting with the head of nursing and the hospital head and were asked not to go to the media...I had taken lot's of photos of the care my grandparents had received and they were not good!!!
I agree the care in the general ward was different as no longer one to one, but in my case the staff were just as caring. It was difficult in the general ward as there was a gentleman who had dimentia and it caused a bit of friction with the other patients due to the shouting out. Not sure why the hospitals dont dedicate space for these more challenging patients.When I was transfered to the community hospital again the care was faultless and the physios worked hard to get me back on my feet with a great deal of sympathy. We were also given a steady stream of tea and biscuits throughout the day and evening.
It sounds like you have had a better experience than my family has had! We found my Dad in a general ward sprawled unconscious lying across his bed which was directly in front of the nurses station - they did not give a stuff until I threatened to release the images I had taken to the media, obviously none were showing my Dad's face, but showing the proximity of a nurses desk with 6 staff and a patient clearly in trouble being ignored. He caught a bacterial infection on a flight and ended up with sepsis and pneumonia!
I have been on one general ward where the care was amazing but that was down to how it was being run...and there was no one-2-one a care just efficient but caring nurses!
Again, physio is a specialist department and I have always found them to be amazing!
I am in the Bucks Health Area. Not sure if the differences you highlight are dependent on the area. I expect the NHS would say it makes no difference...
Our bad experiences were in the Bucks Health area and Dorset Health area
I was at Stoke Mandeville and then Buckingham Community hospital.
Stoke Mandeville and High Wycombe was the not so great care. My great care was in the ICU in Wexham Park followed by Royal Berkshire.
It must be luck. Stoke Mandeville ICU was fantastic. I have more recently had day surgery at High Wycombe and the pre-op team and day surgery team were great as well.
I was too ill to notice one way or the other, Though I did notice when I came out of icu into general that the woman in the bed opposite me had Staff looking over the place for things that were never there when I was desperate fo assistance with things toilet based. I just assumed that she should probably have been in a psychiatric ward but as there were no places she was in the general. I didn’t come to any conclusion a out gender based treatment.
I can’t say enough good things about the care I received in Royal Brisbane Hospital (Australia ) - first in the ICU and then 6 weeks in a Respiratory ward, and a further 10 days in Rehab. Now, I was intubated for 8 days, so can’t comment as I was unconscious. When I came to, the care I received was fantastic. When I went to the respiratory ward, there were just 4 beds (male and female), and the nursing staff gave all of us equal care, and if someone needed extra care, additional nursing staff came in. No complaints whatsoever. From what I observed, there was no gender bias in regards to who was cared for.I think sometimes people jump into a thread to comment when perhaps they haven’t genuinely experienced it.
Just my opinion of course. Oh, and I’m a male. 
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