Does the gender of nurses matter to patients? A qualitative analysis of gender preferences of patients

BACKGROUND: This study argues that the gender of a nurse could give patients the emotional and psychological support they need in their healing process. Nonetheless, in many developing countries, these intricate preferences of patients are usually ignored due to poor staffing and logistical capacities of health facilities. As a contribution to this professional and operation gap, this paper explores patients’ preference for nurses’ gender in health care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana. The paper further explores the importance of these preferences to the delivery of patient-centred care in Ghana and across Africa. OBJECTIVE: The paper has two specific objectives: (a) to explore patients’ preferences for the gender of nurses who attend to them while on admission; and (b) to find out the range of factors that inform these preferences. METHODS: Qualitative exploratory descriptive design was used to select adult patients who were not seriously ill and nursed by male and female nurses at the medical and surgical wards of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana for at least 5 days from January to March 2017 and before their discharge. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling technique. A semi-structured interview guide was used to elicit information from 14 participants after seeking their written informed consent. The data were analysed using content analysis. RESULTS: Two major themes emerged. These were: the Preferred Gender of a Nurse in Nursing Care and the Reasons for the Preference or no Preference for Nurses’ Gender in Nursing Care. Under each of these themes, the associated aspects were also discussed. Patients had varying preference for a particular nurse during care but gender was not particularly significant in patients’ preference for nurses. Majority of the participants emphasized their preference for nurses with professional expertise and good virtues to determine a preferred nurse and both genders of nurses can possess these qualities. However, nurses of the same gender as the patient were preferred for intimate procedures to ensure privacy and satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The gender of a nurse is not on top of the preferences list of patients in the study context. This may be attributed to the long-term practice that the participants have not had the chance to be choosing a preferred nurse’s gender, so most patients are tolerant and familiar with both male and female nurses. Instead, patients’ preferences are determined by the performance and quality of service provided by nurses. Age, maturity and social connections were also found to influence patients’ preferences.