I work in a sleep clinic and some patients want to sleep naked

I am NOT OOP

Originally posted to Ask A Manager

I work in a sleep clinic and some patients want to sleep naked

Trigger Warnings: >!hostile workplace, unnecessary nudity, retaliation!<

Mood Spoilers: >!frustrating and sad!<

---

Original Post: April 16, 2024

I recently changed careers and now work as a sleep technician for a well-known medical facility. I’m still a student so I only work part-time until I graduate from my program. Technicians are not nurses, unless they have additional, specific training. We are machine operators who happen to work with patients. My job is to attach electrodes to the patient’s body for the purpose of monitoring and recording the body’s electrical signals during sleep. Nudity is not required for me to do my job, which is partially why I chose sleep.

Here’s the issue: some of my patients do not bring/wear pajamas for their sleep studies. You would think it’s common sense to wear pajamas to sleep in, but, apparently, as I am now learning, it’s not. And some patients report, “No one told me to bring PJs.” The biggest issue for me are men (it’s mostly men who do this) who strip down to their tightie-whities or state they sleep naked. In my opinion, this is incredibly inappropriate. Not only is it creepy, unprofessional , and plain weird (seriously, it’s one night away from home), it forces the workers into a situation that could be easily misconstrued. We techs already record all interactions to protect ourselves from erroneous accusations.

As a newbie in a new field, would it be out of line to ask the lab manager if the night crew could have a package of hospital gowns in inventory for patients who don’t have pajamas with them? I don’t want to hurt my chance to move into a full-time position here, but I also can’t hand off every creepy dude to my coworkers. I don’t know if this matters, but the majority of people at my facility are female-presenting. I think besides a few of the doctors the rest of the staff is over 95% women. It’s rare to have a male tech on crew.

 

Editor's note: For Alison's response, please refer to this link here, note: the first of five questions

 

Update: July 2, 2025 (14.5 months later)

I’ve been sitting on this reply to you because my experience as a brand new sleep tech student trainee went horribly awry. It was such a hostile and abusive work environment I felt forced to leave/pushed out. It was so bad I was advised by a third party to pursue a court case against my employer, but at the time I did not have the spoons or funds to do so (they’re a world-renowned health and learning institution).

My formal request for hospital gowns was denied by the manager. Some of the more senior level techs vocally supported my request at the team meeting, but one senior-level tech invoked the ol “Back in my day…” speech which completely dismissed my concerns of sexual harassment by patients. However, a newly hired supervisor, who is much younger than our senior techs and more understanding of the problem, was able to procure a package of robes from the hospital for us to use, and they were used.

As of this moment, I am at a crossroads of sorts. I get anxiety when I think about working in a hospital again. I drove by the building the other day and my entire body went stiff. The problem wasn’t the patients or the scope of the work itself, it was the people I was forced to work with for 12-hour night shifts. They were so mean and downright nasty, and none of it was necessary. I did request a change to day shift or move to another office, but HR just made everything worse.

I paid a significant amount of money for schooling to change careers, and I put in an incredible amount of work to get comfortable working with patients- I absolutely loved working with my patients (and I was good at it for the most part). It would be a shame to abandon all of that training due to some emotionally immature, poorly trained, and abusive people. I’m lucky enough to have a good group of techs who will provide recommendations for me, but the anxiety is REAL. I’ve been gritting my teeth while writing this email. I really don’t want to give up.

 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP