"Male" nurse? Le sigh.

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I try not to be too sensitive about stuff like this, but it is discouraging that even today people sometimes feel they have to preface the word "nurse" with the word "male," when their nurse happens to be a man. It is discouraging to see a supposedly progressive news organization like Yahoo! continuing to "otherize" us males by using such verbiage:

London (AFP) - A Filipino male nurse was jailed for life with a minimum of 35 years on Tuesday for poisoning 21 patients with insulin at a British hospital, two of whom died. Nurse jailed for life for poisoning patients - Yahoo News

It reminds me of when I was telling my friends and family I was going to nursing school. I remember how my pastor told me, "Do you really want to spend your life being a male nurse?" To which I replied, "No, I want to spend my life being a nurse."

Seriously? What if people called someone a "female doctor" or a "female lawyer?" This is silly.

I remember way back in clinicals at the VA a male veteran asked me if I was gay. I said no, I was married to a woman, etc. He asked to see a picture of her. I obliged. He said okay, you can touch me. Afterwards I felt embarrassed for myself. I should not have to defend my profession or throw my gay colleagues under the bus like that.

I know, flame me or say these are "microaggressions." Maybe you are right. But it is not fair either to our male or female colleagues.

I will apologize in advance for offending anyone, in the interest of being honest, therefore "therapeutic communication" is out the window (also, probably grammar and spelling, as I am typing this from my phone ;)).

We have a problem with the need to be so politically correct in this country, which I'm not against, but it is to the point of excess.

For the men that are upset about it, I'm sorry it hurts your feelings to be called male nurses, get over it. You're grown men and professionals. If you find yourselves offended by this qualitative modification of the word, perhaps you should take a moment to sit back and evaluate the underlying causes of why you're feeling that way (I genuinely means this, I'm not trying to be snarky). I say this because people are getting hung up on a title and that's not why we do this.

I do agree that when someone questions your sexuality or even masculinity it can hurt your feelings or even make you feel insecure. That's normal. Just remember that most fields that deal with the public also experience varying degrees of stupidity from the people they serve. You're a professional and you must press through it. Much like female nurses who deal with male patients who sexually harrass them.

I'm a nursing student (male), and I could personally care less if they call me nurse or male nurse. If I had a preference, I guess I would identify myself as an "RN" to others ( once I've graduated and passed my boards of course) because it just sounds a tad more technical/scientific (and representative of my evidence based training) than "nurse" to me personally. The term nurse by itself just reminds me of the old Nightingale days, before nursing was as science and evidence based as it is now. But honestly, it doesn't really matter to me.

I don't really care if they call me nurse, male nurse, orderly, or albino male nurse orderly:wacky: (haha, not exactly my favorite since I do have albinism, but whatever). I'm comfortable enough with myself to know that as long as I can clock in and provide the best care I can, be a team player on the floor, clock out and go home to enjoy my family, i'm happy.

Sorry for the novel everyone, it took my a while to find a ladder to get down from this high horse lol jk :***:

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When asked if I am a male nurse I simply say "I am now, but thats a long story"

Bahahaha, I'm gonna steal that one!

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Specializes in ED; Med Surg.

How about "he nurse" and "she nurse" -- like I call the married doctors in our hospital (who is on tonight -- He Smith or She Smith)? And yes, I am being sarcastic.

Whatever you are called, you are a NURSE and I love working with you and your ilk :)

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Specializes in public health, women's health, reproductive health.
I try not to be too sensitive about stuff like this...

Try harder.

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I agree with you whole heartedly, and no, you are not being overly sensitive. I detect no "micro aggression". The guy at the VA CLEARLY had issues with homophobia, as well as a problem with not being able to understand that in modern society, men can be nurses just like women can be doctors...without ridicule. Side note: I would have told my pastor to stuff his narrow minded opinions where the sun didn't shine. ;-)

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I can see where people commenting on this thread are coming from. I really can. No one wants to hear people running around being all sensitive about the little slings and arrows of this life.

I get that. This is why I prefaced my comments the way I did.

And there's no "but" to that.

I just thought it merited being brought up.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I think when there is a killer involved people want to know if it is a man or woman. I believe there have been both men and women who decided to make themselves angels of death really killers, but the ones I remember happened to be men. Do you remember any female angels of death in nursing? Now that I think about it there was a female nurse that wanted to impress her boyfriend by making her patients code and bringing them back from the brink. Don't remember her name though. It amazes me that someone would so brazenly decide to harm innocent patients. It is just so wrong! They are not God to decide who lives and dies, even if that patient were suffering it is still up to God when someone dies. These angels of death seem to have no fear of God or man. I know these are in the minority, but it is sad because it can make the public distrust nurses and be afraid when they are hospitalized. Hospitals need to do more to report suspects to police in a timely manner, not just fire them!

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Well, as a male nurse for the past 20 plus years, it seems that despite the many advances in the nursing profession, gender bias hasn't changed with the times too much. I have countless examples of patient interaction that leached significant bias towards myself and other male nurses. So, this does beg the question. Why are we not all just known as "nurses"?

It's not all that complicated. Words evoke images, and historically speaking, the word "nurse" evoked this image:

nurse3.jpg

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I look nothing like this. I am bearded, grey and balding.

If I was to brag about the ballet dancer I am married to with the rockin bod and million dollar smile, it would probably evoke an image. If I was to go on to tell you how my husband Fred is not just cute, but can hang drywall like nobody's business, it might put a wrinkle in the image.

So, people qualify the word "nurse" because in their mind, it is out of the norm.

In the big picture, being called a male nurse is not a big deal. I am quite sure male models deal with the same thing. And male midwives.

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Specializes in ICU.

I'm not really offended when people call me a male nurse. I'm a nurse, and I'm male. I'm a male in a female-dominated profession. The media doesn't usually portray nurses who are male very well, so I look at it as my job to show the public that I'm competent, and that I am a normal guy, and that nursing is a good profession for males to go into. It's becoming more common, especially in my ICU where about 40% of our staff are male. I never really heard anything about being a male nurse until I did some agency work in an upper middle class area, full of WASP types. To be truthful, the only people who seem to be weirded out by it are the older WASP types. I live in California, which is a pretty liberal place, and I get a lot of young guys asking me about nursing, how much I make, etc. I do my best to encourage them to get into it. Even though 100k isn't rich here in CA, when they hear that I made 106k last year, they're usually pretty interested. I believe that the addition of more males would certainly make the public respect nurses more, and I think that since men are historically known to fight for working rights, working conditions for nurses would improve if more males joined and fought the political fight. I think since that RNs are known to be paid well here in California, a lot of people understand the why about a being a male in nursing. Most people I encounter are more curious as to how I actually like the job. I don't blame them for calling me a male nurse. How could they not with the media representation that we get? It's my job to educate them on my roll and show the public that being a competent RN isn't specific to gender. I'm an educated and intelligent professional. I am not a handmaiden, and I am not your waiter.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
As a male I can understand some of the sexist issues males in nursing face but personally I am not too upset by it. To be fair, we only represent 10% of the nursing profession where women make up around 30% of physicians and lawyers.

Personally I find the fact that we are paid more, get promoted faster than our female counterparts, and represent a disproportionate amount of nursing leadership more than compensating.

Getting paid more for the same work and getting promoted over an equally capable female applicant isn't compensation for being called a "male nurse." It's another example of discrimination against females in the workplace. As a fellow nurse, this should bother you.

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From now on let's just all call Jose "Focker"!

I don't use the term "Male Nurse". I had a friend who was considering nursing school and he said "I'm thinking of being a male nurse!" I told him I'm glad he wasn't going to amputate prior to nursing school.

It is redundant and trite, but meh, as more and more men become nurses and the older patients who cling to "boy" and "girl" stereotypes die off, things will change.

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I'm wondering how and if male nurses are portrayed on tv? The last medical drama I watched regularly was 'ER' wayyyy back in the day, so I don't know how far the culture has advanced in portraying nurses. Can anyone shed light on this, are there any male nurses portrayed in popular culture entertainment? The media typically shapes and shifts(or adjusts) peoples attitudes on cultural issues.

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