Is there a need for more male nurses?

RoaminHankRN · Jun 20, 2004

It's not more qualified or male nurses we need. Everyone who passed boards is qualified. We (the current RN's) need to be better role models in precepting the new nurses. We need to be positive, better communicators and more team players.

As a male nurse I expect no better treatment or pay than my female counterpart.

MichaelSSSS · Jun 21, 2004

You're absolutly correct Angela Mac, we just need more nurses - period.

Dixiedi · Jun 21, 2004

It seems odd to me that so many nurses are afraid to accept the fact that men have more to give nursing than just numbers.

Men have a very different outlook on many things in life and our outlook is what makes us who we are!

Imagine the extra choices available to pts, especially difficult ones who want just the right nurse! Now they can choose from old, young, Christian, Jewish, married, unmarried, and everything else I have seem them "choose" over the years. With more men in nursing each of the choices will be doubled because men can be any of those too!

Accept it, men and women are different and it doesn't matter what the job is. It's great to have a variety!

celticqueen · Nov 7, 2004

as a new lpn graduate i constantly here "congratulations, we need more male nurses." & "as a man most employers will hire you on the spot!"..... but it has been my clinical experience that there was no one specific thing that could have been done better by a man than a woman. in fact i have been refused three times during my maternity rotation and was finally allowed to assess a woman who was post c-section, that happened to be a nursing instructor. (which was a better experience than the other students got but thats beside the point. anyways, where is this big major need for more men in nursing? any ideas??

a nurse is a nurse no matter what sex they are.

however, if you get a male patient who is embarrased about being attended to by female staff (which i have come across); and what about the classic "dirty old man", - i'm sure we've all come across them!!! hey presto, the female staff can ask the male nurse to attend to them.

however, this can work both ways. how many male nurses have had their bums pinched by "sweet" little old ladies ?????????

zenman · Nov 8, 2004

how many male nurses have had their bums pinched by "sweet" little old ladies ?????????

can't remember any bum pinchers, but do remember how strong a little old lady can be when she reaches through the bedrails and cranks your wrench! :rotfl:

get this woman off me!

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Nov 8, 2004

Can't remember any bum pinchers, but do remember how strong a little old lady can be when she reaches through the bedrails and cranks your wrench! :rotfl:
Get this woman off me!

Yikes! I learn more and more each day...

Hey redd :: Nice to see a fellow Buffalonian here :-)

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Nov 8, 2004

I think men and women can bring the best of their worlds into any profession, strengthening the profession. Likewise, they can also bring their worst...see my post "Rude and Crude RN". If I had to make a general observation of men, as a man, in the field of nursing, men tend to be more task focused and tend to let go of interpersonal slights much easier than women. Please don't get me wrong here. I'm not slinging any mud. From general observation, men appear to have more of a "tendency" towards this. I think something has to be said regarding estrogen. I cannot count how many times I have had to observe or be told by a female colleague at the beginning of shift as a warning to others..."It's going to be a bad day" and mean it (referring to bad premenstral cramps, hot flashes, irritability, bloating, or menapausal). It does change the overall mood on the floor, especially if several are in misery together. Amazing, the colleagues with hysters or on hormone therapy don't present that as much...Hmmm? Men don't have this. However, these are just some of the differences that I have noticed. I agree that what we do need is just MORE nurses, who are COMPETENT as well...male and female. Women brought a lot into the nursing field. Men do too. I can't recall how many times a male patient has expressed thanks for having a male take care of him because he felt uncomfortable with a "sweet or pretty young thing" cleaning his duppa or inserting a foley. Believe me, it is embarrassing and a worry for some men having a female touching them privately in providing care and getting/worrying about getting an erection during the process and worrying afterward what that female nurse will think or what she will say to others regarding his character. I bet many men worry about this, but do not say any thing about it. So, I can understand the bit about a female patient wanting a female to provide the pericare. No biggy. We just reassign the care. But, for general care of the patient regardless of sex, really it shouldn't make much difference if the nurse is male or female. I work on an Ortho floor. Yes, the male nurses are used quite often for their upper body strength. For good or bad, this is what male nurses bring to the ortho field. We and everyone knows it. No mystery. In psych, worked it 10 years, men were used quite often as a show of force when needed and providing a presence of security for combative patients. No slight here, but it is no brainer that a combative patient is less likely to bolt through or beat through a line of men versus a line of women blocking the way. Perception is everything. Again, no brainer. Also, men in nursing provide "corrective experiences" to others that despite how bad your (male) role models have been in the past, there are GOOD men out there who can be warm, tender, and caring. Many patients, even female colleagues, may lack this in their past or current life experiences. Some women , don't throw sticks at me folks, just find men in general intimidating due to their past experiences. Female colleagues may feel intimidated as well, seeing men encroaching on their turf and don't belong here. As an old psych nurse, I can't tell you how many female nurses I've worked with and also cared for (as patients) regarding their abusive/alcoholic/drug abusing husbands. This is the unfortunate aspect of nursing where we quite often as a field not only want to care for others, but quite often hook up with folks more troubled than ourselves because we want TO CARE so much. Many nurses admit to past abuse or alcoholism in their own homes when they were children. This is often true for many, unfortunately. I try to be sensitive to this. Historically, nursing used to be a male profession before it was ok for women (unless you were a nun who swore a vow of chastity...where do you think this came from?, as well as the nursing cap?) because a proper lady would not care for a male outside of immediate family, it was just not done. Women, at that time, nursed family members in their own homes, not strangers in some other environment or hospital. Our nursing pins are the remnants of the banners of the male nurse soldiers during the crusades, who first established hospitals. Only an improper lady or a chaste nun did this sort of thing, taking care of strangers (especially men) then. But, time and future wars changed everything. Paradigms shifted, especially during the Civil War in America where women were first being actively recruited to be, from a governmental standpoint,...you guessed, nurses. Men were needed for the front lines. Men were pulled into combat leaving the women at the home front to work to provide for the family, often taking on jobs and occupations traditionally male. Some one needed to take care of the wounded because the men were being killed in droves during the Civil War. Nursing as a field forever changed in the States. But, also remember, what was going on here was also going on in Europe as well. Many of our wars paralleled those in Europe. US Nursing, got its real big push from the Army during WWI and WWII, when nursing as a field began obtaining large federal funds to train FEMALES as nurses, opening schools...where do you think the military Nursing Corp came from? When this occured, nursing as a field became legitimized and sanctioned for women. So, nursing changed as a profession. So did the profession of teaching, a once historical male profession. So was Rosie the Riveter during WWII. War changes paradigms and perceptions of occupations...out of need. Now, we have female soldiers. Sorry for the long post, but I thought I would just throw in alot to answer the post and to generate further discussion.

NurseforPreggers · Nov 8, 2004

I think it is important for males these days to see other male nurses as role models. Afterall males are atleast half the population, it would be nice for nursing to not have an overall stereotype of being a woman's job. With the nursing shortage these days I think we should reach out to all people. Having strong male role models in the profession may encourage others that are interested to join the field.

Thunderwolf, MSN, RN · Nov 8, 2004

I agree, NurseforPreggers. Well said.

wam79 · Nov 8, 2004

OK my .02 cents worth. There is no difference in the ability of one gender over another to care for patients. I have taken the "there should be more men in nursing" comments for over twenty years now. I fell that the meaning behind the statement is that a man who is able to care for people as a nurse is appreciated. Period. It's not as common now ,but when I started work most of my patients had never even imagined a male nurse. I can honestly say I have never had a patient refuse care. I feel that it is a sad fact that people don't expect men to be able to care for people as a nurse.

Now I don't feel any unease from my patients at all. Except for a few specific areas I can't think of any reason to have one gender or another assigned to a patient.

FWIW-- The lack of respect towards nursing will not improve magically by having more males. There are more females in management and that hasn't helped change anything.

celticqueen · Nov 8, 2004

Can't remember any bum pinchers, but do remember how strong a little old lady can be when she reaches through the bedrails and cranks your wrench! :rotfl:
Get this woman off me!

Ha Ha, so you know what I mean then?????????:wink2:

Emma

hypnotic_nurse · Nov 8, 2004

I fell that the meaning behind the statement is that a man who is able to care for people as a nurse is appreciated. Period.

We're in agreement here (funny, men teaching elementary school used to get the same kind of comments).

It doesn't belittle women when someone says that; I think it's much more an "Oh, so you're a guy and a nurse and that's OK with me" statement by people who are a little surprised at having a guy as a nurse.

I think no matter how many men enter the profession, we'll be paid on whether or not someone is willing to do the job and for how much -- back in the days when professional women could either be teachers or nurses, none of them were paid much -- women weren't supposed to make a living for themselves or their families back then, at least according to the cultural norms of the time. The teaching profession lags even behind nurses as far as pay is concerned, and I'd tend to believe that there are far more males in that profession.

I think our credibility will rest on our collective abilities to do the job well, not on whether or not we have men in the profession.

All that said, I do think more males are a welcome addition to our profession, as are more nurses of every cultural element and ethnic background. More diversity makes for better problem solving, IMHO, and heaven knows, there are plenty of problems to solve.