To Male Nurses!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

O.K., men, I've got a couple of questions to ask you!

First a little history. I was asked by the vice-president of nursing (a female, by the way), along with a few other male nurses who work at my small rural hospital, to produce a "Recruitment Video" for male nurses. To be honest with you, I haven't a clue why she is singling out the "male species" for nursing recruitment. Apparently this video will be geared towards male 8th graders and will be shown during "job fairs" that these 8th graders would be attending.

Today, actually, we are going to begin the process of discussing the content of this video. Here are some of the questions that we will be exploring:

1) Why do men enter the nursing profession?

2) Why do men remain in the nursing profession?

3) How could "we" (men) encourage other men to enter into the nursing profession?

I already have my own answers. I was wondering. . . curious. . . what your responses might be!

Go for it, fellas! Spill your guts! Why did you enter the nursing profession? Why do you remain in the nursing profession? And, finally, How can we encourage other men to enter into the nursing profession?

Dig deep into your psyches. . . as if you were digging deep into your crotch for a good scratch. . . and share like only men can share! :D (belch, burp, fart. . . .) :chuckle

This is an interesting if not a wierd assignment. Looking forward to it's outcome, though. Hopefully the outcome will be a really neat video that just might get a few more people (male or female) into the nursing profession.

Cheers! :)

Ted

"proud to provide care" listen to the way we speak, sounds like we are butlers or shoveurs, shoe salesmen here let me help you with that.

Men, it is time to stand up and take pride. what would it hurt if we all wore a shirt and tie to work. maybe you would get some blood on yourself every once in a while, but would it be worth some respect. I think so.

Originally posted by l.rae

WTF???...James, my lad...you think male nurses are much better than.....what?.......Perhaps that little piece of extra equipment gives you SUPER NURSE powers...hmmmm?...Your reply is so demeaning to nurses..male and female...that l don't know where to begin to try to educate you...we'll wait till you "qualify"....life has it's own way of educating .....:rolleyes: .....LR

l.rae, I knew that someone was going to speak up about this *&^* remark:( . I don't know if I could have been as diplomatic as you were. Thanks for saying what a lot of us would have liked to say in response.:devil:

I have a lot of respect for both male and female nurses.

Good luck with your presentation Ted.

Kris

Specializes in ICU/CCU (PCCN); Heme/Onc/BMT.

Back to the topic on hand.

It's the hospital administration that wants a video produced geared towards 8th grade males. I would prefer to produce an educational video about Nursing regardless of the gender issue(s).

There are issues, though, surrounding how the general public perceives the nursing profession. . .and males who are nurses.

I was working in the E.R. last week. A young boy (an 8th grader, actually!) was being worked up after a snowboarding accident. We talked about a lot of things. At one point, we discussed healthcare and jobs and I asked him if he would consider being a nurse, a doctor, a x-ray tech (he was most certainly interested in viewing his own x-rays!). Much to my surprise, he said "No" to being a nurse becuase it was a "female profession"! :eek: I wasn't even thinking "Male" or "Female"! ! !I was just wondering if he was interested in the healthcare profession as a whole!

Stereo types persist. The sooner we acknowledge it, the sooner we can work to bust those stereo-types.

When I was in nursing school both for the ASN and the BSN degress, there were only a few males in each graduating class. Sadly, this is not new. I've read many a posts here saying the same thing. What can be done to change this?!?!? As much as I want to work on a project that would recruit ANYONE, maybe this particular project will help destigmatize significant misconceptions about the nursing profession to a young audience. . . in particular, the young 8th grade male audience.

Certainly, the Nursing Profession is NOT a gender-based profession. It's just so sad that a seemingly significant percentage of people seem to think that Nursing is some kind of cutsie, "obedient to the Doctor", "super-caring", sexy-female job. The media sure isn't helping the profession! ! ! Unfortunately, many people seem to learn the many misconceptions about nursing through the media. And if the statistics are correct regarding the high percentage of youth who watch television, then there most certainly are a lot of young people (both male and female) who can be lead to believe that nurses are big-busted ladies in short skirts who say "Yes" to every MD's "command".

The more I think about THAT, the more eager I am in helping produce this particular video! My goal is to bash those freaking misconceptions! And do it in an entertaining way, of course.

Now for an aside. Someone responded to this post in a way that seem to show some burn-out. To that person. . . or to anyone who feels wildly burnt out. . . take care of yourself!!! If you need to, take a break from nursing. Take a break, period! Having been burnt-out before, myself, (for MANY different reasons) I did take a break. I got out of nursing for a while. I needed it! Interestingly, though, I am now back in the nursing profession. This time only after a lot of thought, soul-searching, and counceling. This time in an environment where I KNOW burn-out will not be an issue. (Job security yes, burn-out, no! But that's another story for another thread for another time.)

We need to take care of ourselves in this very demanding profession. Burn out does not happen over night. And it usually involves more than just the tough "day to day job". I had to learn a whole different set of coping skills. Additionally, I purposely accepted a nursing position that I knew I could handle and meet MY needs. We need to take care of ourselves. . . . whatever "THAT" may be.

Peace, folks! My respect to you all! :)

Ted

Originally posted by alansmith52

"proud to provide care" listen to the way we speak, sounds like we are butlers or shoveurs, shoe salesmen here let me help you with that.

Men, it is time to stand up and take pride. what would it hurt if we all wore a shirt and tie to work. maybe you would get some blood on yourself every once in a while, but would it be worth some respect. I think so.

Alan,

I believe you are perhaps thinking that certain careers will give you respect while others will not.

I have been a nurse for 16 years now and have EARNED the respect that I have.

You can wear a shirt and tie to bed if you want. You will have the same amount of respect as when you wear scrubs.

I believe it's the attitude and pride you carry, the effort you put into your job that decides what you get out of it.

If you really want to be a butler or a shoe salesman and love the job then you will have the respect you yearn for.

You cannot expect others to respect you until you first respect yourself.

-Russell

Oh and Ted?

I think the video is a GREAT idea.

-Russell

ps: sorry about getting off on a tangent.

Specializes in ICU/CCU (PCCN); Heme/Onc/BMT.

JTOD - I was going to ignore your response.

You know what? I am going to ignore it! "I.Rae" pretty much expressed my sentiment too. Just re-read her response.

Ted

Originally posted by Rustyhammer

Alan,

I believe you are perhaps thinking that certain careers will give you respect while others will not.

I have been a nurse for 16 years now and have EARNED the respect that I have.

You can wear a shirt and tie to bed if you want. You will have the same amount of respect as when you wear scrubs.

I believe it's the attitude and pride you carry, the effort you put into your job that decides what you get out of it.

If you really want to be a butler or a shoe salesman and love the job then you will have the respect you yearn for.

You cannot expect others to respect you until you first respect yourself.

-Russell

>:D

PS..LR also asks Alan....why you disrespect blue collar workers?...my dad was one....l have more respect for him than any one else....had NOTHING to do with hes job.........

Specializes in ICU/CCU (PCCN); Heme/Onc/BMT.
Originally posted by Rustyhammer

Oh and Ted?

I think the video is a GREAT idea.

-Russell

ps: sorry about getting off on a tangent.

Getting off on tangents. . .

Gosh! I do it all the time! Makes my wife's head spin! :chuckle

In fact, one day, while walking through the park I saw a bird fly in the sky and poop in my eye. . . .

:D

Ted

P. S. What were we talking about?!?!?!?

You might think of asking why do men leave nursing. In the year I graduated (1994) there were 5 of us in our class . Since then 1 became a physician assistant, 1 left for oil field related industry, 1 got his MSN and teaches nursing, 1 still works as bedside RN, and I left nursing science for medical science (pathology).

As a RN that happens to be male; I did it for altruistic reasons, I looked in the paper and saw a ton of jobs for RN and decided I could do that. Further research pointed me towards PA school. I did the 2 year RN degree and decided I liked what nursing had to offer, now 13 years later I know I am right. I work 2 days a week (every weekend) for 24 hours for 36 hours pay and have off 5 days. I have figured out every way to get extra pay where I work with putting in as little time as possible.

My brother is a fireman and works 10 days a month (24hr shifts) and I work 8 days per month (12hr shifts) my 96 hrs look pretty good compared to his 240hrs.

I fish during the week when everyone else is working, hunt during the week.

Specializes in O.R., ED, M/S.

Hey alansmith52, you are a loser as far as I am concerned. Get out of nursing while you can and stop demeaning yourself. I agree with Mark_LD_RN, why is it taking you so long to get something you despise? Were you in a thread awhile back about how much you hated nursing? This sounds all to familiar. I sure would hate to have you taking care of me if I knew how much you hated to come to work each day. I have been doing this for 26 years now and sure beats alot of other jobs where I have to compete each day like it was a gladiator match. it's nice to go on a job interview knowing ahead time that the job is yours if you wanted it. You can't say that with alot of other professions. Now would be the time to go and get another skill and leave nursing to us guys, gals also, who appreciate it. I get so steamed at people like you who just waste every day of their lives doing just the minimum, just getting by. Good luck, I hope you find something REAL SOON! Mike

Hmm, When i was 8 i liked "cool" stuff and macho stuff. Hit them with I was a U.S Marine, now im a nurse! (which i was) I was a police officer/fire fighter/heavy equipment operator now Im a Nurse! So on and so on. Then show them some of the cool stuff nurses get to do! I would go easy on the caring stuff! In my opinion that would turn 8yr olds off. This im sure is gonna be a very difficult attempt at recruit youngsters into our proffesion. Most likely unsuccessful but I strongly admire your attempt! If You want to recruit 18yr olds headed to college show them big money and good working conditions and it might make a dent in the shortage! Best of luck and think about posting on the net when done so we can watch it.

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