Where are the men?

Nurses General Nursing

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Why haven't more men entered the field of nursing over the years? Nursing remains at 94.6% female.

Male RN here, wifes a rn , moms a rn . I 've worked er and icu both full time and as agency. i find i get treated far better than my female counterparts as a rule. primarily because i am professional , secondly because i take crap from no one!! i have encouraged many friends and family members both male and female to go into nursing. i enjoy my job, enjoy helping others but primarly im in it for the money. i only do agency work now . i think nursing is a great field for men ...we tend to move up faster and get better assingments ie;er and icu. down side is i get every pt over 300lbs and all the violent or inoxicated jerks . as a guy you gotta take the good w/the bad...

I just graduated from an ADN program in Mich. I was one of 3 male students out of 40...talk about being outnumbered! Our instructors were pretty good at not using the pronoun "she" or "her" when speaking about nursing in general. Now that I am working at a small hospital, I am one of 5 male nurses on my unit out of a total of 25 nurses! I think nurse recruiters should adjust their thinking and start targeting young highschool males to get them thinking about a career in nursing.

The same condetion here.

i am male nurse . I just graguated but I feel a shame of being

male nurse.

Specializes in Obstetrics, M/S, Psych.
Originally posted by thekra

i am male nurse . I just graguated but I feel a shame of being

male nurse.

troll alert
Specializes in Critical Care,Recovery, ED.

ainz sums up my expirience also. And I also understand how someone can feel shame.

Another earlier posting said its similar to all other female dominated professions. I can't think of another profession dominated by women to the extent that nursing is, or any profession that is so one gender dominated as nursing.

The profession will not be truly integrated into the 21 st century until the term NURSE has is accepted as applying to both males and females equally and the quite frankly degrading term male nurse dissappers foreever from the lexicon

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

sjoe wrote in another thread:

the socialization that girls go through, conditioning them to destroy each other (there are MANY books on this subject, as well as MANY threads about it on this BB, for those who don't know what I mean)

In my limited experience, I would have to agree with the above. SOME women can be very difficult to work with (cattiness, passive-aggressiveness, backstabbing, gossip, hypocrisy, doing their best to exploit one another's perceived weaknesses and destroy one another professionally). I have not encountered the same with my male peers. Men tend to say what is on their minds, be direct and brutally honest (as difficult as this may be, I prefer this over backstabbing any day). Men don't seem to be affected as much by the brutal eat-or-be-eaten social atmosphere so prevalent EVERYWHERE in nursing. It was my experience that male doctors tend to respect (take seriously, don't blow off) the male nurses more.

A big part of the problem is that men and women solve problems differently. I have been involved in contract negotiations and am shocked at how little the nursing staff knows about their contracts...and when labor relations meetings are set up between staff and management, you were lucky to get one staff member there. It seems to be getting better lately, but the point I want to make to all nurses is this: If you want to make a difference in your profession to attract more men, start doing your homework and establish good working relationships with management. Get rid of the "us verses them" mentality.

*Please don't equate your whining and complaints to mean that you are standing up for your working conditions and profession. The key to professionalism is through seeking information and being diplomatic.

May the force be with you all!

Layna

Well as a male, and a Nurse, I've frequently found it amusing to work in our chosen field. Sometimes folks just don't how to take you. Patients vary in their responses. Most of them don't care if you are male or female as long as you know your stuff. There are those females who don't feel comfortable with a male working with them :rolleyes:, and the males who just know that you are a homosexual because you are male and a Nurse :roll. The older patients are generally the ones with the most misconceptions or discomfort about males in the nursing field. My patients like me, the older men just had to adjust to a male nurse.

Docs do treat us differently, especially if you are 6'1" and 225 pounds. They are less likey to get beligerant if you tower over them. I have been known to slowly stand up, walk very close to them, look them in the eye, and do my dead level best to physically intimidate physicians if they won't listen to reason. That is a last resort maneuver and doesn't work well if overused. It generally works although some of them still try to run rough shod over you, if you let them.

Why aren't there more of us in the field? Poor work conditions, low pay, way too much in fighting, and a lack of unity amoungst nurses in general are the usual reasons I've heard. Female supervisors are usually NOT the problem, sorry to burst any pre-conceived notions but most males in our field just don't have that problem. Perhaps in fields where the mindset is different like construction or manufacturing it is a problem, but not really in nursing.

I did take a 6 year break, to work in IT for awhile, but I'm back in Nursing and I enjoy it. I'll probably stick around until I'm ready to really retire.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

We have one male nurse on my floor, and a total of 25 females, counting the PRN nurses (float pool).

This male nurse has 6 sisters.

He is married and has 3 little girls, the oldest just turned 14.

He says all the time he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he went out "with the guys". :chuckle

Originally posted by LPN2Be2004

We have one male nurse on my floor, and a total of 25 females, counting the PRN nurses (float pool).

This male nurse has 6 sisters.

He is married and has 3 little girls, the oldest just turned 14.

He says all the time he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he went out "with the guys". :chuckle

wow!

just wow!!!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Specializes in Community Health Nurse.
Originally posted by kenmill

......................... I think nurse recruiters should adjust their thinking and start targeting young highschool males to get them thinking about a career in nursing.

I totally agree with your statement here, kenmill! TOTALLY!!! :)

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