Just finished OB rotation

It definitely has a lot to do with your instructor. I had several males in my class and they got to see everything as well. Unfortunately many instructors let their personal feelings take over when it should be the patient deciding and many patients are fine with it as long as the student is introduced and they are given the choice to accept a student whether they be male or female.

I'm glad you had a positive experience. Hopefully this gives some of the men out there some hope that they will have one too.

I'll be honest - I don't look forward to it. I've seen a c-section (no biggie), and I've been there to catch a baby coming out (kinda gross). OB isn't something I'm at all interested in.

I just started my OB theory yesterday and will start my OB clinicals next week. I'm NOT looking forward to it at all. Mostly because we've been told the nurses that work the floor at our clinical site are a bunch of b****es.

I had several experiences...

Midwifery Clinic - awesome experience. I was involved in assessment, physical exam, BPP, lab work, etc. I saw about 15 patients in an 8 hour day. I attribute the positive experience the the midwife who kept me by her side throughout the day.

Nursery - Ran buck wild with the babies! Observed 2 c-secs and then took two newborns from birth to discharge to postpartum. I worked with veteran nurses who allowed me to function at a high level.

Postpartum - eh...was OK. Best part of the experince was taking vital signs on a newborn, and feeding. I was not allowed into any patients room...oh wait...my nurse did allow me to distribute ice in the morning. Very disappointing.

Labor & Delivery 1 - Sucked! I was told "men don't work in L&D" ... well isn't that just discriminatory in nature! I wallowed around for 8 hours...hung with the CRNA and watched epidurals.

Labor & Delivery 2 - I was permitted to observe one vaginal birth ... patient was a "friend of a friend's friend" Good thing because if not for her I would have cleared maternity clinicals without ever seeing a vag birth

Impression: Experience depends on the instructor/preceptor. I found the more education and experience the nurse has the better your experience.

The APNs and veterans invited me back to the nursery and several suggested I consider working in NICU.

The younger nurses and ADN nurses asked "so why did you decide to become a nurse" and "so are you going to work in the ER?" ... I guess in nursing women take care of babies and guys deal with the blood and guts. Hmmm.

Lots of tension...I couldn't quite put my finger on the source of tension in these clinical areas but it was very similar to the feeling I get when left alone too long in a classroom with 50 other women.

Men are from Mars...I would recommend visiting Venus but be certain not to stay too long.

My 2 cents

How could an institution base your "clearing a clinical" on witnessing a birth? If no one wanted you to see the process then big deal. It's not your fault. That's the kind of mentality that really irks me about nursing school. It doesn't seem to be progressive at all.

I had been dreading my O.B. rotation since I first decided to go to NS, but it actually turned out to be one of my favorite rotations so far. L&D was really interesting, even though the nurses didn't seem excited about having male students there. Postpartum was neither interesting nor fun, but more of a med-surg type (with more demanding patients ) The NICU and nursery was what made the rotation so great though.

I've never been a baby kind of guy, but I had a great time working with the babies. I think my wife was as surprised as I was. I chock that up to me being too young when our kids were babies.

I asked the nursery charge nurse how you get a job working in there. She said you have to be willing to work in the whole O.B. dept. for a while. It looks like no nursery work for me...

Its nice to hear some good experiences with OB rotations. I think a lot of it boils down to how you approach the setting and who you have for an instructor. If you go into the setting with your mind made up that you will hate it then you will in fact hate it but if you go in with an open mind and be willing to learn then it will likely be a much more positive experience. It also has to do with your instructor, if you have an instructor who can put their personal feelings aside and gives you a fair chance then you will most likely put in more effort and will have a better experience overall. I think that there is a bit of luck to it because you need to be in the right setting at the right time but its what you make of it.

!Chris

Myself and several other male students in my class recieved no productive clinical experience in that area because the female nurses didnt think we should be there(its a woman's field) and just had us sit in the hall, answer the phones or buzz people through the door all day. They gave us zero support and spent no time helping us learn. Most of the husbands (in the area i went to school they were mostly mexican) didnt want a male nurse to "see" their wives. Very disappointing and a real eye opener to be discriminated against by people and a sex that aften complain they themselves are discriminated against. Our instructors couldnt do anything about it because they didnt want to make waves at the hospital so it continues. Some people call it a "cultural" thing; I call it wrong. Other than that, I have found being a male in nursing is definately an advantage.

I'm sorry to hear some of you have had negative experiences. As a mom, I can tell you I accepted every student nurse, doctor (even a student neonatalogist performing an amnio ) whether they were male or female. I've had positive experiences with both and welcomed them to any experience gained by working with me. Just take heart in the fact that there ARE women like me: completely non-biased and willing to help you learn everything you can to become the best nurse possible!

P.s. I also had a male ultrasound technician and he was the most gentle I've ever met. I won't forget him!