I'm currently a in second semester of my junior year. This semester I've been experiencing constant discrimination from my female instructors and nurses at clinical.
At the start of the semester 2 of the clinical instructors decided I'm not fit to work in their field so they've been constantly riding me. It started when they would pester me, asking questions like, "Are you sure you want to be a nurse? I don't think you do." They've also made comments such as, "You don't have the character for this, you're not going to make it. You just have the wrong attitude."
Apart from the verbal abuse, my instructor has made me redo half of my long notes because I got 1-2 things wrong. Other students who left things out or missed things just had to go back and fill them in, no problem. Redoing a long note is an easy 6+ hours of work.
Female nurses in my clinicals treat me like poo (other students as well, but I've had some outstanding experiences). For one of my unit reviews my nurse went as far as to fabricate situations to say that I behaved inappropriately and asked inappropriate questions. She said during a tracheostomy I said inappropriate things...reality: I stood with my back against the wall in complete silence for the entire procedure.
I'm sick of being told I'm not good enough by everyone in my profession. Why can't I just be a nurse and care for people? I've never had a complaint from a patient and have had several patients tell me that I've provided better care than any of the nurses they'd had.
I'm a married, unattractive male and ask questions because I want to learn; none of that seems to appeal to these women. They seem mostly to want hot, single guys they can drool over, or if you are a hot doctor they whisper can about what sex positions they'd do him in (trust me, I've heard it). Another guy in my program is having some similar experiences, but the 6'3" hunky guy in our class as it easy; the women just melt in his hands and he can do no wrong. That's fine, I don't need that treatment, I just don't want to be treated like crap.
I'm just not sure what to do at this point. I enjoy caring for patients and it's incredibly fulfilling. This program has been far and beyond the worst experience of my life and I genuinely regret it. I'm afraid that when I am in the field it will be no different. Why isn't nursing about the patients?
