BROKEN SPIRIT

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

i received this via -email & felt the need to share with all of you...

men in nursing & in nursing school. after working in other fields and getting two masters degrees, i went to case western reserve and graduated with honors. i felt i was treated well by my instructors and fellow students, but the dean spread nasty lies about me. she didn't know me, but apparently resented male students.

on the job, i think that male nurses are viewed as a problem. since many patients and family members do not want a male nurse, assigning patients becomes a problem. since no one objects to having a female nurse, there is no downside to preferring to hire only females. of course, there is the perception that males nurses are either homosexuals or creepy but i would hope that would not influence hiring decisions.

i personally have been treated very badly by several past employers. i have been terminated for trivial or no apparent reasons, or for illegal reasons, such as after i had a minor heart attack in 2000. i expect many nurses of either sex have been treated badly by employers, patients (hit, kicked, throttled, cursed, lied about, etc.) and hospital visitors.

despite the negatives, i took a lot of satisfaction from being an oncology nurse. it is gratifying to be able to help people when then need it most. unfortunately, after a decade of experience and ocn certification, i have been out of work for a year and a half. hospitals acknowledge that they are hiring new graduates and nurses with less experience

but won't consider me. they think that because they don't immediately fire everyone on their 55th birthday that they don't practice age discrimination. have they ever hired anyone over 60? they would prefer we just go someplace and die and not be begging them for jobs.