Do male nurses recieve as much respect from patients as female ones do?INPUT IS GREAT

Nurses Men

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Hi, I am starting a BS program in nursing in the fall, and I was wondering if male nurses are frowned upon or disrespected in anyway by patients, other nurses, MAs or DRs? Some older folks(such as my grandparents) struggle with the idea , beause I guess it has been traditional for women to be nurses.I am a guy so this is important to me. lots of responses would be awesome!!!!!

When I was in the hospital with gallbladder surgery I had the most awesome male nurse. He was really great and had a wonderful sense of humor. However, I personally, give respect where respect is due be it male or female. I've had wonderful female nurses that I adored as well.

I've worked with some male nurses and CNAs in LTC and for the most part really enjoyed working with them. I think that some patients will listen to the male nurses, especially if they are older men. Women patients tend to feel more comfortable with women nurses, especially if doing personal care.

That's just my experience though.:)

i am not a nurse....yet. i am a cna however. i have found that males tend to get more respect from patients. the amount of respect i received from nurses varied greatly. some of them went on about how wonderful it was to have a young guy in the place and were kind of flirtatious. there was one though i don't know why but my very existence seemed to offend her. i heard from other cna's that she did not like working with men. as far as patients were concerned female cna's would come and get me when they were having trouble getting a patient up, showered etc. when i came in i was friendly and told them it was time to get ready and they did. some of the cna's seemed to resent the fact that the residents listened to me for no other reason than that i'm a man. i did have a few female residents that refused care from me but most of the time it wasn't an issue. i had a couple of ladies that repeatedly requested me to do their personal care...that is awkward. after a while i felt bad for some of the cna's because it became apparent that they were not getting the respect they deserved simply because of their gender. older males were typically the problem residents and those were usually the ones that i was sent in to help with.

i should add that i am not a huge guy, nor do i have a very aggressive take charge personality.

We've had several male nurses on my unit and their experiences (from an outside view anyway) seem quite different. The older male nurses tended to look and handle themselves more professionally and these are the ones I saw getting more respect from patients and staff alike. I also noticed they didn't tend to participate in the gossip fests at the nursing station either. The younger male nurses on the other hand, tend to have a little more difficulty than their female counterparts. I think part of it is their age (older nurses regardless of experience appear to be more respected imo). The other part I think is that they just don't tend to be as professional in their manner or their appearance. The younger males also tend to spend more time socializing with the other staff than the older males.

So I guess I've seen them get both more and less respect than their female counterparts but it's a lot more dependent on their appearance and behavior than their gender. Just my limited experience!

Specializes in Rehabilitation; LTC; Med-Surg.
Nurses who expect to be respected, are respected.

Gender has nothing, whatsoever, to do with it.

LOL, if only that were true for everyone. What a blanket statement!

Specializes in EC, IMU, LTAC.
Men in the profession will make nursing a more respected profession. Why? Because men won't put up with the disrespect women will!

Not to threadjack, but may I have some advice on how to be respected like a man?

Specializes in Critical Care (MICU, CICU, TNCC),.

LOL..don't worry. You will get confused with the physicians and when I come in the patient will invariably ask for the nice Dr. who was here yesterday. Statistically, you will make more, hold more administrative nursing positions, etc. So don't worry, the deck is stacked in your favor.

Specializes in Critical Care, Transport, Disaster.

I am a male nurse who went the typical route of practicing as a paramedic for twenty years before I became a nurse... I am not certain whether it is my age or whether it is my background in critical care (or whether it is because I am male) but I get as much if not more respect from patients and other Health Care Providers. In the past 8 years I have had two elderly female patients who wanted a female aid or other nurse help them with toileting or a bath but even those patients were willing to let me help them once I demonstrated that I cared about them as a nurse. I think it is important to keep a positive, caring attitude when caring for any patient and this attitude will carry you through a lot of "male nurse stigma..."

On the flip side, I have had young male patients assume I was gay because I am a male nurse. I don't wear my wedding band because my finger rots off from all of the handwashing but I have pictures of my wife and 8 year old daughter on the back of my work ID if the subject comes up about family...

Specializes in NICU, Peds, ICU/CCU, Cathlb,ER, Flight.

What I've witnessed in the last 4 yrs. has been hard to take.

We've got a no. of new grad male nurses in our ER.

The patients call them doctors, because they're male, & a few of them don't bother to tell the patient that they are a nurse.

They like to hang out at the doctor's station & B.S. ...with the male doctors they talk sports, with the female doctors, they flirt.

There are a few of the young men nurses that I do respect as a co-worker. I tend to appreciate the older men nurses more...

There are a number of the men nurses that are disrespectful to the older female nurses..."reporting charge nurses, writing up co-workers instead of talking with "them...etc, etc..."

I, too, just found out that a no. of the males are getting more money than females with more experience, who are just as good, if not better nurses. Thank God for the union...

This is now becoming another patriarchal profession.

Good luck in school guy.

Specializes in NICU, Peds, ICU/CCU, Cathlb,ER, Flight.

"document.png Re: Do male nurses recieve as much respect from patients as female ones do?INPUT IS G

LOL..don't worry. You will get confused with the physicians and when I come in the patient will invariably ask for the nice Dr. who was here yesterday. Statistically, you will make more, hold more administrative nursing positions, etc. So don't worry, the deck is stacked in your favor."

Ahem...

Yep, like I said...patriarchy is alive & well in the nursing profession these days.

The stacked deck that you refer to is an old one.

Specializes in Emergency Department.

Quick down and dirty response. Men in the nursing get more respect, more money, and patients are more likely to follow their instructions/teaching. Than women in nursing.

Specializes in Emergency Department.

To add to the response, do not get me wrong, I love nursing it is my passion. However I would love to see a female go into a primarily "male" profession and see these results......

Specializes in Quality Management.

As a male nursing student on the floor, dressed in NS white scrubs, I am frequently addressed by patients and administrative staff as "Doctor." I quickly but gently correct them by stating that I am a nursing student but I would be happy to try and help them, or direct them to their destination.

Since my ID card opens the gate, I park in the doctor's parking lot. I've only been challenged by one parking attendant and I told her I couldn't find my ID. Oh, well, sorry about that ladies.

paganoid

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