Gay male nurses?

[mitakashi]

Hey, I'm going into a nusing program and I'm a gay male and I've had some concerns reading some of these posts. I know I want this as a career and I'm not going to look into a new profession but theres still lingering issues. I know males have to cover their @ss's when dealing with female patients because they are male. And because I'm gay I can only imagine I have to cover my ass with dealing with male patients too. But I mean I cant exactly have someone tailing me all day long at the hospital and I cant very well strap a camera to my head for evidence I did nothing wrong. It's really concerning me though, I mean im not really sure what to do and i want to stay in this field. I guess I'm just getting over worried but some of these posts are kind of O_O..... for lack of better words. Anyone have any advice or maybe some storys they could tell to help me feel better or get rid of some of this concern?

[kerric511]

Gay and proud here ... Like others have said, be polite, professional, and everything else is just "details"

I've never had an issue yet.

[iNurseUK, RN]

In all my years of nursing I have never known this to be an issue. Gay, straight black or white the patient does not care as long as the nursing care is good.

Dammit I just thought of ONE exception but he was in acute paranoid psychosis. ALL the male doctors and nurses were hitting on him. Including his 65 year old consultant surgeon:)

[tbrd450]

I would imagine that if there is one segment of the patient population that may, remotely, represent some difficulty for a gay male nurse, it would be the young, hetero male patient. Most women (old or young) probably would no have any issues. Kids probably wouldn't think anything of it. I guess the young, or middle aged, homophobic male patient, on rare occasions, would ask for a different nurse ?? I don't know. I doubt it, though. As long as you are professional in your duties it will probably never even come up.

I've been to a male physician assistant for some procedures, and while I think he may be gay (based on his obvious speech tone), I was fine with it. It's all about the professionalism -- it really is as simple as that.

[ionatan]

I am a gay male nurse and I personally am not concerned about my patient's perception of my sexuality. I don't discuss my personal life let alone my sexuality with patients or co-workers. If you are concerned about doing a procedure on a patient where there may be some issues, just take a female with you into the room. I resent the fact that female nurses don't usually have to worry about having someone assist them for things like catheterization or administration of suppositories, but that's just he way it goes when you're a man regardless of whether you are gay or not.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

I would imagine that if there is one segment of the patient population that may, remotely, represent some difficulty for a gay male nurse, it would be the young, hetero male patient. Most women (old or young) probably would no have any issues. Kids probably wouldn't think anything of it. I guess the young, or middle aged, homophobic male patient, on rare occasions, would ask for a different nurse ?? I don't know. I doubt it, though. As long as you are professional in your duties it will probably never even come up.

I've been to a male physician assistant for some procedures, and while I think he may be gay (based on his obvious speech tone), I was fine with it. It's all about the professionalism -- it really is as simple as that.

Speaking from the older, male heterosexual perspective, unless we have serious hang ups, we've worked all this out already. We may still be puzzled by male homosexuals as a sociological phenomenon, and we may find the effeminacy of some of you a bit amusing, but as long as you know what you're doing and are decent, we really don't care what or who you do on your own time.

[DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN]

We may still be puzzled by male homosexuals as a sociological phenomenon, and we may find the effeminacy of some of you a bit amusing, but as long as you know what you're doing and are decent, we really don't care what or who you do on your own time

Admirable conclusion to your post.

However......perhaps you could go further by asking yourself what's so puzzling and why you find effeminate men (who may well be gay or straight) amusing, and then you might actually make even more progress.

[Anoetos, BSN, RN]

I am sorry if I offended you, David.

I wish you knew me from more than a single post on a message board. Perhaps you'd be more forgiving.

[ZippyGBR, BSN, RN]

There is no reason you would have to CYA any more than the rest of us males. Your patients aren't going to know you are gay...

well unless he minces around like the missing village person

:dancgrp:

altogether now M... R .... S ... A...

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

Just chill dude, be professional and you won't have a problem. You will get a feel for the boundaries as you go.

[eleectrosaurus]

:dancgrp:

altogether now M... R .... S ... A...

ROFL!!! Im busing this out on the floor someday.