Male Nursing Student, Want to Work OB

Dave11, BSN, RN · Jul 9, 2005

i doubt it. i remember there were a couple of guys working the maternity ward where i did clinicals and my sister, who works in a NICU, has a couple of male co-workers.

z's playa · Jul 9, 2005

You can work wherever you want to work regardless of sex or race in the States or Canada.

z

LadyStorm · Jul 9, 2005

Hi everyone,
My name is CJ, and I live in North Carolina. I am currently in the ADN program, the youngest student (18) and want to work OB when I come out, or NICU. What would be anyone's advice to me? Would anyone think that I would be inelgible to be an OB nurse because of sex or race?
Thanks~
CJ

I know its a double standard, and it isn't so much the administration but the patients. Many ladies either laboring or post partum feel uncomfortable with a male nurse. I don't understand why, they totally accept male obstetricians. This is just the experience I have had working in ob's with male nursing students. I found a lot of the patients asked if they (the male nursing students) did not participate in their care. I don't get it. Advice, you said you would enjoy NICU. I would advise you to take that route.

mwbeah · Jul 9, 2005

Hi everyone,
My name is CJ, and I live in North Carolina. I am currently in the ADN program, the youngest student (18) and want to work OB when I come out, or NICU. What would be anyone's advice to me? Would anyone think that I would be inelgible to be an OB nurse because of sex or race?
Thanks~
CJ

I say go for it my friend, I was L&D for 4 years and had a great time. Check out this particular discussion in the OB nursing forum

Mike

shodobe · Jul 10, 2005

So far the hospitals where I have worked have NOT allowed men to work in the L&D departments. This has gone as far as the courts with the guy losing every time. Good luck though. Mike

mwbeah · Jul 10, 2005

So far the hospitals where I have worked have NOT allowed men to work in the L&D departments. This has gone as far as the courts with the guy losing every time. Good luck though. Mike

Shodobe, how can that be? I WAS a male OB nurse?

mwbeah · Jul 10, 2005

So far the hospitals where I have worked have NOT allowed men to work in the L&D departments. This has gone as far as the courts with the guy losing every time. Good luck though. Mike

I am not quite sure I understand what you are saying. I was a labor and delivery nurse in NYC. What example (with the courts) is there?

Mike

Dayray, RN · Jul 12, 2005

It's true that some patients have reservations about male OB nurses it is however far from all patients and not even the majority in fact it is very rare. I have worked OB for 3 years and before that did post partum. I rarely have a problem with patients. Most patients relay appreciate my care. Many times patients don't bat an eye. Some times there is an initial awkwardness and I feel that they are trying to figure me out. In the end they are happy I was their nurse.

Someone brought up that patients don't like male nursing students. This is true but there is a world of difference between a student and an actual nurse. As a student you are there to learn and not vital to the patients care. As a nurse the patient sees you as someone caring for them and not just there to watch. The male nursing student problem is also complicated by the nurse's reaction to them. Even if they are well meaning and not strait out ugly to male nursing students (which many of them are) there is an underlying prejudice toward them held by many nurses in OB.

As for the legal aspect. There isn't any law barring men from OB nursing. There have however been at least 2 (that I know of) court cases brought by male nurses against hospitals barring them from OB. Both of those cases were won by the hospital. So if the hospital won't hire you, just look elsewhere.

Annointed_RNStudent I have to tell you that it is really hard being a man in OB. You will be made fun of, you will be made to feel awkward and you will always be different. I work L&D and I love it but there are many prices I pay for it. I actually had to move from my hometown in order to find a hospital where other nurses would accept me. It was worth it to me and I found a great place to work. Still there are moments of awkwardness with my coworkers and I have to be careful how I speak to them or react to the way they speak to me.

It may not be a popular opinion and may be the subject of some debate but I think that a guy who actually survives in L&D has to relay relay love it otherwise it wouldn't be worth all the flack we take for it. That love for the field shows threw and that is why the patients are willing to accept us as their nurses despite our gender.

As I said before I do love OB there is no other place I would rather work. There are so many great things about it. The autonomy in OB is comparable to that you have in ICU or EMS (I know because I did both of those), the A&P of reproduction, gestation and birth is amazing, The skill level necessary is very intensive and there is an intuitive aspect to OB that is very cool. Still the best thing about it is the relationships you build with your patient and their family. There is no other field in nursing where the patient outcome is so dependent on the nurse. This makes for a unique nurse patient relationship.

When I stated in this field I had a horrible reception by other nurses. It was pretty tough. I survived partly because I relay wanted to work OB and partly because they pissed me off enough to want to show them they were wrong. During my first year I posted on this board allot and I have to say that it helped me. I got both good and bad reactions. What it did for me was help me to wrap my head around the issues I was facing and eventually find a mindset that allowed me to be successful. I invite you to read some of these posts you can reach them threw my profile. Ill warn you that some of them were pretty heated and there are a few that were removed because some of the threads got so ugly. They are way back in my over 500 posts so look at the ones like 1 - 200.

I would also advise you to be careful whom you choose to talk about this subject with. Some people will express some strong opinions against you and you may not be ready to deal with that until you have gotten further in you career and development.

Feel free to PM me or post on the board if I can help you more. As I said in your other tread I think you should follow your heart if L&D is for you then do it.

Dinith88 · Jul 12, 2005

Dude...(dudes?),

That's weird. I will readily admit that i'm unable to fathom the mind-set of men working this specialty.???

OK, maybe nursery and babies and all of that is fine. But...the whole aspect of Labor and Delivery is so much the realm of femininity/women.

Being men, we'll never experience the whole process (other than being a witness) and have little 'natural' insight into what the laboring mother is feeling. I'm willing to go out on a stereo-type limb here and say that the BEST L&D nurses are women who've experienced child-birth themselves.

And how in he heck do MEN teach new mothers the proper breast-feeding techniques?? "...OK mam...take your nipple like so...and..."

And the difference between Obstetricians and Male OB nurses is a big one in my opinion. I can understand there's no difference between a man or woman doing a pelvic exam, papsmear, etc. (nurse or doctor), but the nursing role in the whole L&D process is different. The OB doc swoops in delivers, says some jokes, and leaves...the nurse's role however is much more intimate and (in some respects) important. I beleive (hit me with a bigot stick!) that a man is incapable of empathizing with a laboring woman...

Kabin · Jul 12, 2005

It does add more gender challenge to an already gender challenged profession, but I say if you feel comfortable with it, "get-r-done." :)

Dayray, RN · Jul 12, 2005

I beleive (hit me with a bigot stick!) that a man is incapable of empathizing with a laboring woman...

wack..

Lol just kidding ...but not really .. well yeah kinda. Actually this is the root of the problem men do have in L&D. After a few years it doesnt really make me angry when people express this narrow view of men in OB. what does tick me off is when they are afraid to say it to me but run around telling patients this stuff.

At least Dinith88 comes out and says it in a forum where it can be disscussed. So I'll discuss it.

Dinith what area do you work in? have you experanced all the health issues your patients have? I know when I worked on the ambulance I coudlent personaly relate to being scraped off the road and bleeding all over. Still I was able to empathize with and properly treat my patients.

As for L&D it is true that some of the interpersonal skills used by nurses are outside of what is steriotypicaly seen as a male role. Still (belive it or not) I am able to releate to my patients and support them. I don't feel girly at all (although sometimes I joke about it).

The root of this problem is in our scocites veiw of gender roles. Men are supposed to be tough and strong and women are suposed to be soft and nurtering. The truth is that we all have the capacity to do both to some extent or another and non of us fit the molds so closely. It doesnt make me question my manhood to hold someones hand and tell them that "it will be okay" and patients are happy to recive that care. Ill admit that many of them assume I'm gay because my actions don't fit what they consider to be within the role of the steriotypical man.

This is a big problem for our socity. Almost 50 years ago the womens movement changed our view of gender roles and very strongly said "women can define their own gender roles" it however left men without a giudline. There are so many differnt messages teeling us to be differnt ways. On one hand we are suposed to be strong and tough but at the same time we are told that we need to be "the sensitive type". It can be very confuseing and this is what leads to male nurse bashing.

Our socity still leads us to belive that men cannot be compastionate or careing or atleast not as much as a women can. This is why there are so many single parents out there. Men don't have a frame of referance for intimate realtionships. Back in John wyne days we were the providor and protector, that image however has fallen out of style so where does that leave us now? it leaves us in limbo afraid to take any gender image to far so we end up floundering in the middle somewhere not to macho but definatly not to feminine.

As for empathizeing with my patients. I feel that I am able to do that sure I'll never know what exactly it feels like to be in labor (thank god for that) but any fool can tell you it hurts and is scary. Over time you learn what you can do to help them threw it. I actualy count it as a plus that I will never experance labor becuse my own experance has not colored my opions on the labor process becuse of this I am able to see things differntly then a person who had.

Some would say that only a women could understand what women go threw. I have to say that stament is horse XXXX. It's said by women that hate men or by men that are uncomfortable and embarrased by seemign girly. No I have never felt the same things they feel within my body but I have talked to so many women about what they go threw and belive it or not I can make them feel better and can on some level relate.

I personaly don't see nurtering or careing as female traits. It was hard for me in the begining to reconcille my role in L&D with the way socity says a man is suposed to be. Now I have just decided that I care more about my job then what people think about it. that is'nt to say that I don't care what people think, I mean I wish I did'nt care but the very fact that I am writting this is indication that I must care what people think.

So I guess i wouldent actually hit you with the bigot stick. I'd just tap ya a bit with it =P