Re: Any black male nurses out there?

There are several at the hospital where I work. The best known one works in child psych, and the kids there absolutely love him. I know a black man who is in the RN program at the community college; he emigrated from Togo a few years ago, is now a permanent resident, and would one day like to attend medical school.

The high risk OB in this town is a black woman, and there is a black neurosurgeon as well.

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

Firechalice, well "spoken". Through expressing your point of view, you taught me something, thank you. I was taught that when the devil does math, he divides - hence divide & conquer. People of color are fast becoming the new majority & we need to present to the world a united front. I see us as a big beautiful diverse "family" of sorts. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of people outside of this "family" willing to discriminate against us & treat us unjustly, we dont need to experience it @ "home" too .

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

I worked with a wonderful black male nurse in LTC. He explained that in his (Nigerian) culture elderly family members were cared for @ home & often expressed sorrow that the need for LTC even existed. He was the only BSN staff nurse, as LTC employs mostly LPNs & RNs. He also worked @ a very prestigious hospital, & expressed a need to work in geriatrics. He brought to the unit a level of love & respect for his patients that I havnt seen before or since

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

I am African American and Male. I never thought about this question personally, but I look forward to becoming a nurse. I am currently starting my prereqs @ the local JC here in Los Angeles this Summer and think that nursing is a great career path. I worked @ one of the new major Kaisers as a security guard when I was younger, and loved the feeling of working in the hospital atmosphere.

Although I am extremely nervous about nursing school, I am equally excited. The problem I face is what school to attend after I finsh most of my prereqs this fall. WCU, Mt. Saint Marys, or Everest? lol - I have 2 months to decide and begin studying for entrance exams. Wish me luck!

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

Originally Posted by jwannab

I am African American and Male. I never thought about this question personally, but I look forward to becoming a nurse. I am currently starting my prereqs @ the local JC here in Los Angeles this Summer and think that nursing is a great career path. I worked @ one of the new major Kaisers as a security guard when I was younger, and loved the feeling of working in the hospital atmosphere.

Although I am extremely nervous about nursing school, I am equally excited. The problem I face is what school to attend after I finsh most of my prereqs this fall. WCU, Mt. Saint Marys, or Everest? lol - I have 2 months to decide and begin studying for entrance exams. Wish me luck!

If you can apply to 2 or 3 then that'd be great. If you are accepted into all 3 then you can make a choice. Otherwise I'd go where I was accepted. Good luck!

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

Sounds great! I will apply to the 2 ADN programs first, and the bsn program last. 3 different test to study for but ohwell.

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

Originally Posted by Ken02

Spoiled1Re: Any black male nurses out there?
Commuter,

I am starting to notice the same thing here...not a lot of African-Americans, but a lot of Africans. Interesting...

I am hoping to work in an ICU and I am sure there will be few if any African American people there
I am begining to think that AA are more discriminatory than any group.I never hear whites talk about "german immigrants, Danish etc immigrants", but for AA's Africans are not 'black'. Remember at first Obama wasn't black too( Bob Rush). As an African and an American, do I still need to provide some bona fides to qualify as a black man.

Dear Ken02,
No you do not need to provide any bona fides to qualify as a black man in my book. I apologize if my statement was taken out of context.I am not discriminating against Africans, African-Americans or anyone for that matter. My statement was simply based on observation never intended for it to be Africans vs. African Americans.
Actually when I first wrote the thread I don't think I was even in nursing school yet and had just started working in a hospital setting. I noticed that there were very few black male nurses (African or African-American) that worked there. Im sure this is not the case everywhere in the world but considering I work for the third largest public healthcare system in the country, it was shocking. My original thinking was where are the black male nurses, surely they exist? So I posted here just for some feedback. A lot has changed since I originially posted this thread. For one I graduated nursing school on Tuesday and secondly I work in a different department with more blacks, but 98% of the black RNs in this area are African. NOT SAYING ANYTHING IS WRONG WITH THAT, AGAIN ITS AN OBSERVATION. But my mind still can't help but wonder why African Americans are not pursuing nursing...which is why I said "interesting". For whatever its worth this is my attempt to explain myself. This thread was never intended to be a "black enough" and who should be considerd black conversation. My apologies to anyone I've offended.

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

Hi firechalice,

I agree with everything you wrote except "When others see us we are seen as black." Where I work, a very large University affiliated health care system, I don't believe that we see ourselves as being in any particular racial/ethnic group. Until I read your post, which I am copying to give to our staff.. I never thought about this aspect of our interpersonal relationships between ourselves and our clients.
I'm gonna ask the opinions of our diverse staff...my God...we come from a dozen plus countries representing nearly every human society on this planet, whether or not our colleagues feel that they are first seen as being black, before they are recognized as being professional nurses. If so, this sucks and we are clearly doing something wrong.
By the way..since this topic is about black male nurses...meaning that race has been brought into this..our male nurses..whether they are of African, Carribean, Central, South, Latin American, North American, Middle Eastern descent or from parts of Asia, both ends of Earth's North and South poles, or from the Equatorial areas of Earth...Well....as a rule...our male nurses rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Race isn't an issue with me anyway, certainly not with those I work with.
I am so fortunate to work with such a great group of people. I wish everyone would have the same opportunity to experience the satisfaction of working with intelligent, well educated, dedicated professional nurses who offer so much in terms of their lifes experiences, their own history, culture, language, and more importantly, the diverse cuisine that they bring along with their nursing education and clinical experiences.
Or..maybe I just like and admire everyone I work with.
I do have to mention that like everywhere else we do have specific racial designations in professional organizations that specify which group of people they represent...its a shame, but a reality of our obsession with race.....

We're o.k..we all just have to be ourselves and be open to new experiences and lifestyles of others. Remember that we spend a great deal of time with the people we work with..we may as well be a family.
Hope this helps..

eeka

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

Just a quick response to the ICU thing..we have a lot of black nurses, male and female from a variety of countries/continents... We have a great ICU internship program that is very difficult and graduates many very well educated and qualified black nurses.There is absolutely no reason that anyone, regardless of his/her racial makeup could not be an ICU nurse, or nurse anesthetist or whatever branch of nursing that interests them if they can graduate this program and are highly motivated, work hard...etc.....
So..go for it..if you want to do it, then do it. If your institution discourages, in particular, students of color (God..I hate that term)..move on. There are a lot of places who would be lucky to have you.
Most of our nurses who left our ICU became nurse anesthetists, nurse practicioners and in about 15 years, not one has ever failed to complete, graduate and excel in the program they chose, several are now working in our hospital as nurse anesthetists...I'd say, more than 80% were minority applicants and vastly successful.

Oh...most of these are my former students..they have truly surpassed me in so many ways. My nurse children all grown up.
God I am so proud...

Eeka

Re: Any black male nurses out there?

i am a male nurse and i am in nigeria and there are a lot of male nurses down here too i just finished my rn and i also have a bachelor of nursing science am hoping to move to alberta for my masters