Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by ZippyGBR

at the minute i have a quandary aobut the whole men in nursing thing

as a male RN who has been redeployed from the emergency dept to an Acute Assessment Unit - takes the majority of unplanned admissions medicla and surgical apart from the known haematolgy patients presneting acutely who go direct to the Haem / onc unit and a lot of the ortho trauma stuff which generally goes direct from the ED to the Ortho trauma wards...

so i've changed speciality and working environment substantially and effectively taken a step down ( from a Senior staff Nurse role in the ED to staff nurse on the assessment unit - which for the first 6 or so months is unsuprising given the change in environment and the need to learn the new environments way of working ... 0

however a few of the more junior female RNs seem to have a downer on me and seem to think that i am trying to belittle them by offering to do things for them / their patients - don't know if it's a gender thing or whether they don't actually appreciate the skills knowledge and experience i bring to the table ...

I don't want to criticize or read more into your post than you intended, but I wonder if your offers to help could be perceive as condescending? I ask because I can sort of relate to the junior nurses. Throughout my first year, I had all sorts of insecurity, and while it's better, now, it isn't entirely gone. So, when a more experienced nurse asks how they can help me, there's a voice in the back of my mind that's asking, "Why? Am I not cutting it?"

Mind you, I'm 50 years old. Self-evaluation is not something new to me, and on the whole I'm pretty happy with where I am, for this point in my career. (I was talking to myself, one night, mentally reviewing what all I had done and feeling pretty good about it, when a fellow nurse heard me--I hadn't noticed I was talking out loud--and quipped, "You don't mind patting yourself on the back, do you?" In one of those rare instances where the answer I wanted came at just the right time, I replied, "Well, no--I would never leave something that important to someone else.") But I'm also very conscious of how far I have yet to go, and it can seem a bit daunting. A person with less life-experience might well be a bit more sensitive to perceived criticism, whether or not any was intended.

Just a thought.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Zippy,
I can just about feel your frustration. It is hard to know what the junior nurse might really be thinking. Yet, you don't need the rejection. I'll bet other nurses in the unit would appreciate your help. I'd help them and let the junior girl fumble along on her own.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by ZippyGBR

at the minute i have a quandary aobut the whole men in nursing thing

as a male RN who has been redeployed from the emergency dept to an Acute Assessment Unit - takes the majority of unplanned admissions medicla and surgical apart from the known haematolgy patients presneting acutely who go direct to the Haem / onc unit and a lot of the ortho trauma stuff which generally goes direct from the ED to the Ortho trauma wards...

so i've changed speciality and working environment substantially and effectively taken a step down ( from a Senior staff Nurse role in the ED to staff nurse on the assessment unit - which for the first 6 or so months is unsuprising given the change in environment and the need to learn the new environments way of working ... 0

however a few of the more junior female RNs seem to have a downer on me and seem to think that i am trying to belittle them by offering to do things for them / their patients - don't know if it's a gender thing or whether they don't actually appreciate the skills knowledge and experience i bring to the table ...

As for the nurses, if they need help they'll ask for it, no biggie. But as for the patients--now let me get this straight, your facility has taken you out of a role where you have your own patients for some reason (which I don't expect you to explain), regardless of which you are going into other nurses' patients' rooms and interacting with their patients?

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

There's a new policy our hospital, no more male nurses in the DR & OR! Though its a private hospital that can impose their own policies this is very discrimnating don't you think? I'm a new nurse (male) here and I'm interested to specialized as an OR nurse.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by Gangli

There's a new policy our hospital, no more male nurses in the DR & OR! Though its a private hospital that can impose their own policies this is very discrimnating don't you think? I'm a new nurse (male) here and I'm interested to specialized as an OR nurse.

Definitely discriminating. I doubt that would happen in the USA.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in and say I LOVE working with male nurses!! Straight or gay, makes no difference!! If I had my choice all my coworkers would be men! They are so much easier to work with, not caddy and ****** like us women!! I must be oblivious to discrimination against male nurses because to me they are just like me, a nurse. I hope more and more men come into nursing. I think they make a huge difference in the work environment and gladly welcome them!! :hatparty:

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

I don't care about gender. But I am getting really tired of hearing about how much better male nurses are because we women are such female dogs. And catty. A little contradictory.

My experiences with other women in this field have been almost totally positive. My experiences with men have been far more limited but almost totally positive. In general, I seem to like nurses, and people who choose to make caregiving a profession.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

There is no discrimination in nursing except what you inflict on yourself
So if you feel discrimination, look at yourself first.

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by anonymurse

As for the nurses, if they need help they'll ask for it, no biggie. But as for the patients--now let me get this straight, your facility has taken you out of a role where you have your own patients for some reason (which I don't expect you to explain), regardless of which you are going into other nurses' patients' rooms and interacting with their patients?

once again the cultural imperialsts strike again.

Let's make this very clear.

I moved as part of a financially driven restructure, not helped by the fact the Nurse Manager on the unit (ED) i worked before was a bully who took the opportunity to remove those who stood up to her and who threatened her position as head of a clique.

my ED senior Staff Nurse role included running parts of the department on a day to day basis and in the absence of the designated Charge Nurses we
were expected to be able to run a shift - whether that was for a couple of hours to cover meetings or the occasional whole shift ... i had been doing this role for 2 + years when i moved.

I moved to an Acute Assessment Unit which takes the majority of direct medical and surgical admissions ( from primary care ) and many of the medical admissions from the ED on this unit

I have retained the pay grade of my previous role but as an equivalent role doesn't exist on this unit ( in fact the equivalent role to my previous role doesn't exist within the turst at all and the team have been spread far and wide or have left for other trusts) have worked to the generic staff nurse job description plus kept the extended and expanded roles relevant to my new area of practice ( e.g. I am no long considered an referrer under IR(ME)R as there is no requirement for the X-rays i was authorised to request in the ED (predominantly limb + percutaneous FB) on the unit - however i still have referrer level access to PACS which is nice)

While we have an assigned patient caseload the numbers and acuity can vary and it is the general practice to support other members of the team as workload allows - the issue has arisen because some of the junior staff ( in particular a couple of them ) are unwilling to accept assistance from myself (and some ofthe other men working on the unit)...

Re: Discrimination Against Men in Nursing

Originally Posted by Suesquatch

I don't care about gender. But I am getting really tired of hearing about how much better male nurses are because we women are such female dogs. And catty. A little contradictory.

My experiences with other women in this field have been almost totally positive. My experiences with men have been far more limited but almost totally positive. In general, I seem to like nurses, and people who choose to make caregiving a profession.

I enjoy spending time in the company of strong, intelligent, independent women. I agree that almost all of my experiences with nurses (either gender) have been positive.

On the other hand, most of my experiences with canines and felines (either gender) have been positive, too.

I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from that.