Re: Female nurses have more advantage over male nurses?

Originally Posted by nursemike

...a little playful teasing is nothing to get ruffled over. I've made the observation at work that if there were more men in nursing, there would be a lot less stress, and only slightly higher patient mortality. It's a grossly unfair comment to both genders, but most of my coworkers would agree that boxers don't seem to get in a bunch as easily as panties do, and they value that.

Ahhh, yes. Words of true wisdom. Folks, lets not make this any harder than is already is.

Re: Female nurses have more advantage over male nurses?

Originally Posted by cop2nurse41

Well lets see I am a 35yr old cracker!!! Who does not get offened by much. I guess thats because I hit the streets at fifteen and have supported myself ever since. In these conditions you tend not to sweat the small stuff like silly coments or jokes. They are what they are. You tend to worry about where your next meal is coming from instead. Anyway I guess Im trying to say that if you go throught life with a thin SKIN regardless of gender or color you will be offened more often then not. Lets all take a chill pill and not sweat the small stuff. Plus i still want to make a pile of money writing a book on how women think! Not that I will get it right but the research should be a whole lot of fun!!!

Coming from a previous career as a carpenter, working in a predominantly female environment has been interesting. On the whole, I've found it a positive change. In some respects, I do think learning to "think like a nurse," is very much like learning to "think like a woman," in the sense that a holistic, synthetic, and intuitive approach is often more helpful than strictly linear reasoning. But it's kind of a two-way street. As a man, you may be called upon to access your "feminine" side, but the women we work with are scientists. They have to be able to think critically. They have to maintain a degree of objectivity. It's a little weird to be in a place where you care very deeply about a total stranger, but have to maintain enough detachment to be effective in caring for them. Women in nursing are fascinating, but not entirely like other women.

Re: Female nurses have more advantage over male nurses?

Funny speaking of your "feminine" side Thats exactly what my first clinical instructor siad to me with regard to writing my care plans and just about every thing else I did when it comes to nurseing. I was giving the facts and nothing but the facts , Just fix the problem and move on(Police work!!!). She told me to get in touch with my Fem. side. This is the thing that has been the biggest obsticale for me so far. I get the material, score well on tests, and skills are not a problem. But I am at this point very much a "mechanic" that whole nurturing softer side has been a difficult thing for me! Thank god for the girls in my class they have been very helpful in that aspect. I guess this is where the biggest advantage for the girls lie's. When it comes to nursing men have to be taught how to be more nurturing or how ever you want to put it. Most of the girls where born with that already in tact.

Re: Female nurses have more advantage over male nurses?

I use "feminine" and "masculine" as shorthand, but I really think it's an oversimplification. Men are as capable of love as women are, and in the end, I think that's what it comes down to. We speak of "caring" because it sounds a bit strange to speak of love for a patient you just met. Not quite as intense, perhaps, as love for a spouse, or one's child, or parents, but neither as abstract as "love for one's fellow man."
To be honest, I dreaded clinicals in school. Everyday, every intervention, felt like a final exam. Pass one med without checking your two identifiers and you're outta there. Take a BP and you can't find the brachial pulse and you look like an incompetent fool. Still, there were moments when you could just sit and talk with your patients, and the more you get to know them, the more amazing they were. One of mine I'll never forget was a retired schoolteacher, and there in the hospital with terminal cancer, he was teaching me.
To me, that's one way nursing practice is better than nursing school, because you do get more time to connect to your patients. And while it's a harsh truth that not all patients are exactly lovable, there's still a bond. They might be a pain in the ass, but they're my pain in the ass. Plus, there are plenty it's a true privilege to know, if only for twelve hours.
It's a hard thing to explain, but I think it's where a lot of the idea of nursing as a "calling" comes from. Off hand, about the only thing in the Bible I accept without reservation is where it says, "God is love." And it's a pretty powerful thing, when you connect to that.