by James Garrity

9/12/09

Hey guys's I was told by my Vocational Rehab cordinator about my pursing a career in nursing,due to the fact I had some back "issues",telling me that as a male nurse,I would be called on all the time to do the heavy lifting,poop detail and just be a glorified "go-for". I pointed out,that first,I have common sence,I'm not going to try and move a 300 lb patient by myself,no more than any new 90 lb,20year old fresh grad female nurse would.Team work people! Second,I worked as a vet tech for 18 years,with my back "isues",if I can do that,nursing should be a breeze.At least nurseds dont wrestle 150 lb Rottwileres on the exam table or tote 50 lb, bags of food or lift sedated Grate Danes into the back of Range Rovers.And I wont even mention the Dangerous animals I had to deal with.So I guess i'm asking guy's,do y'all ever get the "Go-For" treatment?
James

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

when i was still in nursing school the nurses always called me to roll their patients

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

Depends on how heavy the patients are, that is! I do get the crap load some times since I can 'lift.' The way I look at it is, one person cannot do the entire work, but management jsut doesn;'t see it that way sometimes.

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

well sucks to be you lol...as a male i was concerned about the same thing. however throughout nursing school all of my instructors made ladies do their own lifting...they always would tell me "Dont be afraid to say no, you are not in school to be a GLORYFIED NURSING ASSISTANT, you are in school to be a RN" and guess what thats what i say...NO! its simple i have my own patient to care for. sorry. Besides its not about strength its about BODY MECHANICS...HELLO!

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

I was a terrible student in HS; barely made it through. Mainly boredom or, more likely, too much hell raising to do. At any rate my HS councillor asked me what I wanted to do after I graduated. I told her that I thought I would like to go to college. She started loudly laughing and after she got control of herself she said that I would never make it in college and even if I went to college what I thought I could do after I was done. I told her that "I would like to be a guidance councillor because it looked like an easy job".

I would say your voc rehab guy doesn't know a lot about nursing. We get our share of pt moving and poop cleaning; but so does everyone else. My back gives me fits as well but if your careful, have a really good pair of shoes, and ask for help, you will be OK!

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

You will be a gofer. I sure am. You will help lift heavy people. To quote eddie vedder.. it's evolution, baby!

Whether you are "just" a gofer or "just" a lifter depends, quite frankly, on your willingness to stand up for yourself.

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

MaxiMove is my best friend sometimes.

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

When I volunteered in hospital in Brooklyn, NY, I was always asked to help to turn the patients. Ladies wouldn't even attempt to do without calling me first. And the male supervisor would just stand there and stare!

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

I am a CNA and am in the RN program. I work on a med-surg floor and have been asked several times to do the "heavy" stuff. First of all, it is a team effort and I will be the first one to jump when someone needs a hand, BUT I think it is sexism...sure they try the "oh you men are so strong stuff" but we can see right through that. Each of us has to set our limits. I actually am icing my back as I write this because of some of this stuff. It is interesting how some women can play men this way. It doesn't just happen in the hospital.

Re: Guy's ,have you been told this...

When I started in healthcare, my job actually was getting patients in and out of bed, taking them to tests, wheeling them out for discharge. After a time, I got pretty good at it. I remember transfering a very sweet lady with a fresh hip replacement to our in-house skilled nursing unit. She thanked me for how gentle I was when I took her to PT and other places, and I walked out of that room feeling like I was 5'10" and ready to sign up for nursing school. Another lady needed repositioned in bed one evening and I took care of it. Next day she had been moved to our sister unit. When her nurse game in to turn her, she made her call my unit and ask me to come over, "because he's trained for that."
More that once, I got calls to help move someone from a cart to a bed and arrived to find eight very capable nurses standing around a 225 lb patient. I would squeeze into the door way, get one hand one the lift sheet, and count to three. But almost inevitably, they would wait for a male if one was available. My actual title was "Support Associate," but I swear, at times, I was the Moral Support Associate, because I was lifting maybe five pounds, but everyone knew it would be okay if a guy was in the room.
The Physical Therapist who trained me to do lifts (by demonstrating on me) was a 90 lb woman. I weight 3 times that. The heaviest guy I ever moved by myself (he did most of the work) only weighed twice as much as me. If you use good mechanics (lift with your brain, not your back) you won't hurt yourself. If you have enough strength, skill, and help to lift without straining, you won't hurt your patients. If you're too scared or physically incapable of doing much lifting, there are plenty of other areas of nursing than bedside med-surg.
If you're willing to help with the things you do well, others may help with the things you need help with.