male labor and delivery nurses

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Hi I'm a pediatric nurse from the bay area. I've been working here about six years and am concidering trying labor and delivery. I loved it in school, and I loved it when my wife gave birth. I was wondering if anyone knew any male LD nurses. I posted a similar question not long ago, but I got only one reply from a man, and he said he could not get a LD job. I got some positive and some not-so-positive replies from women. I would love any input!

Thanks,

T.

Specializes in NICU.

I have a question about this--didn't read all eight pages of replies--so forgive me if someone already asked.

let me preface this with the statement that I have NO problems with male nurses in L&D or PP. As long as the patient is comfortable and has no problem, it shouldn't be MADE into a problem.

My question is this--whenever I go for my GYN exams (and OB exams when I was pregnant) the Male doctor HAD TO HAVE a female assistant present for ALL exams. Even if my hubby was in the room.

How do male L&D nurses get by this requirement?? Does it pose a problem at all?

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I haven't read all 8 pages....but this was originally posted 6 years ago....was it ever posted if the original poster got a job in L&D

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"...whenever I go for my GYN exams (and OB exams when I was pregnant) the Male doctor HAD TO HAVE a female assistant present for ALL exams. Even if my hubby was in the room."

Simply put, doctors are known to have "deep pockets".

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Specializes in NICU Transport/NICU.
I have a question about this--didn't read all eight pages of replies--so forgive me if someone already asked.

let me preface this with the statement that I have NO problems with male nurses in L&D or PP. As long as the patient is comfortable and has no problem, it shouldn't be MADE into a problem.

My question is this--whenever I go for my GYN exams (and OB exams when I was pregnant) the Male doctor HAD TO HAVE a female assistant present for ALL exams. Even if my hubby was in the room.

How do male L&D nurses get by this requirement?? Does it pose a problem at all?

As the first male on my unit in the history of the hospital, a lot of the women wondered the same thing. I just go in and do my exam just the same as anyone else would. Here is what I have learned in my short time in a birthcare center. A lot of the women come in in labor and end up being delivered by the on call doc. Most of the time this is a male. They don't really know him and haven't really established a bond with him. He may be in the room for a total of 30 min depending on the circumstances. On post partum, they will see the doc for 2 min. per day. As a nurse, I am there's for 12 hours. It is a much more intimate relationship than that of the docs. We help them to the bathroom, get them up for the first time, get them to the shower, help them feed and change their baby, talk to them, educate them, ease their pain, and just about anything else they need. By the end of the shift, I will have spent more time with them than the doc did in 9 months. Sure, some of the women are a little uncomfortable when I walk in for the first time, but I go in the way any female nurse would go in. I'm confident and warm and I am truely passionate about what I do and I think they sense this. Their guard immediately drops and I have no issues. And maybe it also helps that I am married and proudly where my wedding ring.;)

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I am a male considering L&D and I share the same fears. I am almost done with nursing school and I feel like this is the time to move forward with L&D. For years I have worked as a CNA in "male units like trauma, burn care, ICU's." As much as I enjoy burn care, like you I really liked our L&D rotation in nursing school. Thank you for your post!

~A future male L&D nurse

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As a male, I know I have unjustly received many perks in life, simply because I was male. The ob world seems to turn this notion over, which is good, except it remains a situation of where you must be exclusively female. The big exception are all the male doctors that get a pass.

the culture is for an all female nurse landscape just as it is 90% female nursing all in all. Most will say, follow your dreams. but be prepared that 1. not one LD male nurse has chimed in (he might have been killed with evil eyes) and 2. Ask yourself, do you have the energy to be a trailblazer where you will face daily adversity?

If you are truly ready, then go for it. I wish the culture would have been different as a male nursing student, I just wanted to learn and not be treated poorly by the female nurses, as for the unjust woman's OB world? As a male, I think I can take some discrimination my way.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

I would love if we had a male RN on our unit.

It seems weird to me that people would object to having a male RN in OB, but don't object to having a male physician in OB.

Male physicians do not HAVE TO have another person present at exams. They CHOOSE that in order to minimize litigation. My female OB did the same.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Count me as another nurse who would welcome a male L&D or mother/baby nurse on my unit. :up:

The CRNA who put in my epidural and the OB who caught my daughter were both male and there's nothing I have that they didn't see. To me as a patient, having a male RN would be no different. Chromosomal makeup isn't nearly as important as brains and the ability to deliver good care.

(FWIW, my supervisor's husband works L&D and postpartum at another hospital. His patients love him and ask for him when they come back for subsequent babies.)

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Specializes in LTC, Acute care.

Personally, I'm not sure I feel very comfortable exposing my nether parts to a male RN in the setting of L&D which is why I chose an all female practice for my gyn needs. Now that I think about it, I don't necessarily like exposing my nether parts to any one (females included) at all but what has to be done has to be done.

Having said that, any male that is passionate about L&D should go for it. Let your skill speak for you but remember there are still women who are not comfortable with you in their room. Hopefully, they won't go about it in a way that'll embarrass you.

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I love this conversation, any objection to having a male nurse falls apart with a male doctor in the room. What are we really revealing with our attitudes and feelings?

Is this modesty? are we afraid a male nurse would cross a boundary? Embarassment? Or _________ ?

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I have posted before, and have been a male L/D RN now for about a year.

Answer to all your questions:

-If i have to do a sterile internal exam i simply do it. I i feel the patient is not comfortable with me or i question there ability to have a male in the room, i simply grab a female worker (CNS, OB Tech); whomever is available.

-When i walk into a patients room, i act confident. Women and families respond to someone who knows what they are doing. I offer them excellent pain management, education, and comfort them and their families.

-Women sometimes ask for me as there nurse, esp if i have had them as OB checks in the past earlier during there pregnancy.

Most of our MDs are males, but the patients whom have female OBGYNs rarely have a problem having me as there nurse.

Being nice and attentive goes a long way!

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Specializes in NICU Transport/NICU.
1. not one LD male nurse has chimed in (he might have been killed with evil eyes) and 2. Ask yourself, do you have the energy to be a trailblazer where you will face daily adversity?

I've chimed in numerous times on numerous threads. I've also never experienced daily adversity or any adversity for that matter. :)

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