attention Rural male nurses

Specialties Rural

Published

Iam currently a first year nursing student and have a group presentation to do on men in nursing. I work in a rural hospital as a dietary aide and have yet to encounter a male nurse. Is this common?? This may be a rather naive question but I would appreciate it if any male nurses would let me in on the hidden male rule. Is it more common for men to want to work in big city hospitals or do I work in a hospital from the past. I'm hoping to find that I'am mistaken in this belief and perhaps make peoples views of rural hospitals a little more reasonable. Thanks !!!

Specializes in Quality/Risk Management.

Well, I am a male nurse getting ready to start rural nursing. I worked at a 101 bed hospital for 4 years primarily on a Med/Surg floor, occasionally floating to Peds or ICU. I left hospital nursing to work for a couple of years doing home and ambulatory infusion center-based IV therapy (chemo, TPN, IV antibiotics, etc.). For the last four years I have been working in the IT department of my old hospital as their Clinical Systems Coordinator. Now my wife is being transferred to an HR management position at her old job in another community with a large regional hospital, but we will be living 20 miles away in the mountains and I have taken a position at a 12-bed (you heard right!) critical access hospital!! They staff one RN on the inpatient unit and one RN in the ER and I am soooo looking forward to it! I look forward to reading more about the experiences of others in rural nursing.

Steve

I'm a Male Nurse working in Rural Newfoundland. when I started 27yrs ago I was the first and only Male Nurse in the place. Now 27 years later there are 5 of us plus 2 Male LPNs. We are out here in the Rural areas:

chuckle

I started out as an orderly in a rural type hospital. All of us were male. I did many things that orderlys didn't do in the "big city" Same with my first nursing job as an LPN. I was the only male. I did many things, some nights we flew by the seat of our pants. Thats real nursing. As an RN, I work in a state correctional facility in Western NY where the same type of care exists. The staff is 15% male. Those with the "Rural Nurse" experience have an easier time adjusting. I'm just an Ole Country Nursin' Boy! Come work with us, we could use "a Few Good Men."

Specializes in ED, Tele, Psych.

i'm a male nurse in a rural setting and i've found that the term 'male nurse' where i am has a negative connotation. i routinely have to correct patients who assume i'm a doctor and have had some of the older (female) nurses make comments about having a 'male nurse' in the department. it may be the community that i'm in (a very well established and stagnant one) or it may be because its rural. i don't know. i've already decided that my family and i are moving to greener, and more accepting, pastures in the next couple of years.

i'm a male nurse in a rural setting and i've found that the term 'male nurse' where i am has a negative connotation. i routinely have to correct patients who assume i'm a doctor and have had some of the older (female) nurses make comments about having a 'male nurse' in the department. it may be the community that i'm in (a very well established and stagnant one) or it may be because its rural. i don't know. i've already decided that my family and i are moving to greener, and more accepting, pastures in the next couple of years.

Mike, from one old military nurse to another....most of us are NOT gay. If you want a job where you simply cary the title NURSE I invite you to work in corrections. We could use "a Few Good Nurses".

Specializes in ED, Tele, Psych.

the implication of the term 'male nurse' that i often get isn't a question of sexuality but of men's ability to perform the nursing functions of empathy and demonstrating a caring attitude toward patients (mostly from older female nurses). the other view i get (from older patients) is that i am not 'good enough' to be a doctor because i'm a male nurse. i have even had one doctor refuse to work with me or the other male nurse in the department without a female nurse present during procedures. this is the kind of nonsense that makes me want to move on from this rather rural area and back to a city of some size. very rarely do i get the impression that being a 'male nurse' equates to homosexuality.

Specializes in ED, Tele, Psych.

the implication of the term 'male nurse' that i often get isn't a question of sexuality but of men's ability to perform the nursing functions of empathy and demonstrating a caring attitude toward patients (mostly from older female nurses). the other view i get (from older patients) is that i am not 'good enough' to be a doctor because i'm a male nurse. i have even had one doctor refuse to work with me or the other male nurse in the department without a female nurse present during procedures. this is the kind of nonsense that makes me want to move on from this rather rural area and back to a city of some size. very rarely do i get the impression that being a 'male nurse' equates to homosexuality.

Specializes in ICU/CCU (PCCN); Heme/Onc/BMT.

I very rarely get any comments about being a nurse with the XY chromosomal make up. Nor do I get asked if I'm their doctor. I think this is because every time there's a new patient in the unit, I simply introduce myself as ". . . your night nurse". It leaves no room for speculation in the patient's mind what role I will be playing during their hospital stay.

:)

Ted

Specializes in ICU/CCU (PCCN); Heme/Onc/BMT.

I very rarely get any comments about being a nurse with the XY chromosomal make up. Nor do I get asked if I'm their doctor. I think this is because every time there's a new patient in the unit, I simply introduce myself as ". . . your night nurse". It leaves no room for speculation in the patient's mind what role I will be playing during their hospital stay.

:)

Ted

I live in a very rural part of Tennessee. I work in LTC, and we have had very few male nurses in the 12 years I have been there, and none at the present time. The hospital next door has only 2 male RNs that I know of, & they both work in ER. My cousin (male) went to in Nashville, where he earned his MSN. He chose to work in the hospital out here in the sticks because of getting to do a little of everything. He worked about 2 years, and then went to back to work at .

In my rural hospital we employ approx 75 nurses; 12 of which are male. And in my opinion the best darn male nurses in the state!

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