A man in a seemingly female driven career

guest042302019, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2009

thanks!

jgcadet · Jul 25, 2009

I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to keep men out of nursing. Why? Well traditional nursing has been a low paying ,subservient, saturated field yet with the recent economy and job shortage men are being drawn into practice. I too am a nursing student with only a few male buddies in my class, however I do not feel odd. In fact I like to rub it into my male friends faces (business majors mostly) that I will have a job and they won't.

Oh I don't see the tattoos being a problem unless you are military.

LoRNzo · Jul 25, 2009

Some hospitals do require tats to be covered it depends on the policies of the hospital you work in. I for one do work in a hospital that does require this. Sometimes people are unable to see males in a career as nursing I for one have been ridiculed by MACHO men thinking that they are better than me because I am in a "girls" profession but I just reply to them well where else can I be surrounded by beautiful and educated women all the time, have versatility in my career choice, get paid quite well and above all enjoy what I am doing. Kind of changes the macho mentlity a bit. :twocents:

guest042302019, BSN, RN · Jul 25, 2009

good point! I bet the "macho" guys shut right up! lol

IceStar817 · Jul 29, 2009

These days i don't hear much stereotype about nursing being a female occupation anymore.

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Jul 29, 2009

I would almost hesitate to say that nursing is largely female-driven. Looking at the leadership of some of the largest nursing organizations, I think that while we are fewer in number on nursing units, we're more than adequately represented in positions of power.

Daitch · Jul 30, 2009

I hope i am harassed and my butt is pinched!

Dmurse · Jul 30, 2009

Its been my experience that there are no hindrances being a male in a predominantly female career. I am in LVN student and I have worked with RN males that do nothing but justice for all males entering into the profession. Not only that but I have asked many Female nurses and what I often get is there is less gossip (this is considered a very good thing), and what I have heard from instructors is that men are wanted especially in OB because while it's sad it is still like this having a male in a certain area will actually increase the pay of the women working there so we are of course more than welcomed because the females and males are supposed to have equal skills etc. As far as tattoos go besides hospital policy and whatever your patients may think they should be ok.

I1tobern · Jul 30, 2009

Well,I willprobably get flamed for this, but it has been my observation as a female nurse that when the more guys on the floor for whatever reason has a positive effect on the mood of the whole group. I don't know if it is because I have been fortunate enough to work with some really great male nurses or if just having a little testosterone around settles things down. Good luck in school. JLowe

DuluthMike · Jul 31, 2009

Nursing is only female driven if you choose to look at it through that lens. I prefer to think of it as human driven.

Neither gender has a monopoly on focused, professional, dedicated caring. Should you run into resistance, treat it with professionalism. We are not female nurses, or male nurses. We are simply nurses. We are professionals. At least that's how I like to view the microcosm of nursing.

JY10 · Jul 31, 2009

It seems the male to female ratio is about 1:3 in ICU and ER, all the other dude nurses i know including myself work in those 2 fields not sure why. I almost never saw a male nurse working the floor when i ran EMS and in my clincals as a student it also held true. Some people will always view nursing as a female job but what r you going to do. In the few cases outside of work when someone has been a real a-hole about it and tried to make me seem less manly then they r my response is to ask them how they would feel about getting beat up by a male nurse, its kind of juvinile but it makes me feel better and usually gets a laugh. Once a janitor at work made a comment to me in front of co-workers and I replied "Yeah I know real men wax floors and transport dirty linien." Bottom line, we have a great job and at the end of the day thats all that matters.