All Men Shift

[kalevra, BSN, RN]

I noticed a huge difference in the past month in regards to the unit culture when we had an all male shift this past month. When working with all males, the shift just seems way way better.

The environment was so pleasant because no one was flipping out because the floors weren't mopped on our shift, no one was throwing a fit because there were not enough small sized gloves in the isolation cart, we focused on RN life saving interventions. I mean two patients coded, both were brought back. During the code everyone was calm, positive, people were laughing, and just all around positive.

I actually left work thinking wow this is a great team to work with.

However, when its a mostly female shift the focus is completely different. I remember a code when women were screaming for atropine, and not wanting to do chest compression because their back hurt. I remember getting talked down to because the room was a mess after the code. I remember the day time supervisor throwing a fit because the pt closet was unorganized.

I really like working with an all male shift. My god it is so much better.

[vanessaem, BSN, RN]

Women can't seem to catch a break. In a mostly female profession, we're still denigrated in one way or another. I'm not sure if there are too many nurses or patients who want to see dirty floors so I can see that being a concern and if there were nothing but small and medium-sized gloves on the unit, I'm pretty sure that would be a problem for some guys unless they have petite hands.

Admittedly, I'm a new nurse but I'm not new to the workforce. In my previous line of work, I was one of a few women in a predominately male work environment and believe me it was not always fun, easy-going and cool. I guess in my lifetime, I've been lucky or unlucky enough to work with crabby people of both genders. It is what it is. Please try not to generalize about women being hard to work with and men being easy to work with because that's not always the case.

[cjcsoon2bnp, MSN, RN, NP]

I am a nurse who also happens to be a male.

I have worked with some great nurses and some nurses who I believe struggle with even the most basic forms of time managment, empathetic care, communication, leadership and safe patient care. I can assure you that gender had nothing to do with their competence. I do agree that there are differences in the communication and leadership styles between men and women in the professional setting but I do think that both are crucial to the development of a strong team and balance each other out. I am happy that more men are entering our profession and will continue to do my part to encourage more men to pursue nursing as a career.

On a side note, I have had one shift in my hospital where I was working as the fill-in hospital supervisor and all of the RNs in the hospital (a very small psychiatric hospital) at the time were men with the exception of one female RN. It was a fairly uneventful shift but was the first time in the hospital's history that the number of male nurses working at the same time/on the same shift exceeded the number of female nurses, not really a big deal but was kind of interesting. I was talking with one of the nursing administrators about it and he told me how at one point he was the only male RN in the hospital and now look how far we have come in only a few decades. I guess its just a sign of the times.

!Chris

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

Sadly, the male RNs on my unit are slowly moving on to other opportunities, and within a couple of months the unit will be all-female RNs (except for a handful of male CNAs). The environment there is not conducive to embracing this kind of gender diversity, no one seems to care so why should we? We will move on to places where we will be wanted.

Sent from my iPad using allnurses

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

Women, amirite? We're just so emotional, always on our periods or some such.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

What's described in the OP sounds more like personality issues, instead of gender issues.

I recognize there are definite pros and cons with working with one gender over the other, but I haven't found one BETTER than the other.

I really wanted to pick apart the OP for stereotyping, but my objections are obvious.

Females and mopped floors?

[parascribe]

I have about two shifts in my ER that were all male. It caused us all to pray for no gynecological emergencies.

[Biosciencegeek]

I work in an ocean of estrogen, and I never have these issues. I kind of like usually being the only male CNA around highly intelligent and attractive women all day. That's just me I guess. Everyone's situation is different. I hope I never have to deal with the whole "gender wars" thing. For now, I'm too busy focusing on my patients to notice that sort of thing.

[kalevra, BSN, RN]

What's described in the OP sounds more like personality issues, instead of gender issues.

I recognize there are definite pros and cons with working with one gender over the other, but I haven't found one BETTER than the other.

I really wanted to pick apart the OP for stereotyping, but my objections are obvious.

Females and mopped floors?

I am not joking, we RNs mop floors. My hospital fired all the CNAs, and cut back to one janitor at night. RNs in my hospital have picked up all the duties the janitor used to do, all to save the hospital money.

Yes I was talked down to very rudely about taking out garbage and mopping, even though the garbage was taken out hours earlier and now the bin is half full. Seriously some people have their focus on the dumbest things. We have a day time manager that checks closets to see if its organized. If its not, she flips out and starts talking you down. During this specific event, I wrote up the day time manager, I wont stand lateral violence.

I am an RN in ICU. Mopping the floors, taking out garbage and organizing the closet is the least of my concerns.

In any case I just wanted to share my pleasant experience with an all male or mostly male shift. It was like hanging out with your bros at work. We talked about family, guns, policy, government and in general it was a great experience.

Unfortunately its not gonna happen again, its one of those things when people call in sick and a unit is closed.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

In one hospital where I work nurses work every other weekend. On one weekend it is an all male crew on nights regularly. I would agree that it is a very different experience than when it is all female, or female dominated like the other shifts are.

[lrobinson5]

I have had two male supervisors. One was an absolute nightmare, the other one of the best nurses I will probably ever know. It isn't fair to lump "you men" into a category. It sounds like your unit is negative and contributes to a poor work environment. It also sounds like not all of those guys normally work on that unit, so they don't have to deal with the same stresses and lateral violence you're referring to.

[SeattleJess]

I work in an ocean of estrogen, and I never have these issues. I kind of like usually being the only male CNA around highly intelligent and attractive women all day. That's just me I guess. Everyone's situation is different. I hope I never have to deal with the whole "gender wars" thing. For now, I'm too busy focusing on my patients to notice that sort of thing. (Emphasis added.)

Biosciencegeek, would you please clone yourself a dozen times and send the results to my workplace? How many problems could just vanish if your attitude caught on?