attitudes of male and female patients towards male nursing students

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2005

Occasionally I have a patient who will make a sexualy comment to me, I attempt to be polite but will have another staff switch patients with me. Too much risk in this environment to joke in that manner.

Gonna keep that in mind....

nursemike, ASN, RN · Dec 9, 2005

as a male nursing student I did have problems in OB. Jealous husbands would not let me take care of thier wifes. Oh well.. got to spend more time in the nursery with the babies.
being a male nursing student I have noticed a lot of people assume you are gay.Comes with the territory and the fact that many male nurses are gay.

I haven't run into either of these situations nearly as much as I thought I might. I've had two patients ask for a female nurse, and in both cases I think they might have been okay with a more experienced male. I've had one patient re-assigned who wasn't fully competent and appeared to be liking me too much--that was my CN's idea--I hadn't initially picked up on the problem, but called the CN over another problem.

It seems ironic, though. If we're stereotyped as gay, we shouldn't be much of a threat to hit on people's wives. Of course, it then sounds like the logical course would be to pass for gay when you have a female patient. But that would be dishonest, and therefore unethical.

Balder_LPN, LPN · Dec 9, 2005

It seems ironic, though. If we're stereotyped as gay, we shouldn't be much of a threat to hit on people's wives. Of course, it then sounds like the logical course would be to pass for gay when you have a female patient. But that would be dishonest, and therefore unethical.

Sorry, I dont think I could "pass for gay". what does that mean anyway? :uhoh3:

Even if I thought I could "act gay" I think that would likely come off kind of assinine. talk with a lisp.....bounce when I walk....? thats just furthering more stereotypes. I have noticed that gay people either fit the stereotype, or they dont.

Maybe you have just been watching too many TV sitcoms.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Dec 9, 2005

Sorry, I dont think I could "pass for gay". what does that mean anyway?
Even if I thought I could "act gay" I think that would likely come off kind of assinine. talk with a lisp.....bounce when I walk....? thats just furthering more stereotypes. I have noticed that gay people either fit the stereotype, or they dont.
Maybe you have just been watching too many TV sitcoms.

Didn't mean to offend anyone, or perpetuate stereotypes.

Also didn't mean to suggest that anyone should pretend to be something they aren't.

The only thing I've noticed that pretty much all gay men seem to have in common is not being sexually attracted to women, so it would seem illogical to be put off by one doing pericare on one's wife.

Of course, the only really good solution is to make it clear that nursing interventions aren't sexual in nature, but to accommodate patient preferences as far as possible, as well.

danu3 · Dec 9, 2005

Didn't mean to offend anyone, or perpetuate stereotypes.
Also didn't mean to suggest that anyone should pretend to be something they aren't.
The only thing I've noticed that pretty much all gay men seem to have in common is not being sexually attracted to women, so it would seem illogical to be put off by one doing pericare on one's wife.
Of course, the only really good solution is to make it clear that nursing interventions aren't sexual in nature, but to accommodate patient preferences as far as possible, as well.

This is off subject but I always find that the idea that you are probably gay if you are a male nurse just does not make any logical sense. Think about it, if you are gay male, that means you are attracted to other males. Now, why would you go into nursing where more than 90% of the workforce is female? Wouldn't it better to go into some professions where you have lots of male - like construction or something?

nursemike, ASN, RN · Dec 9, 2005

This is off subject but I always find that the idea that you are probably gay if you are a male nurse just does not make any logical sense. Think about it, if you are gay male, that means you are attracted to other males. Now, why would you go into nursing where more than 90% of the workforce is female? Wouldn't it better to go into some professions where you have lots of male - like construction or something?

Off-topic? You wanna talk off-topic?

I haven't actually researched this since back in the 70's, but it's my understanding that most gay men are in fact construction workers, firefighters, police officers, sailors, and Native Americans, and they hang around the YMCA a lot. However, this is a prelimiary result and not a scientific sampling.

Balder_LPN, LPN · Dec 9, 2005

Didn't mean to offend anyone, or perpetuate stereotypes.
Also didn't mean to suggest that anyone should pretend to be something they aren't.
The only thing I've noticed that pretty much all gay men seem to have in common is not being sexually attracted to women, so it would seem illogical to be put off by one doing pericare on one's wife.
Of course, the only really good solution is to make it clear that nursing interventions aren't sexual in nature, but to accommodate patient preferences as far as possible, as well.

Oh, I'm not offended. I just thought the "pretend to be gay" statement demanded some attention. I am not gay, I have just learned over time that while sterotypes usually do have a basis in reality, it still is not good to perpetuate them.

rogramjet · Dec 9, 2005

That's right, and if I'm not mistaken thay are MACHO also.....

Off-topic? You wanna talk off-topic?
I haven't actually researched this since back in the 70's, but it's my understanding that most gay men are in fact construction workers, firefighters, police officers, sailors, and Native Americans, and they hang around the YMCA a lot. However, this is a prelimiary result and not a scientific sampling.

RNstudentBrian · Jan 4, 2006

Im curious,
Is your instructor male or female?

Sorry for the late (months) reply. School you know...:)

All of the faculty and staff of my school are female.https://allnurses.com/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif

towfie bryle · Mar 18, 2009

Jhanez_k2p

Registered User

Age: 23

Join Date: Jun 2005

Posts: 9

" Attitudes of male and female patients towards male nursing students"

This is our topic for our nursing research. Im having a hard time looking for some related literature..but, fortunately, allnurses.com made it a little bit easy. However, latest statistics on number of male nurses in our country( Philippines) is really hard to find in the internet..

hi jhanez k2p !! can i ask you a lil' favor ?!

am towfie , 3rd yr. student nurse !! we're conducting a research similar to your research. it is entitled "caring attitude in bedside care of staff nurses as perceived by patients of medical ward: An Assessment" so as part of our study , we're also having a hard time to gather related literature about our topic. can you please help us ?!! if you dont mind !!

PM me.

you can message me there if you want !! (SANA)

THANKS !!

BigIsleBound · Mar 23, 2009

This has been an interesting thread for me, a female nursing student, to read. I have a strong preference for female nurses, doctors, carpet shampooers, accountants, etc. I am an assault survivor and just being physically close to a man in such a vulnerable way (almost naked with him standing over me on a bed) is enough to make me short of breath. For me to take care of a man is not so traumatic, but to be at the mercy of a man who could easily chose to hurt me or abuse me is terrifying. Plus the whole hospital would leap to his defense and I would be accused of lying, trying to get rich by sueing or some other horrible scenario... Please don't take it personally when a patient prefers a female, it may have more to do with a man who died years ago than it does with the male nurse.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

This has been an interesting thread for me, a female nursing student, to read. I have a strong preference for female nurses, doctors, carpet shampooers, accountants, etc. I am an assault survivor and just being physically close to a man in such a vulnerable way (almost naked with him standing over me on a bed) is enough to make me short of breath. For me to take care of a man is not so traumatic, but to be at the mercy of a man who could easily chose to hurt me or abuse me is terrifying. Plus the whole hospital would leap to his defense and I would be accused of lying, trying to get rich by sueing or some other horrible scenario... Please don't take it personally when a patient prefers a female, it may have more to do with a man who died years ago than it does with the male nurse.

I'm sorry you've had a traumatic past. Partly on these boards, and partly in real life, I've learned over the past few years how not uncommon that is. It saddens and perplexes me to realize that abuse of women isn't nearly as rare as I once supposed. It's weird, because I honestly can't think of a guy I know who'd do such a thing, but now I can't help wondering how many of my female friends have something like that in their past and never talk about it.It's interesting, to me, that other posts by males who state they were falsely accused of misconduct describe having their reputations tarnished by the accusation alone. Rather than "leaping to their defense," it seems they were presumed guilty even if proven innocent. Of course, on these boards, we have only their word that that's how it was, but my general policy is to accept pretty much whatever someone posts as true (unless it's just flatly unbelievable) since there isn't much basis for a conversation, otherwise.I suspect, or maybe just hope, that the reality is usually somewhere between the two perceptions, that any accusation would be taken seriously and investigated, but that no one would be lynched on the accusation alone. But I don't imagine perfect justice is always the outcome. Nor do I know what to do about it. It occurs to me, just now, that anyone who would falsely accuse someone of sexual abuse is probably in something near as much pain, albeit, perhaps, self-inflicted, as someone who was actually abused. I can also sort of imagine how terrible it would be to be accused of such a crime, and I know it disturbs me when women post about being fearful of all men because of the acts of some men. I don't mean that I blame them for an understandable reaction, I just find it discouraging that such an event can have such a negative effect for so long, afterward. I suppose it's a fact of life that traumatic injuries leave scars. Still, I persist in my belief that most men are pretty good folks, and hope that those who've encountered some who aren't will someday be able to embrace the ones who are.