Discrimination against males in the nursing profession.

[Halim F. Dagher]

Stereotyping male nurses have reached a disreputable level in my society and beyond, to the point that it started to affect the mindset and the efficacy of male nurses. An eye opener should be addressed on this topic in order to tackle and seal this "infringement". The use of both qualitative and quantitative data is necessary to acquire a stone based stand - interviews, surveys, content analysis, participant observation, secondary data analysis, case studies, meta-analysis, statistics and others. In addition, I hope the outcome of this topic would be to reach definitive answers and solutions rather than fashioning and escalating a new controversial topic.

I wrote this topic for an English research paper and I would like to hear from male and female nurses about this topic - any stories, quotes, personal point of views and real life situations would be helpful.

Thanks in return

[Yoshimitsu]

i was discriminated against in OB but that was it. and it wasnt even by the woman it was by her husband.. (cultural reasons i totally respected it)

oh actually i just read the previous post blahblah24 wrote and i was discriminated against in the NICU as well and the doctor wanted me to do some test and it was reallly urgent or something i dont even remember what it was because it was 4 yrs ago but i went and i told the parents it was time for the test and they were completely ok with it but because the mother and the baby were bonding the nurse in the NICU flipped out on me saying i dont know what its like to be a mother and how i'll never understand and they cant understand why my university sends male students to OB.. the doctor came in and flipped out on the nurse it was terrible then i had to stay after clinical and do like a debrief with my professor to see if i was ok and all types of crap and i didnt even have a good rotation because all the nurses treated me like ****.

[Stratiotes]

I had one nursing school instructor who I felt discriminated a little against men. But, in practice, I've never felt that way.

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

Males are not discriminated against. They are given preferential treatment in the nursing profession, from admission to nursing programs, to scholarship opportunities, and job applications. Males do not suffer in nursing.

[FERNtastic]

Prior to joining the profession and pursuing a career in nursing, I had my own stereotypical mindset to breakdown. For years, I had been advised from those in the field that I should consider nursing and that I would be great in the profession. At the time, I had little to no experience in the medical field and frankly gave nursing little consideration dismissing the idea, as I didn't see myself as a relatively manly male in a female dominated profession. I guess it had more to do with ignorance than anything. I set my sights on what I considered a more masculine pursuit, the fire department. On that career path I became an EMT working on an ambulance and saw firsthand all that goes on in the ER. It was through that experience that I underwent a paradigm shift, breaking the hold of ignorance and allowing me to see the realities of the profession. In that role I saw a much higher percentage of male RNs and thought, "hey, I could that", opening up the idea of nursing as a career possibility. Fast forward several years, I am now an RN in a level I trauma center and wouldn't have it any other way. As for being discriminated against, in some cases I would say it was just the opposite, as I sometimes wondered if I was getting preferential treatment because I was a male. I was well respected and often ushered into more of a leadership role during nursing school. I excelled in all aspects of care during clinicals and felt very welcomed, even during my OB rotation. In my current position, I have never been asked to have a female perform a procedure. In extremely few cases, patients have expressed surprise that I went into a career requiring such tasks as toileting and cleaning patients. I have replied those tasks are such a small percentage of what I do as to be negligible, usually less than 5 percent of my time. I truly enjoy what I do and am grateful I was able to open my eyes to nursing as a male profession.

[Halim F. Dagher]

I would like to thank you all for your time in writing those posts. Good luck to you all!

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

I have never encountered gender discrimination anywhere I have worked. I am in upper management now, so it hasn't hurt my career either.

[deliverator, MSN, RN, NP]

I work in spinal cord , the patients are mostly male, prefer to have female caregivers if they were given a choice.

I am the only male RN on the NOC tour. I feel that most of the time when assignments are made and we are short staffed, I always end up on the floor doing patient care (as opposed to team leading) I get the heavy patients with all the wounds, bowel care (scheduled) and showers, while there are an LVN and a CNA with a much lighter load. I'm not even passing meds or checking orders, just doing CNA work.

When I am charge on the one hand, the assignments are always well balanced and I don't discriminate with the patient load (however, I understand the RNs have to do reassessments, so I give them a slightly lighter load if they work the floor). The LVNs and CNAs love it when I'm in charge.

And when I applying to school and for jobs, I felt that I never got preferential treatment. Especially when trying to get into pediatrics (my preferred field at the time - it's easier dealing with kids having involuntaries than adults having them), I felt that female nurses were preferred.

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

My experience has generally been positive, but there are clearly nursing units out there where misandry is extremely pervasive. One experience I can think of was my clinical rotation in OB. Female nursing students were treated way better than the males, and the females got to see more than the males (the males were lucky to see c-sections, never allowed to see lady partsl deliveries). The nurses were also noticeably more impatient with the males than with females during report (thankfully, I had a clinical instructor that was awesome, so it balanced out). But I think that is the nature of the specialty, and for me it did not matter because I knew I would not be pursuing that specialty so I just endured it until it was over. On my present unit, it's more about cliques than hatred for men. There are 4 male nurses on my unit and we feel more or less included despite the cliques. I just hate that casual conversations almost always revolve around female topics, that I can do without. At this point, I already know everyone's menstrual cycle and who is on Minerva

[TopsDrop, RN]

Only thing I have noticed is I am usually the first person that my fellow RN's and PCA's come to find when dependent patient's (generally the more obese) need to be changed/turned/moved. Now it's either because I am usually the only male working the floor or I am always willing to help out having been a PCA/LPN for years before getting my RN.

[WesClinicRN, MSN, NP]

I worked on a MedSurg floor for 2 years as an aide before I became a RN. Now, considering that, when I became a RN, working on the same floor, I was treated like I was still an aide, given all the total patient care's and usually the worst. Part of that I figure is because I was the only male nurse on the floor as well as being a new grad. The only thing that kept me from having any real problems was that my patients knew that I really cared about them and that if I didn't have the answer (usually didn't), that I would find out. After a year, I went to another hospital and was treated totally different. The nurses there were especially helpful, of course I have always had a problem saying no when I asked for help. My preceptor at that hospital was wonderful and really taught me how to be a better nurse. I was also floated to the ICU/Stepdown, received a LOT of teaching and help from the nurses there and owe that hospital for being a better nurse. I have since left hospital practice to work in my dad's medical office as his nurse because of the hours and... perks of working for my parents. The main reason was because we had a new baby girl and one of us had to switch to dayshift instead of nights. Overall, living in the south, I have had a few patients on MedSurg request a female nurse and before RN, a handful request a female aide. Along the way, I never gave a bath, changed, or done physical assessment on a female without a family member or another female nurse or aide in the room with me. I was taught in nursing school never to put yourself in a circumstance that could be taken out of context, always have witnesses and describe every action you are taking. Most "little old ladies" that I had as a patient loved me to death, especially when they got to know me, and didn't want anyone else because they knew that I really cared and was gentle in any procedure, unlike some other nurses I was told. I can understand when some patients would prefer a female or male nurse based on modesty because of religion or custom, but not upon some type of sexual precept. If they think anything sexual comes to mind in this job, they have no idea the things we do everyday. I think there comes a point when we don't even notice the sex of a patient after awhile, it is just another body part that we are checking for wounds, infection, need for cleanliness, abnormalities, etc, etc. I think there can be a point when your mind can become so clinical that we don't even think that someone can have a problem with us treating them until they voice it or are obviously uncomfortable. Truthfully, it can even be a shock at times since we, as professionals, don't expect that type of discrimination. As far as discrimination of any other types go, there are NO excuses for discrimination based on race, and discrimination based on sexual preference, religion, beliefs, etc. are none of their business and should never even be brought up in conversation.

[OldDude]

I have often been discriminated against while working as a nurse; nothing to do with actual nursing but I was/am often called if there is a heavy lift to perfom or if someone needs to be restrained.

[Halim F. Dagher]

Respect! Thank you for sharing!!!!