Do Male Nurses Get More Respect?

imintrouble, BSN, RN · Feb 1, 2015

A simple answer to a simple question.

Yes, the male nurses are treated with more respect.

Not all health care facilities are the same. Different parts of the country think differently.

Whether you're old or young makes a difference. Being old is a negative for both sexes.

Where I work, if you're a new young male nurse, you already have an edge over everybody else.

Just how it is here.

rnmaybe · Feb 1, 2015

Not really. But you will get cries of intimidation and making others feel threatened when you stick up for yourself.

JWG223 · Feb 1, 2015

Not really. But you will get cries of intimidation and making others feel threatened when you stick up for yourself.

Depends on how you do it. There are rules you have to play by. Nursing in my experience is a Beta occupation. It is full of back-stabbing and skirting around in the shadows. You don't EVER touch anyone. You don't EVER raise your voice except to be heard from distance (stuck in a room). You never confront anyone alone about a conflict, no-matter how small. Always have a witness. You make sure that you physically give someone an out (don't stand between them and the door in the med room.). You always give them MORE than typical personal space (18-24" in America). Nursing seems to attract some great people, and also some lazy snakes. They can and will bite you...but only if you allow them to. Protect yourself, and you won't have a problem. You must use your cunning, as they will use theirs.

Nursing is not like being a mechanic or something where you can bawl someone out, or go out behind the shop and "settle it". It's a profession where things are done in an underhanded and shady way, and it can and will blind-side you if you're not familiar with the intricacies of HR departments, litigation, and the latte-sipping foppish way of handling things that is so prevalent in the nursing world. You have to leave your "direct" "fix the problem" approach at the door. Become the Teflon Don. Make sure you're always TECHNICALLY in the right.

The dirty tricks they played on you in nursing school to try and push you to drop...those instructors learned that behavior somewhere...

tacomaster · Feb 1, 2015

I don't know if they get more respect from doctors, specifically, but they definitely get more respect from the people who determine their pay and whether or not they'll have opportunities for career advancement. I would love to know why male nurses make up a disproportionate amount of charge nurse and house supervisor positions at my hospital. Male Nurses Make More Money - Real Time Economics - WSJ

I don't want to speak on behalf of all men, but my personality and background leads me to want to always be chasing for the next advancement, which is charge nurse, etc. On the other hand, on my unit, no guys care about advancement or taking any sort of additional responsibilities--just want to show up and work and go home. Every one is different.

As far as your article goes, yes men do make more money because they lumped all the fields into "nurse" (CRNA, NP, doctorate nurses). The statistics are skewed. I've researched this for school. Guys also volunteer to work more shifts, work nights and weekends more, etc. There's no evil male conspiracy against women out there. My hospital system, all people start out at the same pay and it's based on annual evals beyond that.

JWG223 · Feb 1, 2015

I don't want to speak on behalf of all men, but my personality and background leads me to want to always be chasing for the next advancement, which is charge nurse, etc. On the other hand, on my unit, no guys care about advancement or taking any sort of additional responsibilities--just want to show up and work and go home. Every one is different.
As far as your article goes, yes men do make more money because they lumped all the fields into "nurse" (CRNA, NP, doctorate nurses). The statistics are skewed. I've researched this for school. Guys also volunteer to work more shifts, work nights and weekends more, etc. There's no evil male conspiracy against women out there. My hospital system, all people start out at the same pay and it's based on annual evals beyond that.

Your findings are the same as those which apply to the rest of the working world as relates to income disparity based on sex. It's not. It's based on achievement/work.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Feb 1, 2015

Good question, and some interesting answers so far. My limited experience is yes, men do get more respect. The opportunities for advancement come faster and easier at least. There are now only 3 male nurses in my facility, 2 of them are the DON and ADON. The ADON has much less experience than other [female] nurses that also applied for the position. Two of those nurses left within a couple of months of him getting the job they didn't feel he deserved. . He's been in the position long enough now that the resentment over that has died down as he's proven himself and is actually quite good in the role. There is no way that he wasn't aware of the negativity generated by his hiring though.

Libby1987 · Feb 1, 2015

I haven't worked with a lot of men but had a male worker I knew well. He was a PT. And a machine. He got up at 4:30, out the door at 5, at the gym at 6 (1 hr commute), at the office at 7, out in the field by 8 until 5-6, in bed by 8:30. 5 days a week. Yeah he out earned me who's still sipping coffee at 7:30.

None of our nurses work like that. All but me and another have grown kids but none of them work like that. None of them have that kind of sustained energy.

Is it a male thing? I don't know. We have a female PT who does the same thing except she runs 5 miles every morning and is as

productive as he is so maybe it's a personality/energy/work ethic thing that tends to run in the type of males that are drawn to nursing and PT of either sex. (Our PT's on average have been healthy and fit regardless of age, our nurses where I work on average are not, if you were to line up our nurses against our therapists, the differences are staggering). Just a possible theory.

ETA He was 10 years older than me, 55 to my 45 at the time.

JWG223 · Feb 1, 2015

I haven't worked with a lot of men but had a male worker I knew well. He was a PT. And a machine. He got up at 4:30, out the door at 5, at the gym at 6 (1 hr commute), at the office at 7, out in the field by 8 until 5-6, in bed by 8:30. 5 days a week. Yeah he out earned me who's still sipping coffee at 7:30.
None of our nurses work like that. All but me and another have grown kids but none of them work like that. None of them have that kind of sustained energy.
Is it a male thing? I don't know. We have a female PT who does the same thing except she runs 5 miles every morning and is as
productive as he is so maybe it's a personality/energy/work ethic thing that tends to run in the type of males that are drawn to nursing and PT of either sex. (Our PT's on average have been healthy and fit regardless of age, our nurses where I work on average are not, if you were to line up our nurses against our therapists, the differences are staggering). Just a possible theory.
ETA He was 10 years older than me, 55 to my 45 at the time.

Interesting datapoint! Our nursing staff varies in age and fitness greatly, seemingly with no rhyme or reason to the pattern/trend. Just another datapoint.

TU RN, DNP, CRNA · Feb 1, 2015

Being in a teaching hospital I do build rapport and trust with our new residents which might yield respect. Doctors want their patients to be cared for by confident, competent nurses. I think my experience is a little contrary to what the OP is suggesting. In my experience, it is SOME female doctors who seem exceptionally critical and rude towards me as a male nurse. Now this could just be my personality (I take everything personally), but it could also be true. Maybe a compensatory "type A" mechanism for being a strong woman in a traditionally male-dominated profession? Maybe it's their way of asserting authority against traditional career gender roles (doctor = male, nurse = female)? Whatever their actual psychological disposition is, I can't help but laugh at dumb crap like racism, sexism, arrogance, "God complexes", and all that nonsense. Who. ****ing. Cares.

JWG223 · Feb 1, 2015

Being in a teaching hospital I do build rapport and trust with our new residents which might yield respect. Doctors want their patients to be cared for by confident, competent nurses. I think my experience is a little contrary to what the OP is suggesting. In my experience, it is SOME female doctors who seem exceptionally critical and rude towards me as a male nurse. Now this could just be my personality (I take everything personally), but it could also be true. Maybe a compensatory "type A" mechanism for being a strong woman in a traditionally male-dominated profession? Maybe it's their way of asserting authority against traditional career gender roles (doctor = male, nurse = female)? Whatever their actual psychological disposition is, I can't help but laugh at dumb crap like racism, sexism, arrogance, "God complexes", and all that nonsense. Who. ****ing. Cares.

I've noticed the same, except I have no question in my mind about it. The doctor was peevish. Was she peevish with females also? I don't know. So I can't really say, it may have just been her nature.

PhillyFNP, DNP · Feb 1, 2015

Most men who go into nursing either move into management or advanced practice such as Nurse Practitioner or Nurse Anesthetist. I have not seen many instances of more respect directed to men from the patients, but I have seen it from management.

tacomaster · Feb 1, 2015

I've had several patients or their family members assume I am some sort of administrator. Nope, I tell them, I'm your nurse for the shift. Apparently, according to them, I carry myself well and exude confidence. I've only had one doctor get snippy with me but that was because I called, gave the information to the doctor, they gave me orders, and then I politely said, "alright thanks, have a good evening". The doctor exclaimed, "No! You don't call me and then tell me goodbye! I end the conversation not you!". I was shocked. He's like that apparently.