Do you have Male Nurses in your OB Unit

royr · Jul 26, 2006

My OB rotation was last semester in my nursing program. I was the "only" male student (great surprise there) on the rotation, as well as the only male on the floor. I was also the only male student my teacher had ever had in an OB clinical, and she was very tense about it. This made my fellow students feel tense as well, and I took more than my fair share of verbal bantering from them about being a "Big blue work horse in the pink pony herd" as one student was fond to point out. My first day on the rotation, she could not find an assignment for me on the floor, so she sent me home. The second week I had a delightfull little boy to care for, and I did so well with him that the new Mom requested that I assume her full care as well. My teacher told her that she did not understand why she would want a man to do her post partum care, but she insisted and all went well. I found that for the most part patients were very accepting of my care. However, my next weeks assignment I did have one new Mom react by yelling - "There is a MAN in my room" when the teacher sent me in to take care of her. I turned and left the room immediatley and reported a need for patient care to the charge nurse and my teacher. It turned out that according to her chart this particular patient was a psy case and had been raped, beaten and abused terribly. I do not understand why I was assigned to care for a rape victim whose religious convictions caused her to carry her abuser's baby to term - I can only suspect that it was to teach me about patient rejection first hand. I felt terrible, it was the first time a patient had rejected my care in a clinical. It really hurt me deeply that I was "chewed up and spit out" before I was given a chance to provide anything more than a knock on the door and an introduction. However, like all bumps in the road of life, I got over it quickly and was assigned a new patient to care for. No harm, no foul. I did however resent the extra paperwork and headaches that followed when my teacher filed a formal complaint against me for having a patient refuse my care. For a few weeks as I went about my patient assignments with several accepting Moms I was feeling that I was going to have to repeat the whole clinical due to the one incident, but once the facts were reviewed and the staff nurse that was with me made her formal statement to my school in writing as to what had occured that shift under her watch the problem went away and I passed the course. The Docs were wonderfull to me, and I had one Doc in particular that would request to take me on rounds when she was around and ask my teacher to let me stay late and work with the babys. I learned alot about newborn assessment and pre natal care and it made up for the time I missed those two early weeks I did not have a patient available. As far as fellow nurses, several of the nurses were very happy to work with me, and one in particular would request me regularly. However, there was one nurse that refused to be paired up with me, and voiced her opinion that a man had "no place on an OB floor, and she did not understand why I needed to be there in the first place". So, I just avoided her when I could and remained pleasant and professional when I could not. However, when I had to call a code on a baby boy that I felt had a turn for the worse in the nicu (I insisted that he had a heart problem and wanted the Doc to come and check him out STAT - she listened to his heart and backed me up 100% when the Doc in question tried to put me off because she had more pressing business. Baby had to he helicopter ifted to a specialty hospital for open heart surgury, but because the Doc in queston dropped what she was doing and ran to our patient at the old nurse' insistance (she did not mince words or be polite with the Doc at all- but she sure did get her point across quick - I myself would have never cursed out anyone on the floor). It all worked out OK in the end, but for my self I think I had quite enough OB experience to last me a while. The fact that I can't effectively help in all situations in OB due to the things that often crop up have left me believing that labor and delivery is not where I want to be in my future. I hope this open and honest assessment is of help to you and guides you in your expectations.

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 26, 2006

the other thread was answered quite extensively however controversially at times ...

as a rule, we discourage posting threads that duplicate the same request recently made, for lots of reasons.

I know you are looking specifically for answers from OB nurses, and I understand. I will therefore ask the participants of this thread to please answer the OP's specific concerns and keep this thread from turning into a hotbed of gender-bashing as was done in the past.

Thank you.

CMCRN · Sep 27, 2006

We have both a male nurse and a male Midwife. They are both great and widely liked and accepted

LDRNMOMMY, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2006

We don't have any male nurses, but we do have two male surgical techs. They are both a wonderful assesst to our L&D team. I have worked on my floor for over a year and not once did a patient have an objection to either one attending their delivery.

rn/writer, RN · Sep 27, 2006

We have a male in-house pool nurse who occasionally works our post partum floor. Ironically, as he isn't trained in NRP, he takes seven or eight moms and one of our regular floor nurses takes the babies. As far as I know, the only patients not assigned to him are those who, for cultural or religious reasons, do not want males attending them. Those same ladies are not seen by our male residents either.

He's a good nurse who likes working our floor.

rpbear · Sep 27, 2006

We have 3 male OB nurses on my floor. And MANY male OB docs. The only people that the male OB nurses are not assigned to are those that specifically request no males at all. I don't think any of them have had any problems, if the pt requests that a female care for her, then we switch, no big deal. One of these nurses has worked in OB longer than I have been alive. I respect all of them and would have no problem having any of them care for me or someone I know.

htrn · Sep 27, 2006

We don't have any male OB nurses, but IMHO, if they don't have a problem with a male doctor then they shouldn't have a problem with a male nurse. We have 2 male and 2 female OB's. All of our anesthesiologists and CRNAs are male - and believe me, they don't have any problem when the person with the epidural is a man!!!

I really wish there were more men in OB. I had male nurses when I had my first two kids and found them to be excellant nurses and very compassionate, caring individuals.

eden · Sep 27, 2006

No we don't have any but I am sure they work well in a professional capacity. I always feel bad for the male nursing students who seem to get the raw end of the deal through no fault of ther own.

texas-rn-fnp · Sep 28, 2006

I am a male OB nurse and it has never bothered me that I was male... :->

All joking aside...I think the professional demeanor, knowledge and experience are far more important than gender. The few patients that have said they prefer not to have male providers were because of prior bad experiences (as with rape) or cultural beliefs (muslim).

On the contrary...I HAVE SEEN MORE LABOR PATIENTS REQUEST NOT TO HAVE FEMALE PROVIDERS THAN REQUEST NOT TO HAVE MALE PROVIDERS! The patients perceive the other females as being insensitive to their experience; such as belittling their pain or discomfort.

Overall..if a pt doesn't want a male provider, that is nothing personal against me. I would not want to make them uncomfortable.

Heather, R.N. · Sep 28, 2006

There were about 10 guys in my class in nursing school and all did well in clinicals, although there was one instructor that "subtly" made it "apparent" she didn't like a guy in her clinical.

However, I guess I don't see much of a difference between a male nurse in an L&D unit and a male OB. My personal OB is a man and I trust him more than any girl!! He was my OB during both of my pregnancies and I trust him so much that I traveled an hour to visit him every time (and during labor) just so he could treat me. For some reason, I'm way more comfortable with him than another girl, but he's extremely professional and doesn't treat me as if he knows my body better than I. (I've had a female gyn NP tell me that I wasn't experiencing what I thought I was and was experiencing something else... Guess who was right?) Anyway, at the hospital I did an extensive L&D clinical at, 90% of the OB's were male and both of the CRNA's were male... They were well-respected and well-liked. That I know of, none ever had an issue because of their gender. All in all, I think it's great!

jennifers · Sep 28, 2006

For the poster that said she didnt see a difference between a male ob and a male nurse...

With my first child I had a male ob deliver her. There were several nurses helping me during delivery. I think I was lucky to have several student nurses on that shift! Lol Anyway, this male nurse comes in...pulls up a chair and sits a few feet from the foot of my bed. Everything of mine was showing and he was sitting there like there was a SHOW! I told the nurses I did not want him in there! If he had came into the room and acted professional I wouldnt of had a problem with him being there. However, he made it feel like a sexual thing and made me uncomfortable. :nono: