Do male nurses recieve as much respect from patients as female ones do?INPUT IS GREAT

nurse_mo1986 · Jun 4, 2009

LOL. I may get flamed for saying this, but I have to say that as a guy in nursing i've always gotten at least as much respect as a female from patients, if not more. For some reason, a lot of pts seem to listen to me as a guy, and i've never had a problem with this issue.

AirforceRN, RN · Jun 4, 2009

Never had an issue.

Don't worry, its not the 80s anymore.

cardiacmadeline, RN · Jun 4, 2009

This is from a female perspective, but I feel the male nurses on our floor get just as much respect as the female nurses, from coworkers and patients. Although you will get the occasional female patient that will request no male caregivers, but I think that is usually because that patient is uncomfortable with a male doing peri care. It is unfortunate that some people still see nursing as a female profession. Anyways, I am always happy to see males entering the nursing profession! Best of luck in school!

MellaBella · Jun 4, 2009

I don't know if it was just me but I had a male nurse preceptor when I was consolidating and I found that compared to the previous female preceptors that I had had, patients definitely showed him more respect. I don't know what it is but patients who were "difficult" and who found every excuse to complain about every nurse were all p's and q's when my preceptor took care of them. I never really saw a difference in the way that HCPs treated him vs. other nurses other than the fact that almost all of them (incl pharm, physio, physicians) ALWAYS remembered his name. But that could also be because there were only 4 male nurses on that unit

Higgs · Jun 4, 2009

I find that I get treated differently by Drs (particularly surgeons) than my female colleagues do. A Doc may have a habit of getting irritated/annoyed by calls in the night and have a reputation for being an As* on the phone to nurses. It's never happened to me - I usually get reasonable response. And they remember my name too.

oxford_girl · Jun 4, 2009

I once read a study here in the UK that male nurses tend to have higher salaries (in terms of promotion) than their female counterparts.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/male-nurses-leave-women-in-slow-lane-to-promotion-1169897.html

shocker29 · Jun 4, 2009

Okay, so this is my honest opinion...

It seems to me that male nurses get more respect than female nurses do.

If not introduced right away, the patients almost always assume that they are a doctor...(hmmm, I've never had that problem... I must not look official enough..) Even when they figure out the guy is a nurse, it is almost like, "okay, finally someone who knows what they are talking about!" Sheesh... not all patients are this way, but it is kind of like how my grandma always liked my brother better. :cry:

THEN..... Okay, I swear this is true... there are some female doctors who have split personalities when it comes to the female and male nurses.... Male nurse? You've got Miss Congeniality. Female nurse? They might as well say, "I don't need your suggestions, every question you ask, I'm going to try and make you feel as stupid as possible and since, as another female, I feel like you are threatening my "authority" I am going to make sure you know who is boss!":eek:

Okay, so most of our female doctors are NOT like this, but there are a few....

However, I know a male physician or two that will get a little foul-mouthed with the male nurses when they are angry... haven't had a male physician tell me where to go yet...

Tait, MSN, RN · Jun 4, 2009

I find it varies from pt to pt, day to day, nurse to nurse.

We had a very nice male new grad on the floor a few months ago, he was very nice to all his patients, took a lot of time with them, came when they called, and was very knowledgeable. He still had one one woman that just seemed utterly creeped by him, and would always call for a female cure to help her to the commode.

The other night I had a very nice patient, who once he woke up in pain (he had fallen on his shoulder at home, but had not been having any severe pain until this night), became a screaming, whining, mess. He kept telling me "you have helped all you can sweetheart but I need a doctor!". I reiterated that he needed to give the percocets a little more time to work, but he kept insisting to see a doctor. So I called our male rapid response member to come and just lay hands on him and see if my assessment was appropriate since he had changed so rapidly. When he got there the combination of a "male" telling him he was ok, and the percocet finally kicking in set him right to sleep. (Sufficed to say the next night he got one perc before bed!)

I do feel if you give respect and do your job, overall all is well.

Tait

Now a night nurse calling a doc with an accent vs no accent, that seems to be a different story. Unless its Scottish, I swear we had an anaesthesiologist call three times one night to "check on a patient" just so he could talk to the Scottish nurse...

carmedjen · Jun 4, 2009

yes. I work in Psych and this is something I see every day. Patients and staff respect male nurses more than female nurses. oh yes ...

arelle68 · Jun 4, 2009

Men in the profession will make nursing a more respected profession. Why? Because men won't put up with the disrespect women will!

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Jun 4, 2009

I agree with the general trend of the responses. You may encounter the occasional patient who finds it weird to have a male nurse, but in general I get at least as much, and often more, respect than my female counterparts. It's not only true in regard to respect from patients, but also from physicians.

My non-nursing degree is in psychology, and these are the kinds of things that really interest me in regard to human behavior. I work with a physician who has a reputation for the occasional meltdown. I've seen it plenty of times, but he's only done it to me once - after which he came back and apologized. The apology seemed to surprise my coworkers, because he normally doesn't come back and do that.

I'm not sure what's behind the different behavior in my case. I'm certainly not some 6'4" musclehead. In fact, I'm rather short, stocky and non-threatening. But something about being a guy must plant a tiny seed of restraint somewhere deep in people's subconscious, because I frequently do get treated better.