Do You Have Male Nurses on your Unit?

jannrn · Jul 18, 2006

I work in med/surg, we have several male nurses and they are well-liked by both pt and co-workers.

LauraLou · Jul 19, 2006

We don't have any male nurses in L&D, antepartum, postpartum or nursery. I think male nurse are great, but I don't see how having a male ob nurse would work. At our hospital, a male doctor must have a female nurse present when he does a lady partsl exam, sterile spec, etc. A male nurse would also have to have a female coworker come into the room with him everytime he wanted to do anything that exposes female genitalia, which in L&D is just about everything. It just doesn't seem very practical, but perhaps some hospitals have different rules.

SilentfadesRPA · Jul 19, 2006

I find this type of poll to be professionally unworthy of a reponse and personally disturbing that it was allowed.

Could you imagine seeing this in a legal webpage with the question do you have female lawyers in your office - or a engineering web site or a medical website

This is an fine example of why nursing is where it is today -- cause of the tolerance and mentality of asking and responding to such questions.

Disappionted

Marc

dougRN2BE · Jul 19, 2006

I find this type of poll to be professionally unworthy of a reponse and personally disturbing that it was allowed.
Could you imagine seeing this in a legal webpage with the question do you have female lawyers in your office - or a engineering web site or a medical website
This is an fine example of why nursing is where it is today -- cause of the tolerance and mentality of asking and responding to such questions.
Disappionted
Marc

Male lawyers aren't examining the genitalia of their clients and if a poll in a legal forum were to ask about female lawyers in a firm that would have everything to do with discrimination, whereas asking the question about nursing in L&D (this is an L&D forum) has to do with patients feeling comfortable. I think you are comparing apples and oranges here. As a male, do I like the fact of knowing that part of the hospital *might* be off limits to me? Not particularly. But how I feel is of little, if any, importance.

As a side note...If my wife (in delivery) decides she doesn't want to have male docs or nurses present, I would expect that male nurse to understand and not take it personally.

HealingHands27 · Jul 19, 2006

Here's an even better question, how many male nurses happen to work in the L&D unit? :uhoh3:

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 20, 2006

Given the number of men who come here asking if they would be welcome in OB nursing, PLUS the number of threads I have seen through the years, by men who have had problems with their coworkers more than most patients, I see nothing wrong with this poll being here. Why we even had men, who were fully-qualified and credentialed, who said outright they were not hired into OB nursing by apparently discriminatory managers!

I have worked 3 different L/D units and only ONE had any male nurses in their staff, over the 9 years I have been in OB nursing....

So no, this is certainly NOT unprofessional or unethical to ask here. It's a legitimate question by someone who wants to know.

Blueskies · Jul 20, 2006

FYI, This thread is also linked from the Allnurses main page, so not all readers will know that it originated from a L&D forum.

My experience in L&D was 11 weeks in clinicals, but I was very accepted by patients in the L&D side, and not so much in the post-delivery side. I think the nurses were more uncomfortable with the idea than the patients were.

My school must be different than that of some of the other posters -- as guys, we had to do everything the gals did, unless the patient objected. I believe everyone -guy or gal- should be able to have a witness present to protect themselves legally.

SilentfadesRPA · Jul 20, 2006

This is a poll, if you have male nurses on your unit or not, and how do you feel they blend into the unit, also do they have positive patient experiences?
Thanks everyone in Advance~

I am sorry for my previous post however I still do not see where the original post said this was about OB GYN

If this was identified as that in the OP post then my response would not have been as such. In all honestly I thought the question was simply about male nurses being in any "unit" ie CCU ICU ER M/S. I must have missed the OB GYN part or not read clearly -That is why I responded as such. A sincere thanks for making the OP question clear -- then it would be a valid question I agree.

Marc

nursetim, NP · Jul 20, 2006

During my L&D rotation in nursing school the staff nurses looked at me like

"You did this to these poor innocent girls, causing them all this pain and suffering, you evil bas***d" with one exception. It was such a horrible experience. Now I'm in school for FNP and I want to serve my patients from cradle to grave and I'm considering CNM school. Can you see my dilemma?:trout:

May_baby · Jul 20, 2006

I worked on staff with a spectacular Male CNM at Massachusetts General Hospital.

I also know of a very wonderful Male CNM in NYC. I think he was affiliated with Columbia...

Bottom line folks, if you feel the call go for it.

UtErRnEmt · Jul 21, 2006

There are several male nurses in the er that i work at, with one exception they are hard workers. When the one man is on the unit you can literally see the hackles rise on the women. He has made the remark that the er needs to be staffed with all men (nothing would get done if they are anything like him).

RNstudentBrian · Jul 21, 2006

I am a new grad and just received an offer from the LDRP and Nursery unit at the teaching hospital I did my clinical in. I had a wonderful clinical rotation there.

I have not decided yet. I would be the only male on the staff in many years. Hmmm.....

I can tell you that when I did career day at my daughters elementary school and stood next to the physician who happened to be female. You could almost feel the air sucked out of the room for a moment when I said I was a nurse and she said she was a doctor. The silence was deafening.

These attitudes begin at such a young age.