Does the term 'Nurse' bother you?

[Ekklesia]

I've been on the receiving end of quite a number of male "nurse" jokes ever since I started college for my BSN. I have not been phased one iota, but now that I'm in school and am around other men, they seem to want to change the terminology to something other than "Male Nurse" (something like "masculine health care technologist" or whatever).

Anyway, I thought I'd do a little research and poll the fine folks here. What do you think: Are you bothered by being called a nurse?

For the record, I am not.

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

I'm not.

And I think it's pretty dumb to be called "Masculine Heath Care tech" or whatever.

I am not averse to describing myself as a "healthcare professional" either - just like Doctors, surgeons etc.

I also have a mild peeve with "Male Nurse" :)

I went to "Nursing" School - not "Male Nursing school"

I train to be a "Nurse" - not a "Male" nurse

I will practise as a "Nurse" - not a "Male" nurse

I don't refer to my female peers as "female" nurse - so why the difference for me? :)

[elkpark]

I worked years ago with a nurse (who happened to be male) who also got the, "Oh, are you a male nurse?" treatment alot (this was when men were even rarer in nursing than they are today) -- and his stock response was a pleasant, "No, I take care of females, too ..."

I don't know if that was original to him or if he heard it from someone else, but I've always liked it.

[RN_Jen]

I'm not.

And I think it's pretty dumb to be called "Masculine Heath Care tech" or whatever.

I am not averse to describing myself as a "healthcare professional" either - just like Doctors, surgeons etc.

I also have a mild peeve with "Male Nurse" :)

I went to "Nursing" School - not "Male Nursing school"

I train to be a "Nurse" - not a "Male" nurse

I will practise as a "Nurse" - not a "Male" nurse

I don't refer to my female peers as "female" nurse - so why the difference for me? :)

I hate the term "male nurse". Sounds like some kind of subspecies or something. A nurse is a nurse and gender should be irrelevant.

[akcarmean, LPN]

I hate the term "male nurse". Sounds like some kind of subspecies or something. A nurse is a nurse and gender should be irrelevant.

I have to agree. A nurse is a nurse. We all went throught the same training. There should not be any type of male or female put before the word nurse. WE all worked our B*tts off to earn that title and it should be NURSE!!!

Angie

[Ekklesia]

I'm not.And I think it's pretty dumb to be called "Masculine Heath Care tech" or whatever.

Indeed, it is a touch ridiculous.

Hmm, I guess that my options for the poll weren't as detailed as I would have hoped. I was focused on the "nurse" part of "Male Nurse". Everyone's reply's thus far seems to be focused on the "male aspect of the term. Interesting.

I don't really mind being called a "Male Nurse", but; as Roy Fokker

said, "I don't refer to my female peers as "female" nurse - so why the difference for me?"

After reading the replies I am starting to see the light.

I wish I could re-do the poll now, oh well.

[utahliz]

.....

[donsterRN, ASN, BSN]

I'm not.

And I think it's pretty dumb to be called "Masculine Heath Care tech" or whatever.

I am not averse to describing myself as a "healthcare professional" either - just like Doctors, surgeons etc.

I also have a mild peeve with "Male Nurse" :)

I went to "Nursing" School - not "Male Nursing school"

I train to be a "Nurse" - not a "Male" nurse

I will practise as a "Nurse" - not a "Male" nurse

I don't refer to my female peers as "female" nurse - so why the difference for me? :)

:yeahthat: and ditto!

You said it well, Roy.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

When people ask what I do and when I talk about my profression I say "I am a nurse". Why refer to myself as a "male nurse" when it's fairly obvious I'm male.

I don't feel the need to change the word "nurse".

[ZASHAGALKA, RN]

I have no problem being a nurse.

This is my problem: the term, nurse, is a description as opposed to doctor, which is a title.

This site has alot of insight into why nurses aren't treated like 'professionals'. Maybe part of it is because 'Dr.' Smith refers to the bedside nurse as 'Kelly', or 'Amanda', or in my case, 'Tim'.

I used to know a little bit of Russian, and like many languages, Spanish included, Russian conjugates verbs into 6 forms: I, you (informal), we, they, you (formal), us. You talk to peers and those above you in the formal 'you'. You talk to friends, children and subordinates in the informal 'you'.

DR. is a formal 'you' address. Referring to you by your first name is a very informal 'you' address. While I will submit that this arrangement between doctor and nurse is the evolutionary model of nursing's past, it is not a recipe for 'professionalism' in the future.

I do not object in the least to being referred to as a nurse. I object to the fact that my training and experience are just so many useless letters AFTER my name instead of a key address IN FRONT OF my name. And even then, my objection is only because, that isn't very 'professional'.

~faith,

Timothy.

[elkpark]

I have no problem being a nurse.

This is my problem: the term, nurse, is a description as opposed to doctor, which is a title.

This site has alot of insight into why nurses aren't treated like 'professionals'. Maybe part of it is because 'Dr.' Smith refers to the bedside nurse as 'Kelly', or 'Amanda', or in my case, 'Tim'.

I used to know a little bit of Russian, and like many languages, Spanish included, Russian conjugates verbs into 6 forms: I, you (informal), we, they, you (formal), us. You talk to peers and those above you in the formal 'you'. You talk to friends, children and subordinates in the informal 'you'.

DR. is a formal 'you' address. Referring to you by your first name is a very informal 'you' address. While I will submit that this arrangement between doctor and nurse is the evolutionary model of nursing's past, it is not a recipe for 'professionalism' in the future.

I do not object in the least to being referred to as a nurse. I object to the fact that my training and experience are just so many useless letters AFTER my name instead of a key address IN FRONT OF my name. And even then, my objection is only because, that isn't very 'professional'.

~faith,

Timothy.

I agree, and have been involved in this same discussion for 20-some years. LANGUAGE HAS POWER; when we work in settings where the doctors are all "Dr. Smith," "Dr. Jones," and "Dr. Brown," and the nurses are all "Sally," "Betty," and "Jim," why would we expect that colleagues and clients/patients would take us seriously? Only children and pets don't have last names -- reasonable, responsible adults have last names!

"Nurse" isn't just a description -- it is a title. In what so many of us now consider to be the "bad old days" of nursing, nurses were routinely referred to as "Nurse so-and-so," by physicians as well as everyone else. That changed in the '60s and '70s, when so many aspects of society became more casual, relaxed, and informal (anyone else here old enough to remember when there was no such thing as a child addressing an adult by her/his first name??) Suzanne Gordon, the journalist/author who has done so much advocacy work for nursing, argues that we have, to some extent, brought this lack of respect upon ourselves by choosing to be "Sally" and "Jim," and insists that, if we want to be taken seriously as serious professionals by the general public, all nurses should introduce themselves and insist upon being referred to as "Nurse (Jones)," and address each other as "Nurse Brown" and "Nurse Smith."

I haven't gone that far myself (insisting people call me "Nurse (X)"), although I do always introduce myself by first and last name and have always had my last name on my name badges (somewhat controversial in psych). I did have the experience a number of years ago of teaching clinical on a psych unit where the psychiatrist and nurses all called each other by their first names. Since I actually prefer not to get that chummy with physicians, I always addressed him as "Dr. (X)." In return, he (for the entire year) addressed me as "Nurse (my last name)." He knew perfectly well what my first name was; it was right there on my name tag, and we had many interesting conversations about clients, my students, and psych topics in general, so we certainly weren't strangers. There was no hint that he intended to be funny or sarcastic, or anything else -- he gave every impression that he was just sincerely addressing me as a respected colleague/peer; I had set the "professional" tone, and he was simply returning the courtesy. (He was not an old-timer, either; he was a young doc just out of his residency.) It sounded odd to me at first, but, as time went on, I got to like it ...

"Dr." Smith refers to us as Amanda, Kelly, and Tim because we allow (and even invite) Dr. Smith to do so. Dr. Smith understands perfectly well (better than most of us, obviously) how the power politics of this particular game work, which is why he is "Dr. Smith" and not "Bob" (at least in front of the patients -- try calling him "Bob" or her "Sally" in front of the patients and see what happens ...) I'm sure that, if nurses made clear that they expected to be addressed as "Nurse Jones," most docs would be perfectly happy to do that (in fact, I've had a few docs over the years ask me why nurses are willing to put ourselves in such a weak position and invite people to not take us seriously ...)

I'm not some prim, straight-laced old battle-axe, by the way; I came of age in the '60s and '70s, so I'm a big fan, in general, of the societal changes that happened during that time. I just think that, in this particular case (and a few others off-topic for this thread), nursing has thrown the baby out with the bathwater. I'm not even bothering to try to start a movement, though, because we all know getting nurses to agree on anything (even the issues vital to the profession!) is like trying to herd cats. Just food for thought ...

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

Hmmm... the last couple of posts have been quite interesting :)