When I entered nursing school, I was certain my goal would be critical care. I thought the lure of intense nature of the work would capture me. I was unconcerned that the deaths would get to me - I felt my upbringing on the farm made me immune to such emotion. I got a job in the ICU (PCA) a little under a year ago and I am wavering on my convictions - I don't really like critically ill patients and my farm experience didn't make me tough enough!
My wife is pregnant and I am having a fantastic time being a long for the ride. This past week at my pediatric rotation the census was low on the peds floor so someone had to float to maternity - I was the drawn out the hat. The nurse I was with was amazing - she introduced me and every family welcomed me to care for the patriarch and the baby. I did a lot of assessments, saw a baby be born, took care of the newborn, participatied in education, etc. To date I have never felt so overwhelmed and confident all at the same time. After we had finished up, she complimented me on my work and said that I should strongly consider L&D nursing - it had never crossed my mind before.
Since then the thought of being an L&D nurse has entered my mind and become lodged firmly in my aspirations - I am even thinking that in the future I might even continue to become a midwife. My problem is we did our maternity at a different facility and as the only male in the class I was clearly discriminated against. In 6 weeks, I took care of 2 babies whose mothers were discharged, after my instructor spoke to them they gave me a postpartum mother, who was discharged before I finished getting report (they said it was bad luck), and the other three weeks they let me look at charts and watch the shaken baby video (multiple times). The nurses would instruct the other students that I was no invited in the delivery suite, without even asking the patient.
My goal of entering L&D nursing is not to be a male nursing renegade, it is I truly because think pregnancy and birth is magical. I love strong families, new babies and educating everyone to become one strong harmonious team. The birthing mother I took care of thanked me profusely for caring for her and her baby - even took a picture of us. I previously did EKGs and never had a lady request a female tech and although birthing is slightly more intimate I am not convinced many women would be put off by a male nurse and I fully understand if they would rather a female.
How common is a male L&D nurse? Do you think a lot of centers although never admitting it will not hire a male for this role? Am I under estimating how many patients will ask for a different nurse? Any and all advice is appreciated. I just want to make sure I am not wasting my time on something unobtainable.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Wow I never thought about it but why not. My OB/GYN was a male.....go for it! But remember there will be those who will ask for another nurse just as they do with female nurses I have had males request a male and visa versa.....don't take it personally and move on!
Tossing my hat in the ring to encourage you to go for it as well! My unit is all women right now (we have a couple car seat techs and a secretary that are male, but nursing staff is all female)...but I'd welcome a man up there any day of the week.
As a matter of fact, my supervisor's husband is a mother-baby/L&D nurse at a nearby hospital and he loves it, and his patients love him. There will be patients that might request you not care for them, but we also have patients that request no students of any kind, or no pregnant nurses as well. So it's not just men. If you are compassionate and you know your stuff, I don't know many patients on my floor that would say no to you.
You might have more trouble getting past interviewing managers, but even that isn't a given. Clearly there are some who hire male RNs to their floors. That's one of those things that you won't know until you try. Regardless, keep your chin up and I wish you the best finding a job you love. :)
Thanks for the reply guys - I understand there are more barriers to entry for me into this field and I could well have problems with discrimination, however I am more than willing to prove myself and build up my resume. I certainly would be interested in a special care nursery - as I agree it is a very similar role.
We will see how it goes - from my experience with the nurse I spent the day with, it seems that facility was very welcome to men. All the nurses were eager to help me learn. I will be aiming for there I think.
I just received an email about this thread from a lovely member. I have to say your message made my day - unfortunately the message ended up in my spam folder and while trying to get it into my inbox so I reply I ended up loosing it. :-(
Please please do email me: [email protected] as I would love to reply to your original message! Thanks!
Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN
20,908 Posts
Wow I never thought about it but why not. My OB/GYN was a male.....go for it! But remember there will be those who will ask for another nurse just as they do with female nurses I have had males request a male and visa versa.....don't take it personally and move on!