Men or Women? who is a better nurse?

nurs2bhopefully · Aug 22, 2002

I've had some awful male nurses......

also had some awful female nurses.........

But have also had wonderful male and female nurses

Gender doesn't decide whether they're a good nurse, their heart does.

rnoflabor2000 · Aug 22, 2002

Go to the Aug 14th issue of JAMA on Women vs. Men Docs....you'd be surprised.

researchrabbit · Aug 22, 2002

Originally posted by pebbles
If it had been a few female students and an Engineering class, it would have been an outrage.

Actually had such a comment made when I was an Ag major (sorry, seems like I've done a little of everything) in an Agricultural Economics class. The instructor even wore a tie with little pigs on it. His take? "You're going to be working in a male dominated profession. If the comments bother you, maybe you should consider some other field because change takes time."

Don't agree with it, but I have to admit that it made all five of us females work that much harder (poor guys. They couldn't keep up with us; we set the curve on every test).

BTW, didn't drop out because of that; dropped out because running a greenhouse was hard, dirty, hot work. Now nursing is just hard and dirty; you do get air conditioning! :)

mark_LD_RN · Aug 22, 2002

what the hell is this topic even brought up in school for! the best nurse is the most skilled and compassionate nurse. gender has nothing to do with it at ALL! I am told by many of my patients that i am the best and most compassionale nurse they ever had. so much for females are better:)

but seriously the instuctor needs to check out her motives and predjudices on this topic!

Dr. Kate, BSN, RN · Aug 23, 2002

Researchrabbit: as we said in the 70s: "the woman who strives to be equal to a man lacks ambition."

But really, what a dreadful thing to throw out to a class. It reaks of fostering gender bias and mindless prejudices.

Gender is no determinant of quality and ability.

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Aug 24, 2002

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

Of course you set the curves researchrabbit, you got the curves... thats meant nicely

doo wah ditty

mark_LD_RN · Aug 25, 2002

Originally posted by jaelle
I have to say that I feel very sorry for some of the biased, opinionated, discriminatory, downright evil things that I've witnessed female supervisor/chargenurse/nurse manager types say and do to male nurses. After all the years that females were discriminated against for the dumbest reasons....some of these women seem bound and determined to forget what it felt like and do it to the men in our profession.
One example: I watched one young man...a CNA going to school for his RN, working at the same hospital I did, working just as hard as I was, but treated most shamefully. When assignments were passed out he was told he couldn't give baths to female patients, or be anywhere in the vicinity of the patient if anything invasive were being done. This guy was forced to float off of the floor 3 times as often as his female counterparts. He was accused of not being "trustworthy" to be around female patients because his mannerisms were too sexual in nature. (The poor guy was gay for crying out loud). He finally got fed up and quit. We lost a great nurse that day. This is just one example. All of the males on my floor were treated the same way...bound by the same prejudices. I'm ashamed of the women that treat guys this way. As soon as we quit thinking in a negative way....our patients will follow our lead. So I think that the question of who does the patient want to take care of them is ill-spirited and irrelevant. The patients...like us....want expert care. In all honesty...how many male patients are asked whether they want a male or female nurse? You have this female RN's supprt Gentlemen. Oh and by the way. Just because a male is a nurse...it is not written in stone that they are gay. So don't assume!

i have to agree with you. i have seen discrimination against males in nursing more than once. experienced it personally in first semester of nursing school had instuctor asign me and the other males the worst patients. told me one day men are not nurses. I currently work in L&D and you would not believe how hard it was to get in because of gender. other nurses had problems with me doing it,but my patients love me. I stand by my earlier post that gender has no determination on the quality of the nurse. and this professor needs to closely ewxamine the motive for such a question. Fro mexperience i was say it was a loaded question and should not be explored by her, i feel she was head down her own predjudiced path.

mark_LD_RN · Aug 25, 2002

originally posted by rnoflabor2000
it's very sensitive in l&d, i feels so bad for the male nursing students that come thru. half of the nurses don't want them and the other half get the patients who don't want them. and 70% of their doctors are male.

i pretty much agree with a nurse is a nurse too. if you choose the career path, it doesn't matter if you are male or female. just be good at it. i don't think it matters in any career.

so in all essense, this is a moot point. it is just like being an airline pilot. in a field that was and still is dominated by men, a few women do it. and they do it well. but the ratio of men to women is still indicative of women not "choosing" the field. it is not that they can't do it. same for nursing.

it is only sensitive in l&d because of predjudice and old stereo typing.i work in l&d and my patients love me. i have only had problems from other nurses and a cpl of doctors. it should not be an issue. nurses need to work together and advance the profession not stab each other in the back. i am a nurse just like any female nurse, i am not a male nurse! i nurse all genders. one day this will stop being an issue once nurses decide to be open minded and consider themselves as professionals. patients are perfectly comfortable with me, and once the docs and nurse i work with got to know me they are to. example i just worked with an agency nurse last night, she came in and was in shock that i was working her, all she could say was "oh my your patients must be uncomfortable with you" but all my coworkers set her straight and told her nope they all love himn and request him. by the end of the night she got to witness first hand how patients responded to me, i had a patient come back that delivered a month ago to show me her baby, she gave me the biggest hug,husband hugged me also. she just stood in amazement. she atleast had the decency to say she was wrong and soory if she hurt my feelings.

LPN & EMT-CT · Aug 25, 2002

Originally posted by Susy K

Personally? I would prefer a NURSE and not some UAP to take care of me.

This is sooooo true, when I work with one, I don't let them hardly do anything for my pt.'s, I tell them I will bath them and take care of I&O's and walking , ROM, dressinhg changes and everything, even if I have to give up my lunch break and tow 15 min breaks!!

David , LPN & EMT-CT -VA:wink2: :nurse: :nurse:

mark_LD_RN · Aug 25, 2002

here is some interesting info from a research paper i wrote in college:

1)the first nursing school was in india approx 250B.C. only men were considered pure enough to become nurses.

2) according to the Charaka (vol I section xv) men should be of good behavior,distinguished for purity,possessed of cleverness and skill, imbued with kindness, and skilled in every service a patient may require.

3)the first nurse in the united states was male. Fray (Friar) Juan de Mena was ship wrecked off south texas coast 70 yrs before pilgrims landed at plymouth rock. He is the first identified nurse in what was to become known as the United States. among his virtues ,especially noteworthy was the humble charity with which he tended the sick.

4) during the Byzantine Empire nursing was a seperate occupation practiced by men. In the NEw testament the good samaritian paid the male innkeeper to care for an injured man,No one thought it odd that a man should be paid to provide nursing care. ( Luke 10:35-36)

hope you all found this info interesting.:)

LPN & EMT-CT · Aug 25, 2002

Originally posted by mark_LD_RN
here is some interesting info from a research paper i wrote in college:

1)the first nursing school was in india approx 250B.C. only men were considered pure enough to become nurses.
2) according to the Charaka (vol I section xv) men should be of good behavior,distinguished for purity,possessed of cleverness and skill, imbued with kindness, and skilled in every service a patient may require.
3)the first nurse in the united states was male. Fray (Friar) Juan de Mena was ship wrecked off south texas coast 70 yrs before pilgrims landed at plymouth rock. He is the first identified nurse in what was to become known as the United States. among his virtues ,especially noteworthy was the humble charity with which he tended the sick.
4) during the Byzantine Empire nursing was a seperate occupation practiced by men. In the NEw testament the good samaritian paid the male innkeeper to care for an injured man,No one thought it odd that a man should be paid to provide nursing care. ( Luke 10:35-36)

hope you all found this info interesting.:)

Thanks for the info, that's a lot of stuff I didn't know, you know you learn something new everyday.

David, LPN & EMT-CT -VA

rnoflabor2000 · Aug 26, 2002

I don't like the fortuitous use of what men did before. Oh, and men make great priests too!! (sarcasm included) We can also say that we (women) were considered as property and less than human, it is also why we have no historical data on what we did in the past. We were kept that way. We were mothers to many of these men. But no credit was ever given to these "caring" women that taught their sons.

I think you are right in saying that gender is not an issue, it is the person doing the job, and my patients love me too. But as a nurse, and only for 4 years and my second career in my life, I have seen barely any distinguishing difference between the way a large group of men in a male dominated career treat the women than I do with a large group of women in a female dominated field treat the men. Just a few minor differences in the way they go about it.

This is a highly sensitive issue and this thread should either be dropped or just boycotted.

Originally posted by mark_LD_RN
here is some interesting info from a research paper i wrote in college:

1)the first nursing school was in india approx 250B.C. only men were considered pure enough to become nurses.
2) according to the Charaka (vol I section xv) men should be of good behavior,distinguished for purity,possessed of cleverness and skill, imbued with kindness, and skilled in every service a patient may require.
3)the first nurse in the united states was male. Fray (Friar) Juan de Mena was ship wrecked off south texas coast 70 yrs before pilgrims landed at plymouth rock. He is the first identified nurse in what was to become known as the United States. among his virtues ,especially noteworthy was the humble charity with which he tended the sick.
4) during the Byzantine Empire nursing was a seperate occupation practiced by men. In the NEw testament the good samaritian paid the male innkeeper to care for an injured man,No one thought it odd that a man should be paid to provide nursing care. ( Luke 10:35-36)

hope you all found this info interesting.:)

:eek: