OB/Maternal be an elective class for male nursing students

[carti]

Seriously, I just spent $300 on a required book for my OB class not to mention countless hours this semester I'm gonna be at clinical.

Only like 1% of Male nurses even work in the OB field (obvious reasons), so why should this even be a required course for us guys? It's just frustrating knowing we have to dedicated an entire semester to this when we can take another class like Research/med-surge that will actually benefit us.

inb4 what are you gonna do when you have a pregnant patient??

[Ddestiny, BSN, RN]

1. The difference is females can easily work in OB as they please, meanwhile men have like a 1% job outlook in OB. That is literally why we are different and why this class is useless for men. This has nothing to do with females in the ICU. If 1% of females were only hired in the ICU, I could see your point.

2. Are you telling me it takes 4 months to learn how to do BLS protocol differently on a pregnant patient? seriously, they can just put important info like that into 1 medsurge test dedicated to female issues...not 4 months.

Do you not understand how complex pregnancy is? You have to learn about pre-conception, each separate trimester, birth, and the early post-natal period.....and ALL of the potential disease processes and complications that can arise. This is not comparable to learning about diabetes, it's much more complex.

And is the fact that so many more women work in OB because men CAN'T get jobs there, or because they don't want to? I feel like you're treating this as if you're being forced to learn about an area where you're being actively shut out. That's not true. And the point behind my statements re: BLS is that not only is it applicable to other areas, but also that *you*don't*know*what*you*don't*know.

Ultimately this is all moot, your opinion doesn't change how any of this works. You will still need to study OB for your tests, and for your NCLEX. You can either be bitter and pout about it, or you can do what others suggested, see it as a learning experience, and try to tie it into areas of healthcare that do interest you.

Your choice.

[mtmkjr, BSN]

Your attitude seems to be similar to that of many high school students..."Groan... what use is [insert subject] in real life?"

[IzzyJ, ASN]

there is plenty of diabetic people in this country. did we spend an ENTIRE semester learning about diabetic patients?

you can literally say the exact same thing for any other conditon. Next.

You are correct. Which is why nursing schools spend time in almost every semester talking about these types of patients. Add it all up, I bet it would be about a semester worth of learning.

[IzzyJ, ASN]

Your attitude seems to be similar to that of many high school students..."Groan... what use is [insert subject] in real life?"

I was just about to add a comment about bailing on this conversation because I might as well go back to arguing with my teenagers about the pointlessness (is that a word?) of topics they are studying in high school.

[carti, BSN, RN]

Your attitude seems to be similar to that of many high school students..."Groan... what use is [insert subject] in real life?"

yeah until you realize I'm spending my own money on tuition, useless books w/ online programs that are expensive, my time, etc. Lets cut the bs please

[Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP]

Yeah, I'm going to spend an ENTIRE semester dedicated to learning about newborn/neonatal stuff in case of the rare occurrence that they come into the ED. That's literally why they have Pediatric ED's for.

I understand the importance for having classes dedicated to PEDS, but having male nurses take an entire semester OB class where only like 1% of Male Nurses even work in is just plain dumb and BSN programs practically stealing money.

literally everyone in Nursing school said this. 70% of the questions on tests were subjective & were how to therapeutically talk to a patient which anyone can do if you weren't extremely socially awkward IRL before nursing school.

Not everywhere has a pediatric ED. The closest one to me is over an hour away, and I'm not in a rural area. Should you pass and become a nurse, you'll realize how important your psych nursing class was, no matter what the rest of your classmates said. Surprise surprise, nursing students don't know what real life nursing is like! Your 1% statistic means nothing. If the board of nursing wants you to have the education, there's no way around it. If you're upset about the cost of a textbook, try to borrow one. It would serve you well to try and calm down your defensive attitude before you finish school, because you sound like a chore to precept.

[Triddin]

yeah until you realize I'm spending my own money on tuition, useless books w/ online programs that are expensive, my time, etc. Lets cut the bs please

You seem to be ignoring the posts which highlight that maternity and peds are part of the nclex, which is the basic practice requirement for the USA.

Just as you will get psych patients in all fields or nursing, pregnanct and post partum in medical, surgical, icus, ER. I see maybe one maternity patient a year, but I have a basic understanding of complications and what to look for because of the mat rotation.

It's just part of nursing and who we treat. Either man up, pay your tuition and get ready to learn or don't but don't become a nurse.

[m1lkofamnesia]

I'm thinking nursing may not be for you. This is very ignorant. We all did it, plenty of men have done it before you, get over yourself. You aren't special.

P.S. Not every ED has a "pediatric ED." You have a LOT to learn. Oh, and you should have been able to calculate your tuition and book costs before you even started the program, so you would know to expect the costs associated with becoming a nurse.

[verene, MSN]

Well with your attitude that anything not research/med-surg is worthless than yes, I agree that OB/maternal health and psych will be worthless courses to you. Not because they are inherently worthless but because if you go in with the attitude that you won't learn anything and they are pointless you aren't going to be open to learning opportunities that exist in these specialties.

Nursing education is generalist, and nursing practice - even with in a specialty - will expose you to patients in a wide variety of circumstances. Even if you have no interest in being part of deliveries and post-partum care think about all the other piece of knowledge you can get out of this rotation: working with families under stress, depression/anxiety management, pain management, hypertensive crisis, protocols for shock and hemorrhage treatment, maternal and neonatal resuscitation. You have the opportunity to see uncomplicated birth as well as emergency C-sections. This is also a great place to learn about managing comorbid conditions - a pregnant person can have other health issues - chronic or caused/exacerbated by pregnancy, and those issues require treatment. Treating pregnant people presents a challenge due to risks to both mother and fetus, and being aware of these risks is critical when working in other settings as well.

I've had more than a few nurses tell me that if you are an adrenaline junkie and want something other than ED go labor and delivery because things can change moment by moment and you never know when a crisis will happen. You need top-notch assessment skills and critical thinking to stave off crisis, or react when the crisis is already happening.

My experience in with nursing school is that you get out of a rotation what you put into it. I have no interest in OR, but I made the best of my time in the OR to learn what I could about that setting, and even though it confirmed for me that I really don't want to work there, I did gain valuable insight into that realm of nursing - some of which has been helpful when working with patients in other settings.

[emmjayy, BSN, RN]

oh you poor man, having to learn about functions of life that all women go through and that you're likely to get many questions about on that pesky licensing exam you'll need to pass in order to become a nurse. How horrible that your school would put you through this!

[nyc-cnm]

With your attitude, you really have no business going into a profession at all. If you wanted to make sure every little thing has relevance to your future job, you should have saved your money and gone to a trade school. Then you'd only be learning about the particular widgets needed for your limited technical function. If you want to be a professional nurse, you're going to have to put up with a bit of education outside your immediate interest.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Only like 1% of Male nurses even work in the OB field (obvious reasons), so why should this even be a required course for us guys?

Because you never know where you will end up in your nursing career. I was focused on ER/Trauma/ Adult ICU during most of nursing school. I ended up in the NICU and the class that was the most pertinent to my nursing career was Maternity.

Another reason is that you may have pregnant patients in your care. They have a parasite (fetus) that grows inside your patient every day. That parasite causes changes to your patient's vitals and hormonal changes. You need to know how the baby effects your patient in a normal way and an abnormal way.