How is it REALLY to be a Male Nurse?

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I am getting a lot of conflicting info. I am about to start an Accelerated BSN and this involves quitting my job (I make about 75K a year but I am looking for greater job security and more money even if it means working OT). Does one really have to clean patients and the like? Do you feel respected? I notice that a lot of nurses complain about the lack of respect. Respect is a big deal for me. Are all the stories about nursing shortage really accurate? From what I am hearing it really depends on the state. Also, did anyone think about the implications of future changes in immigration law (importing foreign nurses) which is likely given the so called shortage (I would hate getting into so much debt and find out later that I will have to compete for jobs that pay less than my current job). I would really appreciate your comments.

Specializes in ICU.
I am getting a lot of conflicting info. I am about to start an accelerated BSN and this involves quitting my job (I make about 75K a year but I am looking for greater job security and more money even if it means working OT). Does one really have to clean patients and the like? Do you feel respected? I notice that a lot of nurses complain about the lack of respect. Respect is a big deal for me. Are all the stories about nursing shortage really accurate? From what I am hearing it really depends on the state. Also, did anyone think about the implications of future changes in immigration law (importing foreign nurses) which is likely given the so called shortage (I would hate getting into so much debt and find out later that I will have to compete for jobs that pay less than my current job). I would really appreciate your comments.

- You will have to clean patients. This will involve a lot more than just poop.

- You will probably not make more than 75K your first year in nursing.

- I am respected and I feel so.

- The shortage thing... Don't worry about it, you'll get a job, eventually, even if you're in a saturated market.

- Can't help you with the immigration issue. I don't know enough about that.

Cheers,

Dave

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Specializes in Trauma/E.R./ ICU.

AF Nurse 2B Guy-

I think CRNA's are fantastic. They are a real representation as to how mid-level providers can provide safe and cost effective care. I also feel the same way about Nurse Practitioners.

My frustration (these days) is with the types of people that I have been precepting and running into right out of- or almost out of Nursing School. Most (let's say 85%) say they want to go to Anesthesia School. Then they ask similar questions as the original poster of this thread AFTER NURSING SCHOOL!!!! ie: Do I have to clean patients???? YES! You do!

I actually had a a preceptee tell me in the ICU that she really didn't care to learn all the intricracies of ICU nursing because she was planning on going to Anesthesia School as soon as possible (huh?- so you don't want to pay attention to detail- but you want to put people under......okay......)

So- Sorry. I let some frustration go in my post. I think, quite frankly, it is a silly question to ask whether you are going to have to clean patients AND I am also suspect of anyone that wants to do anything for the money........I know this is probably an honest inquiry into our profession, but seriously.........

I welcome anyone that earnestly wants to be a nurse. I think it is a shame as a profession that we are actually turning away qualified applicants. I have more to say on this subject but I am tired and am obviously prone to tangents.....

Here is the rub- I am applying to Anesthesia school this summer after 15 years of ICU/Trauma Nursing. I just think that everyone, before going on to an advanced/ mid-level pt care degree, should probably gain some very valuable bed-side skill. Say maybe 2 years at least?

Ah well- please don't flame me-- This is probably way off topic now.

Best Regards,

GenXnurse

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GenXnurse,

Thanks. Like I said before, I will not be in the nursing program until next fall and yes, of course I look at the money. Who doesnt when they are looking into what career field they would like to pursue. It would be great to do exactly what you love, but in most cases that just isn't an option when you have a family to provide for. I think it would be great to be a nurse on many levels, and with more school and a lot of determination, being a CRNA can provide a great life to my family. It's funny, I have been a member for only a couple of days now and this is the first time I have had a chance to talk to professionals in this field and it sounds like a lot of people judge you and question you when you tell them your goals....CRNA. Maybe its just me. Thanks again for your help.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
GenXnurse,

Thanks. Like I said before, I will not be in the nursing program until next fall and yes, of course I look at the money. Who doesnt when they are looking into what career field they would like to pursue. It would be great to do exactly what you love, but in most cases that just isn't an option when you have a family to provide for. I think it would be great to be a nurse on many levels, and with more school and a lot of determination, being a CRNA can provide a great life to my family. It's funny, I have been a member for only a couple of days now and this is the first time I have had a chance to talk to professionals in this field and it sounds like a lot of people judge you and question you when you tell them your goals....CRNA. Maybe its just me. Thanks again for your help.

Don't worry about it. It's not just you. There have been some long threads here in other fourms about nurses in it "just for the money".

I have found that people only looking for a job making money aren't really happy with nursing and honestly aren't the best nurses. In the end those a lot of people who only want money, are usually weeded out fairly early when they realize the rigors what we have to endure for the money. They decide to become engineers, accountants and other fields because it's easier. LOL Trust me when I say this, becoming a CRNA is a tough and very demanding undertaking that takes many years of hard work and dedication, a near stellar reputation and a high GPA.

Fortunately those types in it soley (key word here soley) for the money are few and far between. The rest of us are in it for the money and we like nursing/people, etc. Nothing wrong with choosing a career that is stable and provides a good income. Ask any kid/adult in college about choosing a major and they are considering the financial rewards of their decision.

There are a very small number of nursing who are "called by God" to become a nurse and don't consider money.

The rest of us have to pay the bills.

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nursing is a very well respected profession, especially where i work. i must say you need to explore the profession since there are so may paths to go. after shodowing a nurse and you dont like it, sorry man, you wont survive the job. you can be smart and pass the state boards, but will you stick with the job? i dont know. you probably realize later on youre in another "accerlereted degree." lol

in ALL jobs, you can learn the technicality of it sooner or later. but if you dont have the compassion and the ability to help people, then nursing is not for you.. good luck!

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

I think working nurses may have a tendency to get a little defensive about cleaning patients--it can sound like someone is saying they're too good for an important part of our job. I think it's also easy to forget how ominous that side of nursing can sound when you haven't done it--will I be barfing six times a day? How can I handle the smell?

Well, for pretty much every bedside nurse, cleaning poop and other fluids is part of our everyday lives. Even if you have great aides, a lot of patients are too big and immobile for one, or even two people to handle. Some gross jobs, like trach suction and wound care, are beyond the aide's scope and have to be done by a nurse.

The thing is, you get over that. I used to turn green if I was in a room with a patient getting suction, but if I'm doing the suction, I'm too busy keeping sterile and watching sats to get sick. It's like, I don't get carsick when I'm driving.

Indeed, it isn't long before cleaning a poopy butt seems way less stressful than, say, a patient who forgets to breathe for awhile, or starting an IV on someone who weighs 300 lbs and has +3 edema. The only real stress about cleaning is finding time, since there are so many other things to do that only the nurse can do. The task itself is fairly simple, and in many cases there's no way to really screw it up. Still, it's a lifesaving intervention--you only need to see one really bad decubitous ulcer to realize how critical the "small stuff" really is. People can eventually die from lying in feces or urine too long, too often, or just lying in one position. So this is a chance to save a life without having to go into adrenaline overload while you do it.

The level of respect a nurse gets varies. Some will admire you to no end. Some will treat you like a personal servant. I've reached the point--already!--where the respect of my fellow nurses is about the only respect that matters, because even the patients who insist I come by their room for a hug at the end of my shift have no idea whether I'm really any good. Not that I don't appreciate the hugs.

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Specializes in OB, critical care, hospice, farm/industr.

With the priorities in your post, I think perhaps nursing is not for you. The way you phrase the question about cleaning people up makes me think (perhaps wrongly, it's true) that it would be more distasteful to you than you could conceal. I think shadowing a nurse is a brilliant idea. You could really get a first hand idea of what the job is like. Also, talk face to face with some nurses. That will be more informative than reading posts, even as erudite as we are.... ;)

WARNING: ONLY MY OPINION: I don't think we will ever have to worry about foreign nurses taking over our jobs. First of all, there aren't enough nurses in the world and won't be for many years to fill all the jobs. There might be local market saturation and you'll have to take a job in a different city, but we'll always be able to work.

Second, even if a foreign nurse wants to come here, it will be very difficult to pass the NCLEX. I'm not talking about whether or not they had a good education... I speak 3 languages. There's machinery I can operate that I have no idea what it's called in English. I can read the newpaper in two more. I have lived in places where I didn't speak English for 6 months at a time and let me tell ya, there is no way I could take the Norwegian NCLEX. (I don't even know what it's called.)

Someone would have to be incredibly in English fluent to pass the NCLEX. Not every foreign nurse will be. And if they're native English speakers, the standards and procedures are different enough from country to country that it takes extra studying to learn what's needed. I'm looking over the test booklet for the Canadian Boards in case we ever live in Newfoundland and the blood glucose measurements are mmol/L. A BG of 30 is very high. I get confused every time. In the US, we use mg/dL, in which, oh, a BG of 30? Well, let's put it this way, don't bother to page the doc, you might as well call the undertaker, that's so low.

I'm afraid earning over 75 K a year is possible but will be far harder than at your present job, both physically and mentally. Nursing is a hard enough job that if you don't get something out of it besides the paycheck, it is unmitigated hell on earth, no exaggeration. I trhink we are probably the only job /calling on earth where you can have a PhD and still wipe up poop and get vomited on as part of the job description.

No doubt you are intelligent; we can see that from your writing. But it does take a lot of intelligence, the regular type plus the emotional kind to be a nurse. You need to memorize protocols, long lists of symptoms and signs, be able to think on your feet, recognize patterns and adverse events, know what the heck to do when everything is falling apart, what to say when nothing can be said, not panic, be reassuring, supportive, firm when you have to, intuit what people aren't saying and the truth when they're lying, when to take a boatload of abuse and still smile and know when to stop the abuse immediately.... and so it goes.

Respect will vary. You will earn the respect of your cohort if you are a good nurse. The general public and many of other health professionals misunderstand our role and function in health care. They think we're maids, doc's assisstants, janitors, hotel staff, nannies, old time servants, "the girl" and so on. Some people get what we do and we have their everlasting gratitude.

As a male nurse, you will almost assuredly take some crap. People will ask you why did you go for nursing, why didn't you become a doctor, what's wrong with you, etc. It must be annoying.

Being a CRNA (requires a Master's) will require a lot of time and money, even in an accelerated program. And remember, there is no substitute for experience and that can't be accelerated. You'll need a couple of years in basic med-surg just to get past your novice stage. (Note to the rest: I can't remember. Doesn't Benner say it takes 6 years or 12,000 hours to get to the state of expert nurse?) It's not just biology and technical stuff; there's all sorts of nursing theory on how human beings are organized, homeostatic mechanisms, how we adapt to illness, react to crisis and cope, etc and you'll be expected to apply it even if they are under anesthesia.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be a wet blanket. If it's truly for you and you want to care for people, excellent. We need good nurses. But if job security, pay, along with supply and demand are your first considerations, I think you might be really unhappy in school.

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The original message said that he make 75k a year not a month.

(I make about 75K a year but I am looking for greater job security and more money even if it means working OT).

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Do you have to be in nursing school to shadow a nurse? Or can you just call a hospital and request to shadow one?

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Specializes in OB, critical care, hospice, farm/industr.

The hospital will probably turn you down flat. Call the closest school of nursing and explain you are interested in being a nurse and could you perhaps be with a nurse or an instructor in clinical for a day, just to see what you're getting into? I think that's reasonable. Some high schools have a health occupations class (I know you aren't in high school, but maybe they can give you pointers or steer you in the direction).

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I just think that everyone, before going on to an advanced/ mid-level pt care degree, should probably gain some very valuable bed-side skill. Say maybe 2 years at least?

Exactly! I want to become a CRNA, and I've always told my self, I am going to give myself at least 2 years in the RN world, then maybe..maybe I might go into the CRNA (If I am ready, and feel confident) If not, I'll probably stay in the RN world a little longer.

My mom says why not speed up the process and get to the CRNA program (lol, she loves the idea that i'll be making over a 100,000 grand a year) But seriously I would have chosen to pursue Anesthesiology as a career, but I really don't mind given the same quality at a lower price. I want my patients to receive compassion from me and get that nice feeling most people get from nurses.

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Why not start taking your prereqs but get your CNA license. Believe me, if you can't cut it as an aide providing basic care for people, you won't make it as a nurse.

On the other hand, I thought cleaning people was gross. It does grow on you though. Whoever thought a man would enjoy caring for people? I didn't...

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