I am sick of hearing that I get preferential treatment because I am a male. I have had women tell me to my face that I was accepted to nursing school over them because I am a male. Absolute garbage. At my school all that mattered was grades and the entrance exam. If I got in and you didn't its because I was a better student. Period.:angryfire
Heard today that a girl in my critical care internship applied for the same job on the Trauma SICU as me(she interviewed the same day as me), and said I got it because I was a guy. She had previous experience as a RN and I was a new grad. BUT, she has the reputation of having a bad attitude. I would be willing to bet that I interviewed better than her as well.
Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
I've heard that some physicians who yell at female staff members wouldn't even think of screaming at male nurses. Society still bestows a certain level of respect upon males, while having the tendency to marginalize females. This is my firm belief.
m ight that be becasue the men have been yelled at in the past and just front ed up to the doc and told them to 'behave' ...
i've been known to slightly misquote michael caine in the original Get Carter to Docs who have misbehaved either in my direction or the direction of other members of the team with less experience (male or female RN or HCA)
i've also stopped a resus room when we've had surgeons and anaesthesia flapping over not havign their favourite kit ... with " STOP! this isn't play school , what equipment / supplies do you need and where are they likely to be found ... " just plain and striaght out in a loud but not shouty voice ...
To the OP: I'm sorry you're dealing with people who think you receive 'freebies' because you're a man. You seem to have earned everything that has come in your direction, and I commend you.
we had a discussion aobut this in uni pre-reg and the only answer we could come up with was thar men seem to get ahead at certain points because they don't take thecareer breaks that a significant number of female RNs take a 'career critical ' points ( which distorts the pool of people who are looking at team leader /permanent charge posts and also at unit Nurse manager levle... which then has an effect above...)
we had a discussion aobut this in uni pre-reg and the only answer we could come up with was thar men seem to get ahead at certain points because they don't take thecareer breaks that a significant number of female RNs take a 'career critical ' points ( which distorts the pool of people who are looking at team leader /permanent charge posts and also at unit Nurse manager levle... which then has an effect above...)
I think if there is a male edge on career progression it all starts with teamwork at home. I have the typical dude work ethic, the breadwinner thing. That gives anyone the career edge, being able to be anywhere anytime, take on any extra work the manager wants done. My wife gives me 110% support plus ferries the kids around to their zillion activities, cooks, cleans, probably puts in way more hours than I do. On my unit, 36 hours or 3-12s is FT. I probably average around 60 hours a week. Since 20 hours of that is OT, and OT is time and a half, that's 30 hours extra pay per week, 34 if you count the 4 over 36. Now let's say my wife was to go to school and become a FT nurse at 36 hours, at the best rates possible she'd pay 6 hours of that on child care for our 3. Our lives would be fragmented. I wouldn't have the flexibility to work 60; I'd have do drop back to 36. Plus our kids wouldn't have a FT mom. Strangers would raise them. All for what, exactly the same money? Later for that!
It's an unfortunate but likely ordeal you will continue to cross throughout your career. It always goes hand in hand with the quality of professionals you work with.
My current unit... it's never discussed. We joke about the 'lifting patients' joke.. but gender is never an issue.
In other places... yep.. the biasness and slander has happened.
Take it all with a grain of salt and like a previous post said, consider yours source.
When people ask me if I'm a male nurse, I kindly correct them and say, "No, I'm just a nurse".
I'm here to do my job to the best of my abilities, and you can pass judgement on my care but don't judge me by my gender.
It's going to take a long time for the biasness to dissipate. I mean how long did it take women to get past the 'female-doctor' bias........ I believe there still fighting that battle.
ZippyGBR, BSN, RN
1,038 Posts
m ight that be becasue the men have been yelled at in the past and just front ed up to the doc and told them to 'behave' ...
i've been known to slightly misquote michael caine in the original Get Carter to Docs who have misbehaved either in my direction or the direction of other members of the team with less experience (male or female RN or HCA)
i've also stopped a resus room when we've had surgeons and anaesthesia flapping over not havign their favourite kit ... with " STOP! this isn't play school , what equipment / supplies do you need and where are they likely to be found ... " just plain and striaght out in a loud but not shouty voice ...
we had a discussion aobut this in uni pre-reg and the only answer we could come up with was thar men seem to get ahead at certain points because they don't take thecareer breaks that a significant number of female RNs take a 'career critical ' points ( which distorts the pool of people who are looking at team leader /permanent charge posts and also at unit Nurse manager levle... which then has an effect above...)