I'm a nurse not a "Male Nurse"

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I wonder if in my lifetime I will be recognized as a nurse without the modifier "male". I don't see a "male doctor", or see a "female mechanic". 33% of the nurses on my unit happen to be men but even my peers and supervisors can't help but point out my gender as if it were part of my title. Does this bother anyone else?

In most of my interactions with people it's "nurse" and not male nurse. So perhaps it does get better. I put "male nurse" under my sig because some people think Tweety should be a female. :)

Yeah I guess there are those too young to have seen a Tweety cartoon. I see by your ID block you're doing RN to BSN. And I also see you have more than 36k posts to your credit. If it weren't for allnurses, you'd probably be working on your 3rd PhD by now! ;)

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Oh the famous..."you're a male RN?" thing.

I am going to petition my board of nursing to put XY-RN on my license. I think that "Jay, XY-RN" sounds better than "Jay, Male Nurse."

:lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
Yeah I guess there are those too young to have seen a Tweety cartoon. I see by your ID block you're doing RN to BSN. And I also see you have more than 36k posts to your credit. If it weren't for allnurses, you'd probably be working on your 3rd PhD by now! ;)

One more class and I'll be finished. You're right, given the time I post, I could have written a thesis or two. LOL

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Specializes in I got hurt and went to the ER once.

Me: "Hello, my name is Tim, I'll be your student Nurse today, I'm not a doctor I'm a student Nurse"

Patient: So your the doctor.

Me: No, I'm your student Nurse for the day.

Patient: well, Doc, tell me this. I keep bleeding out of my Johnson and the other doctors ain't got a clue how to fix it. Why should I think you can?

Me: "Hello, my name is Tim, I'll be your student Nurse today, I'm not a doctor I'm a student Nurse"

Patient: Well you're training to be a Doctor so tell it to me straight.

I'm not smart enough to make up the above. I still wonder what happened to him as he turned out to be a really funny patient.

Anyways, as we all know. There are still some gender stereotypes in the medical world that pop up. Just have to accept it and move on In time it will change.

Darth Nightingale

Sith Apprentice Nurse

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Only thing I can say about this issue so far is what I see all the time.

I tell people outside healthcare I'm becoming a nurse, and they talk about how cool that is. I tell nurses I'm becoming a nurse, and they always say "Great! We need more male nurses!"

Half the time they follow that with the obvious "to help lift heavy patients." But the other half the time, I just wonder what they are thinking...

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I work in Australia as a midwife/nurse. When I am asked if I am a male nurse , I reply , "No , all my patients are Female!"

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hi all,must admit that i do use the term male nurse.i don't do it to descriminate or any such but because where i'm from it's automatically thought of nurses as female.so when i'm speaking to people i use the term male nurse to avoid any misunderstandings.

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@ donhillRN, that's hilarious! :lol2:

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

My usual quick response when it comes my way is:

"Yes, I'm a nurse. Just like there are docs who are female, there are nurses who are male. It is a great profession. Thanks for noticing."

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well,,,, i think its kinda funny when they say "male nurse" and stuff like that. for some reason i get a good laugh out of it every time i hear it.... i dont think patients mean anything by it..... its just not something they see every day. in fact, most people are delighted to have a male nurse.... the only thing i dont like is when they say "why didnt u become a doctor" or "when are u gonna become a doctor". i NEVER have a good answer for that one!!!:rotfl:

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Specializes in surgical nursing, trauma nursing.
I wonder if in my lifetime I will be recognized as a nurse without the modifier "male". I don't see a "male doctor", or see a "female mechanic". 33% of the nurses on my unit happen to be men but even my peers and supervisors can't help but point out my gender as if it were part of my title. Does this bother anyone else?

You are so right ...

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