I find the term "Male Nurse" discriminatory. If you were stopped by the police for speeding, would you call the police officer "Oh, you are a female police officer!" In taking an order would you identify the attending as a "Female Doctor!" Would you refer to a firefighter or paramedic as a female medic or Firefighter. Try it and see what happens, that is mysoginist.
Lets take it a step further. Oh, you are a nurse of color. Is it ok to call a nurse the "African American Nurse or Asian Nurse etc."
We are all brothers and sisters in the profession.
krankenschwester is still used in Germany, but to accomodate males entering the profession, an alternative word, (krankenpfleiger), is used. It means: krank = sick; pfleiger = curator. We think of curators as working in museums and such; but the word is very appropriate for our profession since it's root means to heal or to cure. That was one of the words I suggested in my term paper.
Hopefully this won't sound too harsh or angry but...anyone who is offended by "male nurse" really needs to lighten up. I've been called a "murse" by scrubs fans, and llikened to Rosie the Riveter. I am proud to go into a female dominated field and distinguish myself, and honestly have had no problem with anyone. And by the way, there is a male nurses magazine. Are you gonna get mad about that as well?
Sorry if this sounds pissy or confrontational but this just a bit of a pet peeve of mine.EOR
Hopefully this won't sound too harsh or angry but...anyone who is offended by "male nurse" really needs to lighten up. I've been called a "murse" by scrubs fans, and llikened to Rosie the Riveter. I am proud to go into a female dominated field and distinguish myself, and honestly have had no problem with anyone. And by the way, there is a male nurses magazine. Are you gonna get mad about that as well?
Sorry if this sounds pissy or confrontational but this just a bit of a pet peeve of mine.EOR
Generally speaking, telling people to "lighten up" isn't considered helpful. You know that everyone is entitled to feel the way they feel and cannot help the way that is. People will have to agree to disagree about what they prefer to be called, but no one needs to be told to "lighten up".
Personally, as a male student, I don't necessarily find the term "male nurse" (or "male nursing student" for that matter) to be offensive. It is just a plain fact that for better or for worse (at least from the 20th century on) nursing has always been a female-dominated profession. So to me "male nurse" is merely a term of designation. Personally I don't necessarily see the term "black nurse" (or "Asian nurse", "white nurse", etc.) to be any different. Especially in a situation where, say, the patient is asked to recall which nurse gave her a medication at a certain time of day; and let's say the patient doesn't remember the nurse's name, but the nurse in question happened to be a male. Or black. Or whatever. So if asked, and the patient responded "Well, I don't remember the lady's name, but she was a black nurse". Or "He was a male nurse" or that sort of thing is merely a means of distinguishing individuals when names or other means of identification are unknown. And I think a lot of times when people say "Oh yeah, it was a male nurse" instead of simply "it was a nurse" - all they're doing is simply that sort of thing - merely distinguishing an individual in the course of conversation.
(Now I am white, so I cannot pretend to speak for blacks or minorities, but that is just my own view.)
Now on the other hand, I know that there are also times when context and intent can change someone's meaning in more subtle ways. One time, when I was working at a transporter at the hospital I work at, I was on this floor and I overheard a patient asking about a particular procedure that a particular nurse had done to her. Now this nurse in question actually happened to be a male tech. But the patient (a very elderly lady) couldn't recall his name...so when she was talking to a female nurse, trying to identify who/where he was, the patient said, in all seriousness (and in a very annoying southern drawl) "Where's that boy-nurse at?" And all the female nurses and techs within earshot just busted out laughing...and honestly at the time, something about the way it was said and the reaction of the female staff - it was kind of annoying moment to me personally - and I wasn't even involved in the situation. And I saw the male tech in question down the hall, and I could tell by the look on his face that he'd heard the comment as well, and he didn't seem too stoked about it either. And honestly I didn't blame him for feeling that way.
But generally speaking I don't see the use of the term "male nurse" to be a big deal - unless someone is explicitly making an obnoxious or "suggestive" comment (gay, or whatever, etc. a la Owen Wilson's character talking to Focker in "Meet the Parents") to me personally. (The same thing would hold true, hypothetically, for a similiar comment to someone else regarding race, imho.) And as a male student I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that.
Specializes in 5th Semester - Graduation Dec '09!.
I moonlighted at a place where a particular OB-GYN did not want male nurses taking care of her patients
I can't believe I am the first to say it, but a doctor saying such a thing is so ridicules and unprofessional. I find that so offensive!
Anyways, back to the subject-- I think it's silly to specify "male nurse." It doesn't really bother me at all, but I do think that it might bother the girls. Some classmates have told me that they think adding "male" is a superiority thing associated with better care, as if we are special or more desired.
[as an aside: I moonlighted at a place where a particular OB-GYN did not want male nurses taking care of her patients].
Steven King, LPN, MBA
The Kingster†
Not that usual, nor surprising. Many patients that I (Female Nurse) have had protested if they were assigned a male caregiver. Knew of one woman who cxl'ed a surgery when she found out that the scrub nurse was a male. Granted it was a pelvic surgery, but there are those who, from shyness, or social conditioning, or whatever, feel the same. I've also had male pts who want a man to bath them, cath them, or whatever. That's why it is good to have both.
I hear the phrase "male nurse" far less than I did when I first got into the health care business. I've been a nurse for almost 31 years and have seen the area of males in nursing flurish! When I first got into nursing it was not unusual to be the butt of jokes regarding gender and/or sexual preference. And let's not forget the rednecks favorite....."head nurse".
I'm glad to have the field of nursing becoming an area where more males are coming to.
Now as I serve out the remaining years until my retirement (7+ years) I smile when I see more male faces in the graduating classes of the nursing schools in my area.
Sometimes if I'm feeling saucy, when I'm asked, "You're a male nurse?" I say, "No, I'm a female nurse." That always gets me funny looks...
I have "RN" monogrammed in 1-1/2 inch font on the left side of my scrubs, I wear an "RN" pin on the right side, and it also says RN on my nametag which hangs more or less in the middle...kind of hard to miss. I look very young...much younger than I am. People often act shocked that I'm old enough to be an RN, that's why I try to make it very easy for my patients to see.
I just tell the people that question me that I'm afflicted with "Paul McCartney Syndrome" ...Looking the exact same for like 40 years before your age catches up with you
Enjoy your profession and exhibit your professionalism. Dont create controversy over such trivial topics. Us men are in a female dominated profession...for now. Enjoy it.
Buck up and get used to it. When you enter a dominated profession there is going to be some things that will take some getting use to. Nursing is dominated by females. Until there are a sufficient number of males in nursing and it is long enough for everyone to start accepting; people will continue to call men in nursing, male nurses.
The name's value is what you make it. If you want it to be discriminatory, it will be so for you. I view it as an honor. There aren't many nurses who are male in this profession but the numbers are steadily growing. I don't think of it as they are singling me out because I am different but they are giving me a special title because I am that special. LOL
I am currently a Certified Surgical Technologist (CST) going back for RN. One thing I have noticed is the Surg Techs do not view it by sex or anything like that (even though it is also a female dominated profession). We are all CSTs. That doesn't make me feel as special as people asking me if I am going to be a male nurse.
This is just my opinion and observations from my area.
Oh one more thing, I may be showing my age on this one... This may be area specific but when women first started joining the police forces, they were referred to as female officers. The same goes for doctors. I can remember how my father talked forever about going to the ER/ED and saying how he was treated by a "female doctor". It was a common thing to say. I think just like the police and doctors; the "male nurse" title will disappear once men have established a clear presence in nursing.:)
Logan
74 Posts
What do you expect from a language where "Radiergummi" translates to the English "Eraser" ?
Thanks,
Matthew (Who is Part German himself)