Male nurse in L&D

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Hi, I am a male nurse married 3 kids. I have applied to a position on my facility on the Labor and delivery unit. And they pretty much told me they don't want to hire a male nurse. I don;t think they can do that I think is discrimination. what do you think? do you think ladies would stop coming to our hospital because they don't want a male ob nurse?

Specializes in NICU Transport/NICU.
The problem too is that staffing would be very difficult if all the patients were refusing the male nurse, the work gets thrown to the female nurses. The hospital management has to take that into consideration too. if you have to staff every shift based on whether a male nurse will be refused then what's the point of hiring, It doesn't benefit the hospital if they pay your salary but women are saying no, so not sure if it's discrimination that is against the law. It's surprising how many women recall their nurse in L&D. I have no clue who the nurse was with me, she was female, not too memorable, and besides the midwife was in so much pain it wouldn't have mattered. Now post partum was more memorable and didn't like any of the women who took care of me.

Sure, but they would be making an unproven assumption if they have never had a male labor nurse in their hospital. I will say it again, I have not been refused in a year of doing this. Not one time. So much for the staffing argument.

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Just seems very discriminatory not to hire males in L&D or in mammography from

what I have read here. L&D is not what interests me but there are most entirely females

working at urology clinics. Why does BFOQ not apply there?

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To me, this is just as much an EO issue as refusing to hire someone based on their race/religion/marital status/sexual orientation. Sex is a protected class, so the hospital has no case to refuse to hire him in L&D JUST because he's male. Imagine the uproar that would happen if they said, "Sorry, we won't hire you because we prefer [insert ethnicity here] in this department"...or "Sorry, we won't hire a woman to do that. It's a man's job."

Now, of course, if a patient feels uncomfortable, she can request a different caregiver. That's a different matter than discrimination in hiring.

My thoughts exactly. Good post. :up:

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i agree - very well said. put male nurses in l&d for those who don't have a preference, but leave it up to the patient to decide if they want a male taking care of them. and... what are the motives? seeing a baby born into this world? yeah right.....

okay, i'll bite. since in subsequent posts you seem so shocked that this post has given others the impression that you are implying that the motives for a male nurse going into l & d are unsavory, please correct the impression. what are you saying here? why do you think these men are going into l & d-clearly you don't believe it's because they enjoy seeing babies brought into the world. i ask because i totally see why a male l & d nurse could be completely offended by your post.

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"Just seems very discriminatory not to hire males in L&D or in mammography from

what I have read here. L&D is not what interests me but there are most entirely females

working at urology clinics. Why does BFOQ not apply there?"

It applies to both sexes and would apply to all females in urology clinics (and anywhere else) if...and here's the big if...enough men complained to the extent that they told the clinic they would not return unless that had male nurses and assistants. So little research has been done in this area that we don't really know how most men feel about opposite gender care. We do know that many if not most men just won't complain. That doesn't mean they don't care one way or the other. That's why, I believe, and I've said again and again, medical professionals should approach this gender issue openly and honestly and ask patients how they feel. That respect alone may make them feel more comfortable about opposite gender care. And men need to learn that they need to make their needs known and if choice are not available to take their business elsewhere and let the business know why. As you'll read below, enough of that will present economic issues that can kick in a BFOQ exception. Anyway, here's my source for the BFOQ law and why and how it's justified.

From the University of Chicago Law Review:

"The BFOQ is an affirmative defense that is available to employers who can show that "the essence of [their] business operation would be undermined by not hiring members of one sex exclusively." This Comment focuses specifically on the BFOQ commonly known as the "privacy BFOQ" as it relates to the health care industry. The privacy BFOQ applies to sex-based employment policies that employers claim are necessary to protect the privacy interests of their patients, clients, or customers. For example, one court has held that a hospital may refuse to hire men to work as nurses in the labor and delivery units without violating Title VII, because female patients would not feel comfortable with male nurses. The patients' privacy interests do not relate to an employee's physical ability to do the job. Courts have accepted a privacy BFOQ most frequently where the job in question requires the employee to view a patient's naked body. Existing law permits sex-based employment policies with respect to nurses, nurses' aides, janitors, child care specialists at psychiatric hospitals, and prison guards because these jobs sometimes require employees to view the naked bodies of patients or inmates."

http://lawreview.uchicago.edu/issues/archive/v67/summer/bfoq.html

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
This may be your opinion, but it is not factually correct. There is a legal exception to the equal employment regulations that in certain circumstances allows hiring based on gender, and L&D is one of those areas where it has been successfully used.

If the facility can show that the BFOQ exception is applicable in their circumstances, then there is no illegal discrimination and the OP doesn't have a leg to stand on.....

Yes, but the facility has to show proof. I highly doubt an L&D floor that has more 2 nurses working at a time working could show proof that it would be unnecessary burden to hire one male nurse. The most important thing is if you want it fight for it, and don't let anyone tell you can't do it.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
It's bad enough to have a male doctor poking around in places that he has no idea what it feels like, I absolutely would have refused a male nurse during my L and D. I actually feel it would be inappropriate to have a male l/d nurses. I think folks need to remember that a large number of women have been abused by men at some point in their lives. Just having the baby can be traumatic

Sorry, I am a female nurse only proponent for labor and delivery.

Just because it makes you uncomfortable, it's unfair to assume that everyone else would feel the same way and therefor want to exclude an entire gender from a profession.

I work in Peds and the mentality expressed here regards to men and L&D I have also seen a lot in regards to men and working with kids. There are no male nurses on my unit. I don't know why this is. In another hospital there is 1 male peds nurse. I worked in Childcare for 5 years and there was not ONE male employee, I was told it was because some parents were uncomfortable with it and figured that the only reason a male would want to work with children like that is because he is a pervert. This mentality boggles my mind. TONS of woman sexually abuse kids, it's just not heard about as much. Tons of woman physically and emotionally abuse kids. Again, it's just not talked about as much because woman are supposed to be the nurtures. I have met so many men that are WONDERFUL dads and wonderful with kids. I have taken care of kids that it's dad there with that kiddo and I have no clue where mom is.

As far as keeping men out because woman have been abused by them. I have been abused by many men many times in my life. But I realize that not all men are abusers and I don't hold what has happened to me against men in general. I have had 4 kids, first two were in a Naval Hospital and it was a lot of men taking care of me. I had a very young male resident deliver my last kiddo because my doc got there 5 mins to late. I had other males in and out of the room and I don't even remember their roles now.

Being abused by males and once even having a male Gyn. doctor act completely inappropriate, still doesn't make me feel that men shouldn't be involved in fields like L&D.

All that said, I respect anyones right to request a same sex provider and I won't be offended. People just need to realize it's not always feasible. I am sure my teen male patients would like a male to help them use the urinal rather then me or mom. But we don't have a male nurse to accommodate this.

If I had to have intimate care done by a hot guy my age or younger then I probably would want someone else (if it could be accommodated) and that would strictly be because of my own embarrassment.

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Specializes in Thoracic Cardiovasc ICU Med-Surg.

I was simply stating my opinion which has no effect on whether the OP gets hired or not. It's nice that it wouldn't bother YOU. However it would bug a good number of women.

I have nothing against male nurses. My unit has the highest percentage of men nurses in our hospital. It is no big deal because we do cardiac surgery.

I stand by my opinion and will hear after refrain from commenting on this thread.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

I understand it was your opinion just as I was stating my opinion. I just don't think it's right to make assumptions by speaking for all other woman or saying an entire gender should be barred from a unit because it would make you uncomfortable.

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I stand by my opinion and will hear after refrain from commenting on this thread.

Wait, what?! :confused:

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I was simply stating my opinion which has no effect on whether the OP gets hired or not. It's nice that it wouldn't bother YOU. However it would bug a good number of women.

I have nothing against male nurses. My unit has the highest percentage of men nurses in our hospital. It is no big deal because we do cardiac surgery.

I stand by my opinion and will hear after refrain from commenting on this thread.

I don't think you need to leave the conversation. Your feelings are just as relevant as those who have no problem with males in traditionally female clinical areas. There are those who agree with some of what you said, myself included. Having children isn't an option for me anymore, but I would definitely ask for another provider if I went for a mammo/breast MRI and found out I was getting a male tech.

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"If I had to have intimate care done by a hot guy my age or younger then I probably would want someone else (if it could be accommodated) and that would strictly be because of my own embarrassment."

Interesting. But, be honest. What do you think the odds would be for there being no accommodation for you? Now, compare that with the odds for that of your teen male patients.

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