Male nurse treatment

CougRN · May 7, 2004

actually i feel like i get more respect from dr's. since becoming a nurse i haven't had a patient ask for a female nurse. but during school i did. maybe i'm more forceful now and don't let the patients tell me who is going to take care of them. as a male nurse you are more than qualified to take care of anyone. don't let a patient or there families tell you otherwise. unless they want female dr's only the shouldn't get female nurses either.

orrnlori, RN · May 7, 2004

I love the male nurses I work with. In my opinion the male nurses don't get the crap from doctors that the females tend to get. Men are definately in the minority in nursing but none that I work with complain about any problems.

Tony35NYC · May 7, 2004

I was wondering how male nurses are treated at hospitals. I know the media makes fun of male nurses. Do patients request female nurses or doctors treat you different? Any info you can spare please!

The media makes fun of male nurses? I haven't seen that. I agree that the nursing profession on the whole has lost some respect over the years, but that began happening long before so many men began entering the field and way before my time.

I find that MD's really don't care whether you're male or female as long as you know exactly what you're doing and you can give them intelligent answers to their questions. However, in my experience, some docs are more partial to the men because they don't speak to us or treat us the way they sometimes act towards the women.

Its a similar thing with the pts. Wearing a white labcoat is a part of our nursing uniform, and it never fails that whenever I walk into a pt's room for the first time he or she always assumes that I am a doctor, and the only reason for that assumption is because I'm a man wearing a white labcoat with a stethescope around my neck. Even after I explain that I am a student nurse, most of them tend to be more respectful to me that they are to the female RNs who are taking care of them.

I was totally freaked out back during GIGU, when I had to catheterize a female patient for the first time. But most pts don't care, as long as you are professional in everything you do and treat them with respect. I've never had a pt tell me they would prefer a female nurse, but if that happens its no big deal.

BabyRN2Be · May 7, 2004

I was wondering how male nurses are treated at hospitals. I know the media makes fun of male nurses. Do patients request female nurses or doctors treat you different? Any info you can spare please!

Just curious, where have you seen the media making fun of male nurses in recent years? I haven't seen it at all. I can remember one episode of MASH in which Frank said that he couldn't be a male nurse because he couldn't make hospital corners, but other than that, I haven't seen anything recently. Keep in mind that MASH is definitely NOT anything recent. :)

ClimbingNurse · May 7, 2004

Just curious, where have you seen the media making fun of male nurses in recent years? I haven't seen it at all. I can remember one episode of MASH in which Frank said that he couldn't be a male nurse because he couldn't make hospital corners, but other than that, I haven't seen anything recently. Keep in mind that MASH is definitely NOT anything recent. :)

Just about everytime I've seen a male nurse on TV or in the movies there has been at least the suggestion that he is gay. (e.g. Jack on 'Will and Grace', Gaylord Fokker on 'Meet the Parents') It's sort of a running joke that Hollywood can't seem to let go of.

Now, of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being gay in my opinion but I'm a little tired of "the look" I get when I tell non-medical types that I'm in nursing school. And the whole thing is ridiculous anyway - I have only met one male nurse who also happened to be gay. I'd love to know where the stereotype came from.

For the few people who actually come out and ask me if I'm gay I just laugh my head off. Yeah, I'm gay, that's why I want to go to school with a whole bunch of beautiful young women... Hello?!?! Wouldn't engineering or computer science be a better choice if I was looking to hook up w/ guys? :rotfl:

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · May 7, 2004

I was wondering how male nurses are treated at hospitals. I know the media makes fun of male nurses. Do patients request female nurses or doctors treat you different? Any info you can spare please!

In my experience, men who are nurses are treated similarly to women who are nurses (with the same predjuices applied) by their peers. Patients sometimes think men who are nurses are doctors and give more weight to what they say in general. On the other hand, some female patients do not want male nurses, but that doesn't happen as often as you'd think.

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · May 7, 2004

Many previous posts on this here.

Good luck!

nursebedlam · May 7, 2004

if your a good nurse then u will b treated well :)