Male Nurses/female Patients

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:banghead: I'm interested in knowing if anyone has the issue of male nurses refusing to perform certain nursing functions simply because they are male. Having worked in a large teaching hospital and smaller community hospitals, there seems to be a huge difference. In the teaching hospital, male nurses did everything a patient needed, regardless of gender. In the smaller community hospitals, the male nurses sought out female nurses to take care of all manner of female patient's hygiene, all gyn exams ,and anything else a female patient needed. Have we become such a litigous society that we base our practice on gender? Do you find yourself taking care of your male colleagues patients as well as your own simply because they are afraid to touch their female patients?

Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

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I admit that I will ask a male nurse for lifting help more than I do females, and some do get upset about it. I have 40 years of stress on my back and was terrified of hurting it more. I can't blame them when they have their own work to do, but I do try to do another task for them n return.

I'm privileged to work with a very good group of nurses, including some with 20 or even 30 years experience. I'm more than willing to lend my back if I can borrow their brains. Our neuro/neurosurg unit is a bit like LTC crossed with psych, with some critical care thrown in for fun. What makes it bearable is that we work together as a team.

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The patient gets their preference regardless of what I think about it. I see that as part of their autonomy.

Co-workers and managers, on the other hand, don't have that luxury. When I read about people "naturally" asking their male counterparts to do tasks such as lifting, I just laugh and shake my head. In my previous career, had I given ANY task based on even the APPEARANCE of gender bias, my butt woulda been shown the door (and rightfully so).

Responding to patient preferences (bias?) is one thing. Allowing those preferences to drive workplace assignments is quite another.

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Specializes in Case Manager, Home Health.
When I read about people "naturally" asking their male counterparts to do tasks such as lifting, I just laugh and shake my head. In my previous career, had I given ANY task based on even the APPEARANCE of gender bias, my butt woulda been shown the door (and rightfully so).

AMEN!! My back is just as important to me as my co-workers'. Why should I get more opportunities to blow out my back just because I am male? (The only answer is I should not, thank you very much...)

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Specializes in PICU, ED, Infection Control, Education, cardiology.

I was once told by another nurse that if I was to be caring for a female patient that it was in my best interest to bring another nurse with me. I do have some trouble with female patients but I think that come froms my age, and since I am very young most of my patients have children my age so I take it with a grain of salt and assure them that it is fine with me and not to feel bad about wanting a female nurse. This reassurance will usually bring them to trust me and it is then I am able to come across as a professional and tehy respect me and then usually ligthen up after that.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
When I read about people "naturally" asking their male counterparts to do tasks such as lifting, I just laugh and shake my head. In my previous career, had I given ANY task based on even the APPEARANCE of gender bias, my butt woulda been shown the door (and rightfully so).

AMEN!! My back is just as important to me as my co-workers'. Why should I get more opportunities to blow out my back just because I am male? (The only answer is I should not, thank you very much...)

I don't see this as a matter of gender as much of taking advantage of our various strengths and working around our various weaknesses. Some of the women I work with are bigger than I am, and strong. Others are small and not physically strong, but have other talents which I may need to call upon, at times.

Of course, even smaller, weaker people can lift safely, if there are enough of them. Except for a few very small patients, we rarely do a lift with less than four people, and I have no problem at all being one of them. It does help that I'm one of several guys on my crew, so none of us gets picked on every time.

A less trivial demand on my time has lately been getting called to help calm confused, combative patients. The risk of injury is greater, the time required is greater, and the stress is greater...but it turns out this is something I'm very good at. In general, my nursing skills aren't as good as the women I work with, who have a lot more experience than I do. So I kind of enjoy having one skill that's the equal, or moreso, of theirs.

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I don't see this as a matter of gender as much of taking advantage of our various strengths and working around our various weaknesses. Some of the women I work with are bigger than I am, and strong. Others are small and not physically strong, but have other talents which I may need to call upon, at times.

Of course, even smaller, weaker people can lift safely, if there are enough of them. Except for a few very small patients, we rarely do a lift with less than four people, and I have no problem at all being one of them. It does help that I'm one of several guys on my crew, so none of us gets picked on every time.

A less trivial demand on my time has lately been getting called to help calm confused, combative patients. The risk of injury is greater, the time required is greater, and the stress is greater...but it turns out this is something I'm very good at. In general, my nursing skills aren't as good as the women I work with, who have a lot more experience than I do. So I kind of enjoy having one skill that's the equal, or moreso, of theirs.

cudos for you - it is a special gift to deal GREAT with confused combative residents - i am often called on when i am not on teh alzheimers wing ( they usually try to let me be there but occassionally there is a conflict with one nurse who is sooooo slow that they put her there ( scary thought but true) just cause there are so few treatments and pills compared to the other woings - but she is so horrible with dealing with thema nd often sets them off - sigh - the justice huh?

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

cudos for you - it is a special gift to deal GREAT with confused combative residents - i am often called on when i am not on teh alzheimers wing ( they usually try to let me be there but occassionally there is a conflict with one nurse who is sooooo slow that they put her there ( scary thought but true) just cause there are so few treatments and pills compared to the other woings - but she is so horrible with dealing with thema nd often sets them off - sigh - the justice huh?

Thank you. I think much of my "gift" goes back to my "non-threatening" post. Being a little older may give me a little authority over the younger ones, but generally seems to make me seem less threatening. I'm also only 5'6", so that isn't real imposing. On the other hand, I'm strong enough to use a little muscle for firm persuasion, if needed.

My real point, though, is that if I have trouble with a Foley, or even an IV stick, it's a lot easier to ask for help when I feel like I have others skills to offer. My co-workers have been generous with help throughout my first year, but one feels more a part of a team when one can offer help in return.

From all I've read, I feel quite fortunate to be where I am. Our patients can be difficult to care for, but we have a core group of nurses who care about each other and genuinely want all of us to do well. Especially as a new nurse, I can't overstate the value of not feeling completely on your own when a patient goes south, or even when some relatively minor task seems impossible.

I'm not sure what makes our unit work. Partly, I suppose it's working weekend nights. We tend to be the same group--I think 7 out of the 9 nurses our unit can run are permanent weekend nights, so we know what to expect of one another. Then, too, our patients are difficult--if we didn't work together, we'd all be in deep doo-doo a fair portion of the time. But I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the leadership of some of our most experienced nurses who are the antithesis of "eating their young." I wonder whether some of the experienced nurses on these boards are aware just how powerful they can be. Certainly, it's a lesson I hope to take to heart as I eventually become one of those experienced nurses.

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Specializes in L&D, OBED, NICU, Lactation.

I just wanted to share my experiences from nursing school and now in my chosen specialty. On the first day of my L&D rotation, one of my instructors (a childbirth educator who admittedly prefers post-partum) told me to "not worry, stay out the away and it would be over soon." I was extremely offended by this as I was looking forward to this rotation. Luckily, my other instructor (a L&D CNS noticed my reaction and proceeded to get me involved in EVERYTHING, I managed to see 6 lady partsl births and 2 C-sections in my rotation, more than anyone else in the group. I have done internal exams, taught and assisted moms with breastfeeding, and never once did I have a patient say anything or give outward signs of discomfort (for the record, I have switched patients even when the patient said they were okay with what I was doing but I got a different "vibe" as I understand some people have their preferences) If it wasn't for her, it would have been a horrible rotation. During my nursing school days, I was a CNA in the hospitals float pool. One day after my L&D clinical I was floated to the L&D unit, which made sense as I had spent all day there. The night charge nurse, upon seeing me, relegated me to the front desk saying that "men do not work on this unit" and that I should answer the phone all night. Well, men DO work on that unit, there are male OB/GYN's, RT's, Rad Tech's, Housekeeping, but apparently a male nursing student and CNA was not allowed to perform intimate procedures such as taking vitals signs and changing beds. Needless to say, I don't take things like that lightly and went to the VP of nursing. The charge nurse ended up being suspended and left the facility.

I have generally had positive experiences with female patients, one new mom even told my instructor that she preferred me over my female counterpart that I was paired with. Now I work in a Level III NICU where I am the only guy that is hired into the unit. There are other guys that float there from the float pool however. I have felt more bias from my co-workers than from the parents. Some moms find it amusing that my hands can completely surround their little preemies. The hardest part I have had to deal with is feeling like I have to do more to fit in and earn respect than my peers in the same orientation group. We are all RN's, we all have the same level of experience being new grads and yet everything I do is (seemingly) more closely scrutinized than what they do. What is good for me is that I am very vocal and do not allow myself to be treated differently, I am just as capable as anyone else with the same level of experience as an RN.

I think that the view of men in nursing is changing for the better and more men are going into areas which were traditionally off-limits. I constantly correct my peers when they call me a male nurse, usually by just calling them a female nurse. They usually get the point pretty quickly. I love my career and couldn't imagine myself doing anything else.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, Hemodialysis.

Funny (or not so funny) thing happened a couple of days ago. I called maintenance because of a clogged sink in a pt's room. Well, maintenance man comes and in walks a female housekeeper with him. I asked her about why she came in there and she told me that whenever a male maint. worker goes into a female pt's room, a female housekeeper must go into the room with him. Oh, yes, we have gone to far! IMHO. Once again, only a VERY small part of the male population are sexual deviants. Please, act accordingly!

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Funny (or not so funny) thing happened a couple of days ago. I called maintenance because of a clogged sink in a pt's room. Well, maintenance man comes and in walks a female housekeeper with him. I asked her about why she came in there and she told me that whenever a male maint. worker goes into a female pt's room, a female housekeeper must go into the room with him. Oh, yes, we have gone to far! IMHO. Once again, only a VERY small part of the male population are sexual deviants. Please, act accordingly!

Of course the same "policy" also requires that a male housekeeper must accompany a female housekeeper when she goes into a male patient's room right? Yea, right! I already know the answer to that.....:madface:

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I seem to get consistently lower BPs when they're done by a female. I think it's more comforting, being touched by a female, but it could simply be that the female nurses and aides who've taken my pressure were more practiced than the couple of males who've done it.

Nope. You have lower BP's because your blood is "shunting" elsewhere.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
Nope. You have lower BP's because your blood is "shunting" elsewhere.

Yeah, I considered that hypothesis, but one of the mixed blessings of middle age is that it doesn't usually start "shunting" every time the wind changes, except during the spring.

It is amazing, though, how diverting a little blood away from your central nervous system can alter your throught processes...

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