Male Nurses.

PhePhe, RN · May 28, 2003

I think people mistakenly think most male nurses are gay, if they have the slightest bit if female qualities about them. I love working with make nurses!

colleen10 · May 28, 2003

Hmmm.... Roxanne got me thinking. What is it about nursing that makes men want to leave at a higher rate than women? Is it that they as men have other career opportunities in male dominated fields or maybe it's even that since they are a minority they soon become disenchanted with being a minority and want to leave.

Would be interested in everyone's perspective on this.

And I'd figure that most men in nursing make the same amount of money as women because of unions, etc. like smilingblue said.

But, I have been a woman who was paid a significantly lower salary than a male for doing the same job and in fact I even had more on the job experience. I have also been sexually harassed at work and given simpler assignments and not allowed to progress career wise or within a company because as a female employee it is pointless to invest time and education in me because all I want to do anyway is make babies and not work. And, I'm only 28 years old. This isn't 1950.

Until women truly are treated equally in the job market there will always be gender issues.

sanakruz, ADN · May 28, 2003

"Is it true what they say?"

Who are THEY?

I had a similar experience with a male collegue making more than myself,colleen10.

This is not a good thing,futurernmichael.

But I still would like to know who they are.

Nursing instructors? Physicians? Ball turret gunners?

atownsendrn · May 28, 2003

They also speculated that the salaries in these professions may rise as more men enter these fields.

Hey if it takes a man in the department to raise salaries, then I'm all for it. Plus a little testerone in all that estrogen sometimes makes things flow more smoothly.

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · May 28, 2003

Originally posted by atownsendrn
Hey if it takes a man in the department to raise salaries, then I'm all for it. Plus a little testerone in all that estrogen sometimes makes things flow more smoothly.

Amen to that!

Angelica · May 28, 2003

I got a serious case of deja vu when I read this thread. I remember one from a few months ago that was very similar. That thread turned very ugly, though, and was pulled after the original poster made an extremely rude request.

tris · May 28, 2003

I have not had the priveledge of working with many male nurses, but the few that I have worked with have been great. I agree with someone before, personally I could care less what their sex is as long as they are competent in the job they are doing. It is too bad that it is the way it is with the nursing population, mostly females but I am sure with time that will change, just as most everything does!!!!

Tris

Snakum · May 28, 2003

... and on that note:

I am 6'1" and 200, still rather muscled at 39, and I have tattoos that I intend to keep covered. I have often wondered how I'd be percieved as a nurse. I can just see myself walking into a young patient's room and have the family gasp "No way Jose!"

Does this happen? How is this handled?

Minh

(Soon to be Nursing student after YEARS in Engineering)

colleen10 · May 28, 2003

I don't know Snakum, with a build like that I'd be more worried about all the nurses and aides coming to you to help them lift patients.

jlsand · May 28, 2003

As a male in nursing, I can say in the 18 years of doing this, I have never seen anything special with male nurses getting more promotions or higher pay. Not at all. I guess I've been lucky to work at institutions that are fair when it comes to genders.:)

I have rarely encountered anyone not wanting me as their nurse. It usually is young women with female problems that are the most uncomfortable. I usually do not get these patients, but if I do, if they are uncomfortable, I switch with a coworker. I used to be bothered by it, but as a professional, I have to see it from the patients point of view. If I were in their situation, I may feel the same.

I love my coworkers, (generally, ha ha) and feel priviledged to be enough of a man to work in nursing. My coworkers, mostly all female, seem to really enjoy having me around. My performance appraisals from them are great!

My blog

Jussurfin · May 28, 2003

Originally posted by colleen10
Hmmm.... Roxanne got me thinking. What is it about nursing that makes men want to leave at a higher rate than women? Is it that they as men have other career opportunities in male dominated fields or maybe it's even that since they are a minority they soon become disenchanted with being a minority and want to leave.

Would be interested in everyone's perspective on this.

My perspective? I would not place much validity in the male/female dropout statistic quoted above. To me it is VERY MISLEADING as explained below. The reason is that there is such a great disparity in the number of nurses who are female vs. the number of nurses who are male.

Roxannkkb wrote "In a recent study out of U Penn, Julie Sochalski, RN, PhD, found that 7.5 percent of new male nurses left the profession within four years of graduating from nursing school, compared to 4.1 percent of new female nurses. That's double the rate!"

Well, yes, it is double the rate if you look at it from a percentage standpoint but it is hardly the case and quite the reverse if you look at numbers. To illustrate, if you have 10,000 nurses (or whatever number) and use the currently available statistics that approximately 7% of nurses are male the result is 700 nurses who are male and 9,300 nurses who are female. If, as quoted earlier, 7.5% of the nurses who are male leave the profession in four years, this is a total of only 53 males. The quoted dropout rate for females is 4.1% or a total of 381 nurses. Looking at the numbers, not the percentages, you could also say that for every 1 male dropout you have 7 female dropouts or that females drop out of the profession at 7 times the rate of males!!!!!!!!! But Julie Sochalski of the U of Penn didn't quite put it that way, did she?

My point is simply this: Be wary of statistics, they can be twisted and misleading. The statistic, because of the IMMENSE disparity in the numbers of male/female nurses, is not valid. If the numbers of male/female nurses were more equal, i.e., at or near 50% for each, I think you would see a dropout rate that would be statistically comparable for both males/females.

This brings up another point for discussion while we are discussing males in the profession. Males are entering the profession at an ever- so-slow rate but the fact is they are entering the nursing profession. For many, it is a second or third career with 27-28 being the average age of a nursing student. I don't think there will be anyone here (or elsewhere) who will agree with me but I foresee the day when the nursing profession will be about 50% females and 50% males, and it may even be 60% males vs. 40% females. But this won't happen overnight.

This gender reversal trend is happening under our noses with doctors but only in reverse and at a more rapid rate. Of the currently practicing physicians, approximately slightly more than a third are females. In many if not most medical schools, there are more female medical students than males. As an aside, if anyone saw the repeat segment "Boys & Girls" on "60 Minutes" this past Sunday one quote was, "Girls don't want to be nurses anymore, they want to be doctors." The segment chronicled how girls generally excel and do better than boys in school, how they often receive preferential treatment by mostly female teachers and how the boys tend to be overlooked.

It's just my opinion but I think it is only a matter of time before female physicians outnumber male physicians, maybe in 20-25 years if not sooner. And, in my opinion, I also think that males will outnumber females in the nursing profession but it will take much longer, maybe 40-50 years. The ratios for both doctors and nurses may in the vicinity of 60-40%. And yes, one day we will have a female President!

Nothing is as constant as change.........

Snakum · May 28, 2003

with a build like that I'd be more worried about all the nurses and aides coming to you to help them lift patients.

My fiance, a CCRN for almost 20 years has already warned me about this one.

For my part ... glad to help in any way I can.

Minh