Male Nurses

Nurses General Nursing

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So my "friends" keep telling me that becoming a mail nurse is gay.

and the finance wise i wont be good later in life.

Just wanted to know how common are male nurse? are they look at differently from patients? I'm i less likely to get hired for being male?

Nursing is a job. I make 6 figures at nursing, have solid work, and have been doing this for the past 13 years. Yes, I work a lot of hours, but so what. I take a lot of call, but that's okay. I'm a charge nurse in the O.R. I've moved up the ladder after a lot of moves. I've struggled with being a guy in a woman's world, but it's okay. Who cares what the patients think? I just do my job professionally and don't worry about anything else.

I think the big question you should ask yourself is "Why nursing?" because here's the deal...it ain't easy, but it's rewarding and there are so many avenues you can take in nursing. If you are worried people will think you're gay...I wonder if people will think you are mature. There's gay nurses, so what...it isn't assumed. Get over that.

Financially, it's a good and you'll be fine. It's a secure vocation. My father is a nurse, (as well as my grandmother, mother, aunt, step-mother and alot of my friends). Male nurses, in my experience, do gravitate to certain areas more than others. The only area I ever saw a hint of a problem was in OB. We had a male nurse orient for awhile when I was an OB nurse and yes, the seasoned nurses squawked alot. Some patients even were uncomfortable, I suppose because it bothered their idea of what they felt the role of a labor nurse is. He didn't stay in OB but went happily into Neonatal Intensive Care and did quite well.

I was asked once why didn't I go to med school. At the time I guess I was following the family biz. I was comfortable with it having been raised around so many. I didn't know at the time exactly how to answer but I have thought about it over the years since. It's not because I thought I wasn't smart enough to be a doctor. If you can get through nursing school you could (theoretically speaking) get through med school. Both are difficult. Both require intelligence, of course. I have noticed over the years and tried to explain in many discussions with doctors that our focus is different. It's a complex topic and I can't touch on everything to make this point here, but...nurses, "first do no harm" 2nd, "ease the suffering". We are many things but often we are the 'go-between' for the patient and the doctor. I find myself often explaining the doctor to the patient and the patient to the doctor. Doctors fix. They treat. They don't usually have alot of time, sadly, but it doesn't make them bad. Nurses understand both sides. We educate and heal and take alot of crap too.

To be a good nurse you have to have compassion. You have to find satisfaction in small things and you have to understand human dynamics. As a man you will be mistaken for a doctor sometimes, maybe more often than female nurses. I'm sure some female doctors are mistaken for nurses even though both scenarios are just as common in both disciplines. But you really should think about what drives your interest in nursing. If you think it's the "fast" way to a decent paycheck...okay, but you'll probably hate your job. If you want to help people and you like people...if you have a fairly thick skin, (because people can be jerks, especially sick people) you'll find your way in nursing.

HI, Keptonkurtis ...

Being a nurse is no shame.. As being anything else you wanna be.. I'm a male nurse and do care for my patients as well as any other nurse regardless of gender.. It is you who makes you be the nurse that cares, and comforts those in need, not your gender.. Regardless of what other people say about male nurses are Gay.. I you truly wanna become a nurse, then go for it... Regards to the pay, it compensable to other professions, but the rewards that come from the job are amazing rewards that $$$ cannot buy/pay for it.. Just the feeling of helping other human being, that their life/health is in your hands are rewards enough.. I have worked in Healthcare for about 25yrs, seen many nurses come and go... As other posters was saying it is somewhat a secure job.. If you don't like the setting you working on, you can moved to the next one.. Many fields of specially and areas you can work.. Wish you luck in your journey where ever it may lead/take you...

One step at a time will get you there... take care..

"Behind a good doctor, there is even a better nurse" :lol2:

Specializes in Community Health & MedSurg.

I have a t-shirt that reads "That's MR. nurse to you", and wear it to work regularly. The only problem I have is correcting people that automatically assume I'm a doctor. What you do in the bedroom has nothing to do with your chosen career. Unless you're a prostitute.

I searched my personal "Quotes" lists and found one I had saved from is5512 (on this site!):

'
...I decided to fight back, and chase this thing out of me. And then I thought of the next person who would be in that hospital bed, and what they'd be going through.

'
I once read that fighting for the defenseless was the highest calling of a man. A Nurse fights on behalf of a patient who can't. When the patient is able, the Nurse teaches them how to fight back. I'm not going to get into class warfare about Doctors and Nurses, but the Nurse is the one who stands guard during the night shift and tells the enemy, "Not on MY watch, you don't."

'
I'm going to be a Nurse because that's what a man does.
'

I thought that was so perfect and something for us (men), that I am tempted to commit it to memory! :yeah:

And again, as another poster...posted: who really cares what others think? Depending on your concentration, duties, opportunities (even a traffic mishap you may witness), you will make a difference in peoples' lives -- perhaps even save them!

This reminds me of a vivid dream I had early in my nursing education:

I was having lunch with a small group of friends with whom I had worked years prior. Most of us had moved on to other things.

Someone posed the question: "So...what interesting thing have you all done today?"

One was wearing fashionably-torn jean, a $120 Tommy Bahama shirt and Birkenstocks. As the last one still in the computer software industry, he spoke up first: "I completed a revolutionary animation method that will put my company on the 'map'!"

The next was a hardware engineer. He described an improvement to PC design that would net tremendous performance increases for minimal cost; this would open up amazing technological potential for the masses.

Another, dressed in a fine hand-tailored suit, "power tie" and shoes worth more than my car piped up: "I closed a deal with a new Asian market that will not only expand my company's reach by 250%, but was the stroke I needed to be made the new Vice President of my division. Oh, and there's a $350k salary that goes with it."

They all looked at me, sitting there in green scrubs, $65 white sneakers and my hospital ID with the dorky picture clipped to some trade show lanyard around my neck. They bugged their eyes out as they leaned toward me, trying to coax a laughable response out of me. I thought about the family that came into the ER that morning, especially the six-year-old girl knocked silly by her lack of a seat belt. I thought about the CPR I had performed. I finally looked up and quietly, but honestly added, "I brought a little girl back from the dead."

Pursue your dream/calling/destiny/whatever you call it.

'When your heart cries out, you must obey!'

--Triumph, "All the Way" (from the "Never Surrender" album)

Best to you,

--David

Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
How old are your friends? 10?

I'm guessing they're mostly around 17. (It has been a while, but as I recall, I was probably less mature at 17 than I was at 10, and most of my friends had the same problem.)

To the OP: nursing isn't gay. I know some great gay nurses, but most of the men who are nurses that I know well enough to know their orientation are straight. Either way, there aren't a lot of us, but there are more than there used to be, and it's a decent career. You will encounter a lot worse things in nursing than someone thinking you might be gay. It's very challenging work. Physically, I find it less demanding than when I was a carpenter, but still, at the end of three twelve-hour shifts, your muscles will know you've been working. Mentally, you do a lot of thinking, and sometimes you have to think fast. It can be overwhelming, at first, and even when you have a bit of experience, there are still times when you have to think on your feet. It also takes a lot of emotional strength. You have to be able to hold your temper when dealing with jerks, suppress your frustration when things aren't going well, and keep doing what you do even when your heart is breaking. Patients know when you are being authentic. If you want them to think you care, you have to actually care. I'm not certain it's absolutely necessary to invest yourself emotionally in your patients, but I think doing so makes it easier to understand what they need, and sometimes even what's going on with them. But at the same time, you have to maintain some detachment and look at them objectively.

Financially, it's a mixed deal. Entry-level nursing pays better than a lot of entry-level jobs, especially those you can get with a 2-year degree. But you don't advance a lot past entry-level as a bedside nurse. In four years, my pay has kept up with inflation, but that's about all. Nurses with 25-30 years experience are making maybe $10-15/hr more than me. Management positions pay better, but require at least a BSN, and usually a master's.

MSN/MBA is a good degree for management. And I'm not sure nursing management pays as well as a job with equivalent responsibility would in some other fields. On the other hand, even in this economy, job security is better in healthcare than most industries.

Specializes in Neuro Critical Care.

I am a male nurse, and my career has been a very successful one. Sure there are people that make the crude assumption that just because your a nurse and male, you must be "gay". I find this mostly from people who are insecure about them selves or feel threatened by my being a nurse.

Whether your a male or female, you will alsways be able to find a job and work, as long as your work ethic is to the highest standard, and you are proficient at whatever your area of expertise is.

Be good at what you do, be compassionate, and go into nursing for the right reasons, and you will be rewarded beyond your imagination, even more than just financially. I must say though, the "profession of nursing" is not for the faint of heart, and it requires a physical, mental and emotional stamina that not everyone has, so if your doing it just for the money, please don't do it, peoples lives are at stake here.

But if you feel you have what it takes to be a professional nurse, then do it with pride, hold your head up, and be proud to follow in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale, and you will make an excellent financial living at it.

Anthony

FMC Stroke Manager

Actually, now may be a better time than ever before for a male to chosse nursing as a career. One of the diversity-related initiatives in the current gov't administration is to attract more males and Hispanics to the field of nursing. In my experience as a nurse manager over the years I have noted that the addition of male RNs to a predominently female nursing team tempers the dynamics. Moreover some of the highest patient compliments have been directed to the male nurses.

Nursing offers plenty of opportunities to continue formal education, advance in numerous specilaties, promotions in both management and clinical tracks in hospitals and non hospital work environments etc. There is a world of potential out there for any nurse who looks for it! Nurses hold the actual solutions sought in the healthcare reform efforts.

Go for it!

Sir:

I use that as a term of complest respect.

I have had the problem of being hospitalized several times and the best Nurse that I ever had was a male Nurse. You as a group are among the most compassionate that there is. I hav never had such good care as from a male Nurse.

I have been fortunate enough to be mentor to several male Nurses,

What respect you all deserve. It may be because there are so few of you, but we desparately need you in our field.

There is nothing gay about you, but if one of you happens to be gay, so what!

I look forward to seeing more of you in our field. Someone's lifestyle shouldn't be even considered in the mix.

Please keep up the good work that I know that you will do.

macspuds,an old warhorse in the field.

being a male nurse is sooooooooooo not gay. don't know about others but where i work, we love it when we have a male nurse. i also teach nursing students (clinical mostly) and love it when i have male students. unfortunately there are many nurses that think the guys are only good for pulling up pts. some of the male nurses that i worked with over the yrs (32 1/2 to be exact) come in with an attitude that they don't have to do all of the nurses jobs...wiping butts, inserting foleys, etc...and many of them will go over and above to help out. the ones that help out without having to be asked or told are the ones that we fight over to work with:heartbeat what many of the male nurses find is that the pts think they are drs not nurses, and they get very frustrated with this impression. what you will find once you are out of school and practicing as a nurse is that you 99.9% of the time will get more respect out of the male docs then your female counterparts...this can be frustrating at times. i wish more guys would come into the profession as it seems to increase our pay when there are male nurses working at the facility....this is not meant to be sexist or profiling just an observation that has been made over the years.

look forward to coming into the greatest profession in the world!! :yeah:

I work in a large Magnet hospital system, that includes 3 hospitals in a large city and one is a children's hospital. I have worked at two of the three, and worked with many male nurses. If that's what you are called to do then go for it!! Some of the best nurses I know are male nurses. As for ASN vs. BSN, I have a ASN and had absolutely no trouble getting hired--I had my job before I graduated! I understand that they would rather have BSN nurses, but unless you are going into management that is not needed; at least where I work. We even have nurses who have the diploma of nursing that really isn't even taught anymore is it? I chose to get my ASN first because I knew that if I went back to school to get my BSN or my MSN like I want to that the hospital would reimburse me. Even in these economic times--they are still reimbursing us! My hospital even has LPNs who are either teamed with a nurse where they pass the meds, or just do rounding and help out wherever they are needed. It did take me 4 years to get my ASN since I did my prereqs first, but I still made it and love my job. Financially you will make good money and you will always have a job! Even with alot of people getting fired---my hospital is still hiring b/c people will always be sick. We have made some cut backs-not getting our yearly bonus, not getting paid as much when we are called in, and not getting a raise, which all kind of sucks; but I am SO thankful to never have to worry about not having a job, and having the option to go anywhere in the US and do many different kinds of nursing. If you are undecided, job shadow a nurse-for the whole 12 hours-and see what its really like! I am SO lucky to have such a rewarding job! I say GO FOR IT and forget about what other people think!!! :yeah::yeah::yeah:

I won't be hard to get a job as a nurse because you're a male but it might be hard to get a job as a nurse if you can't spell :) I'm half-way kidding. No, I do not think that you should be discouraged at ALL from being a nurse as a male.

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