Male Nursing Instructors

s_david_a · Oct 23, 2008

We have a number of male faculty members, CI's, and lecturers: both they and their female colleagues are highly competent professionals who bring individual strengths and personal styles to the learning process. Gender, in my experience, makes no difference in their ability to teach. It *is* nice, as a male, to have males on the faculty as professional role models, but I think that the style difference you are experiencing is more of a matter of personal characteristics of the teachers than it is anything to do with gender. Also, it may be that your preferences about which nursing professors you prefer are just that: personal preferences.

nursinguy · Oct 23, 2008

I think male teacher are the best when dealing with Nursing because they get right to the meat of the subject and not bounce around giving you information you do not need. What do you think are male nursing instructors better?

Never had one.

algebra_demystified · Oct 23, 2008

I had good luck with the one male instructor I had in school. Thank you, Mr. Vale. He's one of the better instructors I've had. I think the best instructors I had were female, though. My Med/Surg III teacher was fantastic, both in the clinical setting and in the classroom. She raised the bar for us in patient assessment and in didactic knowledge. Top three of all time. My Med/Surg IV instructor was also top of the heap, she's in the top three of all time as well. Amazingly knowledgeable, sharp as a tack, pushed evidence based nursing practice very well, let us all know that we didn't know everything and there's a lot left to learn.

My psych instructor was a ninja. She could read people like a book. No matter how much you wanted to hide from her questions, she could look through your eyes right into your soul. Incredible. She had a fearless way of asking questions, even if she didn't like the answers she got. The experience of taking her class made me want to do psych. I interviewed today for a psych position and if I get it I'm going to call her and let her know she was my inspiration.

Hats off to the ladies, I think they're transferring their knowledge to us very well. I am more than thankful for the excellent job they do.

One of our lab aides taught me about compassion, another about the history of nursing, I can't say enough about how positive my experiences were with the female faculty.

I hope you guys have a lot of positive experiences with your female faculty. I sure did. And here's a shout out to Mrs. Gerard, your anatomy class was great.

C. Thinking · Oct 23, 2008

I have encountered two male nursing instructors during my student nurse tour. I can see both sides of the matter. One of them is my least favorite instructor and the other is my favorite due to his teaching methods, knowledge base, etc. The latter also has a PhD in education, so I would imagine that magnifies his teaching abilities and ability to relay information in the best possible way.

scharkdude · Oct 23, 2008

Yeah, I appreciate what you write (talking about s david a) about preferences. I haven't had any male instructors in nursing school but I've had plenty of experience with men and women in working roles and other instructional situations and I agree that it comes down to individual differences. I certainly don't think that women are automatically scattered, my experience has been that they are organized and coherent or disorganized and insensible based on their ability as individuals. I've definitely had my share of spacey guy teachers!

In a slightly different vein, I don't think women necessarily have an exclusive claim on compassion and empathy; I think it is a capacity that is expressed by human beings regardless of gender.

pnwmurse · Oct 26, 2008

I don't know if I'd say my male nursing instructors are better, but I will say that I've really enjoyed all (2) of them.

One of the instructors went a bit beyond and organized a chapter of the National Assembly for Men in Nursing at my school. He brings in speakers (both male and female) to speak with students (mostly male, although he opens the forums up to everyone). He's had new grad male RNs to come and chat, as well as nurse attorneys to talk about the unique issues of being a male nurse. As he once said, "as men we walk, talk, and execute in our profession differently than women".

I have to say I agree, and honestly I appreciate not only the validation, but also the professional role model.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Oct 28, 2008

I had only one male nursing instructor, he was a jolly older fellow retired from floor nursing, grandfatherly type - indeed he was a grandfather. He sucked at lectures, very scattered and really didn't know his stuff. But he was great in clinicals, patient and kind. I think of him fondly.

Dr. Tammy, FNP/GNP-C · Nov 5, 2008

I think male teacher are the best when dealing with Nursing because they get right to the meat of the subject and not bounce around giving you information you do not need. What do you think are male nursing instructors better?

Between ASN, BSN & MSN (completing this May) --close to 200 semester units (undergrad/Grad) I have never had one.

Extremely underrepresented. :cry: