Interesting facts and observations.

Nursing Students Male Students

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I am a nursing student and have been working as a Nurse's Aide for just over one year.

To date I have helped care for just over 500 patients.

A grand total of three (3) have specifically asked for a female aide to help with "personal hygiene."

However, I've had six family members say that their loved one would prefer a female, and after said family member has gone home, the patients all profusely apologized.

I have had around 15 patients (both male and female) inform me that they actually prefer a male (I don't ask why, so don't ask me).

The vast majority seem to be oblivious as to the gender of their caregivers, they seem only concerned that they are getting proper care. This is how it should be.

I guess I should have been more clear on that one, I am in the middle of freaking nowhere. Work in a 26 bed hospital in a town of approx 2000. I live in a town about 30 miles away with about 200 people (most of them are about that old as well:chuckle). Hell, the nearest Walmart is 40 miles away.

I realize that out here I am far from the "norm" being a male nurse. This is the middle af farm country Nebraska. It is strange enough to most guys out here that I am not a farmer, let alone that I am a nurse. Attitudes are not that changed around here from what they were 20-30+ years ago. I wouldn't have it any other way though, I moved my family out here for that reason (wife and 3 kids).

I don't like alot of what we call progress now days myself. I will not post most of my opinions because they are just that, MINE. I don't fit in well with main stream modern sociaty.

Tom

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Specializes in sub-acute.
I dont look like a male nurse.

I am in a RN program was a medic in the military and have not ran into this issue in a hospital yet.

In the military it is how free medical care would be (you have no choices) and everyone know this.

But recently at an orientation for the RN program i could see a female student who was in her second year was taking people pictures.

she proceeded to ask each male and female couples who is the student, she did this to the whole room.

Mind you im 5'10 240 and im not fat, im not cut but i am a very big guy and i dont mean height.

so she proceeded to take my wifes picture and ignore me, she asks her name to write the info down and my wife goes he is the student. they have 5 men in her class and there about 5 in mine but she was I guess intimidated by my looks and assumed I could not be a male nurse.

I am curious how it will affect me in my career, I am good looking and muscular not something you see in straight male nurses. every other male nurse i have met noit in the army seemed a little fem but this cannot be the rule can it be?

I currently work as an instructor for mentally disabled adults, pretty severly mentally disabled and I get looks when anyone new comes in the 4 other men who work there are 45+ very overweight I dont fit that mold but noone has said i cant do something because they dont feel comfortable. this field is mainly female also there are 19 females that work at this center alone.[/quote

Hehe. I am 6'3" and 280 lbs. Sometimes I get an occasional comment from elderly women on my size. But very rarely from any other PT's. By the time I am finished with the admission assessment they have forgotten that I am anything but one of the nurses who will be caring for them.

Infact, outside of clinicals from school, I have yet to have any PT refuse care from me. I still think that my instructor "refused" care FOR me on a couple occasions.

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So, I don't know about all this "what a male nurse should look like" stuff. It seems rather irrelevant to me.

I'm 6'7" and go about 275 lbs, how would I qualify? LOL.

BTW, there are only TWO nurses that are of the male variant in our entire hospital. There are 3 male student nurses including me.

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I have only met 3 other male RN's in my whole life. they were all nice.

One was 6 foot 1ish he is fem more fem then the woman who was with him.

second one was about 5 foot 7 very nice but was something different about him never picked up on it.

third was a old hippie he was about 5 foot 8 and he was lest just say liberal he truly cared for his patients and we had a long discussion on how most nurses he has worked with had bad opinions on pain meds.

he was my pharmacology instructor so it wasnt out of context and he also taught us stuff like how to tell if nurses are stealing PT meds, how to talk determine if a pT is seeking meds for personal use...

another discussion was about how RN's hold meds from PT's because they think a 80 year old man with cancer is med seeking and dont need it.

long story short he teaches to break this poor line of thinking

all of these men looked the same, they were all very thin dont think they have ever lifted a weight in their life. very soft spoken basically not like me.

just an observation good to hear not all male nurses are cut and paste.

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It is personal because it is gender discrimination. No matter how you cut it.

No it is personal because we are talking about one individual patient and their personal body parts..please don't confuse my body with public transit..

I should retain al rights over who sees me naked or touches me even when I am a patient in the hospital , I think everyone deserves that right. It is not all about "you guys" it is personal for whatever reason for the patient.

I have worked with guys that have female patients on vents and sedated and have left her chests exposed (no gown no sheet) when I confronted them they said that if she coded they wanted to be able to get to her chest quickly but they did not do this to their male patients that always had on gowns and sheets and blankets.

On the other hand if I were a male nurse I would not want to be in the room with a patient that did not want me there, you could just be setting yourself up for future problems.

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One says: "It is personal because it is gender discrimination. No matter how you cut it."

the other says "No it is personal because we are talking about one individual patient and their personal body parts..please don't confuse my body with public transit..

I should retain al rights over who sees me naked or touches me even when I am a patient in the hospital , I think everyone deserves that right. It is not all about "you guys" it is personal for whatever reason for the patient."

then to follow this thread of logic, no one would bat an eye if a male patient asked for male staff only... right? Because everyone deserves that right.

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You are right. I would not want to have a room that the patient did not want me in. It is their body. They have that right. Just as I have the right to demand a male nurse, and if the facility can not provide it to me, then what? What would you call providing service, treatment, or choice to one patient and not the other? Anything but discrimination?

I see why you would not want the male nurses you described working on you. Leaving the breast exposed like that is totally unacceptable. You do however; disrespect my professionalism by judging my ethics by their practice. You would expect the same treatment from me. You could not be farther from the truth!

The other women who refuse treatment from the male nurse; use similar ideology that pre judge my professionalism. That is why I take it personal.

Like I said, the patient has that right to say who treats but it is a personal attack of discrimination. That is fact no matter how you cut it.

I will now always ask for male nurses only because I am more comfortable with them. It is my right as well.

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You are right. I would not want to have a room that the patient did not want me in. It is their body. They have that right. Just as I have the right to demand a male nurse, and if the facility can not provide it to me, then what? What would you call providing service, treatment, or choice to one patient and not the other? Anything but discrimination?

I see why you would not want the male nurses you described working on you. Leaving the breast exposed like that is totally unacceptable. You do however; disrespect my professionalism by judging my ethics by their practice. You would expect the same treatment from me. You could not be farther from the truth! The other women who refuse treatment from the male nurse; use similar ideology that pre judge my professionalism. That is why I take it personal.

Like I said the patient has that right but it is a personal attack of discrimination. That is fact no matter how you cut it.

Like I said, I will now always ask for male nurses only because I am more comfortable with them.

I don't think you quite get it..a woman that doesn't a male nurse to treat her probably doesn't want that because he is a male nothing to do with him personnally or professionally. What about the Islamic women whose husbands insist that no males even come in his wife's room, what about the rape victims should they have to be further insulted by going through an exam they particularly don't want to have, by a male?

I hope you do not think I am attacking you professionally or personally because I do not even know you, therefore, how can it be personal or professional, the same for the patients.

Personally I wouldn't be offended by you asking for a male nurse to care for you instead of me and with as many male nurses there are I am sure you would probably get what you asked for. I wouldn't feel discriminated against, I would respect your wishes.

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what about the islamic women whose husbands insist that no males even come in his wife's room, what about the rape victims should they have to be further insulted by going through an exam they particularly don't want to have, by a male?

and......... i don't think you get it. while i agree with ^ this part of the post, i also must tell you that it is not the usual reason. yes these exceptions do occur but it is not the majority of instances and you know it. it is simply because the patient might feel uncomfortable with a male nurse and nothing more. so...... yes it is an insult to my professionalism.

just like you know.....how women can't manage companies because they are women. it has nothing to do with being female. it is just that corporate entities prefer only men in those positions (some foreign companies have traditions of not dealing with women). it's nothing personal; nothing against the professionalism of a woman, it is just what they like... so please do not take it wrong...... yes, this is a little different circumstance but it is very much alike.

i could go on and on but it won't change either of our opinions. i still would not want to cover a room that had a patient that didn't want me there. that doesn't change the fact that they insult my professionalism.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
That doesn't change the fact that they insult my professionalism.

Correct. When you get down to it, it is an insult to one's professionalism when a person asks for a nurse based soley on gender.

However, I choose not to look at it in that extreme. I've walked into a room and a little old lady has said "can you get one of the girls to help me....". I'm not going to get bent out of shape and feel that my professionalism is under attack.

Yes, we are going to run into people that feel male nurses aren't as good as female nurses. I(t's a mindset that is definatley out there.

But more often it's just a matter of comfort and I understand because I choose to have a male doctor precisely for that reason. Now if he was out of town and a female doctor came in to examine me, I wouldn't insult her professionalism and ask for a male doctor/ARNP. If I was a patient, I probably wouldn't ask for a male nurse either because I realize all are competent. But when I think about it, if I needed something like a catheter, what would be so wrong with me asking for a male to do it, when that's what I'm more comfortable with. It's not that I don't think females are not professionally competent, I know better, it's a matter of comfort.

So I see what you're saying, but I can understand the other side too.

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Yes, I see the other side too. It just kills me when women say that it isn't anything personal. When I started at this hospital a couple of years ago, it didn't happen hardly at all (I work in surgery). Now it is like once a month I am ban from a room because the patient requests no males in the room.

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Yes, I see the other side too. It just kills me when women say that it isn't anything personal. When I started at this hospital a couple of years ago, it didn't happen hardly at all (I work in surgery). Now it is like once a month I am ban from a room because the patient requests no males in the room.

no males in the room? at all?

It is interesting that this preference is generally only directed towards nurses and not towards physicians i.e. one does not insist on only female surgeons, a female anesthesiologist, etc. Therein lies the personal insult to one's professionalism. If a profession such as medicine can transcend the sexuality and go beyond it to provide proper medical care, why can't a profession such as nursing...

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