male student nurses

northern girl · Apr 22, 2000

Here is my dilema with male nurses (and students for that matter).

Both my husband and I are nurses. He and all the other male nurses I know are competent, professional, practitioners. My guy floats to L&D and to other places where male nurses are not normally found. I think it is great that male nurses are becoming more intergrated but...

but at the same time i can see how there would be problems with the patients. I am a pretty shy person and there are certain times when I would not want a male nurse. One can argue that many of the docs are male and are with the patients, but due to the scope of practice between RNs and MDs there is a difference, I can't explain it but it is there.

There are certainly some ingrained social percetions that are going to need to be sorted out before male nurses can just be 'one of the girls'.

Good luck with your research!

Deb2300 · Apr 24, 2000

I find the older female patients want nothing to do with a male nurse or a male CNA. It must be an age barrier block. The female patients simply don't feel comfortable around the male healthcare workers and have no trouble telling them so.

Any female patient under the age of 60 seems to be quite accepting of the male nurse or CNA. In fact, the male nurse quite often receives more compliments than the female nurse. I think it's their voice. The male voice is more soothing and confident sounding.

I've been a patient a couple of different times, and have had a male nurse. I was quite comfortable with them. It's all in their approach. If the male nurse has any hang-ups, the female patient is going to pick up on it immediately.

The male nurses don't stay in any one place too long, though. I'm not sure why that is.

NurseRachet · Apr 25, 2000

My exposure to male nurses or techs have always proven that they get more respect from the physicians, and are often mistaken for doctors by the patients. Older patients frown upon a male nurse taking care of their "personal" needs, especially female patients. I have known some really qualified, professional male nurses that almost get run out of the room by the female patient. Believe it or not, some of the older male patients like it when a nice, young female take care of them.

bunky, BSN, RN · May 5, 2000

I too did a project on that same subject. In my research I found out that males in nursing get promoted to management positions a lot. I think the number was something like 1 in 3 is in management. I also learned that female co-workers tended to value the male nurses opinion less, but that they called upon the male to assist with heavy lifting. From my research I learned that female nursing teachers were harder on male students as well. One article I read said that female nurses were the ones most likely to say no to having a male as their nurse too. In the working world I have found that doctors do tend to treat male nurses with more respect. Hope this info helps.

JGlassRN · May 9, 2000

As a new RN Grad, I must say this,I never had a teacher to be any harder on me than they would have been on a female student,I did have a few pt's think I was a doc,so that does happen,as far as DR's respecting male RN's more than FM,I didn't see any difference because the facility's that I did my clinical rotations in were occupied more with younger Docs that didn't have "old fashion" beliefs so they respected the fm's like they deserved to be respected so I would think that the location and the people involved would play a major role on this issue so its about impossible to come to any real accurate conclusions on this matter.

LenMalRN · May 9, 2000

Originally posted by sicman:
I am looking for information anyone might have on the subject of pros/cons of being a male student nurse, i.e. any bias or favortism, or just personal stories you might have. This is for a research project so any replies shall reamin anonymous.

As A recent grad I haven't found to many problems, yes i am mistaken some times as a doctor but i always say to the patient who calls me doctor no I'm a nurse i work for a living and that always make the patient laugh. As far as the doctor's respecting a male nurse more I have found that the doc's who bully female nurse's dont try it with me, I do find I get a quicker response to my calls from the female docs then my female coworkers. All in all though i have to say that 99% of my experience in nursing is very very positive.

MuldrowRN · May 20, 2000

20 years ago, I first started LPN school. Since that time, I have completed RN school. In the 20 years, I have seen many changes, but one thing that remains constant is Nursing remains 95% women. I found that the older nuses resented me for being on "their turf". Older female patients were fifty-fifty to allow me to take care of them. Now I get more respect with the nurses and residents. I don't think I would recomend this proffession to a male but if you truely care for people, there is nothing finer to do.

graham20 · May 26, 2000

I am a nurse, but my student days are 17 years behind me. Then and now, I find that older, rather than younger people tend to be more accepting of nurses who are male. There were female colleagues who treated me with favouritism, and those who thought that I shouldn't be there. The same I imagine for anybody working in a field dominated by the 'opposite' gender. Its true that more men seem to be promoted, but thats probably because more men apply for promotion. But I ask the question... why is the police force dominated by men and nursing, by women? There are an awful lot of similar attributes required. Its all down to perception, and that changes with time.

slainte.