Male surgical nurse?

[uRabbit]

I am a 21 year old male. I am submitting my financial info to Boise State University this week for their RN bachelor's program. I hold a certification in Massage Therapy from Apollo college. It hasn't gotten me anywhere. MT is a field dominated by two classes of people: women and sexists. I have been unable to put my education as a MT to use because of sexism and lack of funds to rent out a space. So as I'm entering into a new field, I'd like to make sure that my gender won't matter.

I have worked three years in the developmental disabilities field, and am ready to move on. I am VERY interested in the surgical field, especially since I have been a survivor of multiple critical surgeries.

Is there much gender-specific prejudice in this field?

How do I receive specialization in surgical nursing?

Thanks all!

[moodwaffle]

Dude,

No sexism where I'm at (Washington State). If anything, the foreign female docs get all nervous around us male nurses for some reason, but other than that... if you can put up with drama and gossip all day long, welcome to nursing!

[uRabbit]

Haha gossip and drama (from clients and coworkers) is an all day every day occurence in my current line of work.

I plan to be working in the Seattle area. So maybe I'll see you around. :)

[orangepink, NP]

there isn't much sexism in nursing, from what i've seen so far. i do however feel that male nurses should be more cautious , more distant when interacting with female patients because someone in our facility has been charged with sexual harassment. for example, as a male nurse, refrain from hugging your patients or holding hands with your patient unless there's a 3rd party in your room. one of our male nurses won't put a foley in a female unless a 3rd party is inside the room. or sometimes, he'd just ask a favor from one of the female nurses to take it out. this is just a heads up.

[uRabbit]

Good advice. Thank you much!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

A lot of men become OR circulators.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

There's sexism everywhere, just like there's prejudices everywhere. Depends on how you handle it. For the most part, if I had to generalize, the male nurses tend to get more respect from the patients simply because they are male and mistaken for "The Doctor"! Also, there's that weird tendency to think that a male RN is "working on getting an MD". Kinda stupid, but there it is.

As for certification, if you mean certifying as a medical-surgical RN, you need to have been working for a minimum of two years AS an RN, with a minimum of 2000 hours of clinical time in the specialty before being allowed to sit for cert exam.

If you're meaning surgical as in 'OR', that's probably best answered by someone else :)

[PAERRN20]

I see male nurses in the ER, OR, ICU, CCU, telemetry, and surgical too. Where I haven't seen many males is OB, nursery, rehab, or long term care. I know some people have other thoughts but no way I want a male nurse when I am in labor. I have no problem with a male nursery/NICU nurse- but Labor and Deliver-no way! Good luck!