Male WHNP/CNM

iPink, BSN, RN · Oct 16, 2014

I'm a women, but on Allnurses we do have a Male Nurse forum if you want to hear from a lot of men in our field.

My question to you is why would you think you wouldn't be taken serious on women's health as a WHNP/CNW when there are many male OBGYN MD's?

If you're going to do WHNP, I think it was a better choice to have the dual concentration with CNW as you'll have better opportunities.

Sent from iPink's phone via allnurses app

amos24 · Oct 18, 2014

thank's it means a lot because during my immersion in the hospital, many and all of the female clients wanted a female nurse to insert IFC or take a urine sample, I felt very discourage because i only under went 1 IFC change and my experience is limited to my gender. I choose WHNP/CNM because i enjoy maternal and child norms and abnormalities.... it was this i wanted to persue.... but many rumors from male nurse being snob off by many female patients... that why i might change to FNP/AGNP dual emergency role.... just because of that.....

labordude, BSN, RN · Oct 21, 2014

I'm a guy who has worked in NICU, nursery and now moving to LDRP and planning to be a CNM. I have been a lactation counselor for almost 6 years. Never once have I been asked to leave a room, but that is mostly because you pick up a sense of what patients would not want a male for whatever reason. It's really not as much of a big deal as you think, just switch assignments.There are about 75 male CNMs in the country and most have built quite large followings. As long as you can build great rapport with your patients, life gets so much easier. Best of luck!

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 21, 2014

nicuguy, I'd LOVE to hear more about your experiences! Particularly your journey in deciding to get your lactation certification. :)

labordude, BSN, RN · Oct 21, 2014

klone, what do you want to know? I started off in NICU 8.5 years ago, though I really wanted L&D. At the time everyone wanted experience so I took something related to it. Of course, I fell in love with the babies and stayed. I got interested in lactation first with the physiology and then became the unofficial night shift support for the moms. I went ahead and got my CLC, then started educating myself more and more so I could really help the NICU moms. It's morphed over the years so that when I float to the nursery, it's like they have an extra lactation person for the floor. I'm really interested in breastfeeding medicine (I just took a new job and they actually have a formal breastfeeding medicine department, go figure).

Now I have the opportunity to be an LDRP nurse in a unit that does a lot of high-risk. I really love the midwifery model (my daughter was delivered by a midwife) and want to go in that direction. It's my firm belief that just because someone is high risk doesn't mean they necessarily have to have a million medical interventions at delivery.

What else can I tell you?

RunBabyRN · Oct 22, 2014

This question always makes me sad. We don't bat an eye at a female nurse performing very intimate care with a male patient, or of a male OB/GYN performing lady partsl exams and suturing a perineum, but somehow, our society hasn't totally come around to men in OB in a nurse/CNM/WHNP role.

I had a male nurse in L&D when I had my son, and he was awesome. No different than any female RN, except he just had his own style, which, again, can be said about any nurse. Never thought he was inappropriate or had any second thoughts about him providing care.

I think it's a combination of geography and your approach. If you walk in confident and without the expectation that the patient is going to request a different nurse/provider, you might have better luck.

I, too, am planning to do CNM/WHNP, and I have heard that the market for WHNP is pretty much nil, in general, but that it's good to have as a CNM if you're looking to do more than simply pregnancy and birth.

Best of luck!

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 22, 2014

I, too, am planning to do CNM/WHNP, and I have heard that the market for WHNP is pretty much nil, in general, but that it's good to have as a CNM if you're looking to do more than simply pregnancy and birth.
Best of luck!

If a CNM program is only teaching pregnancy and birth, then they're definitely not doing a good job. Most CNM programs that I'm familiar with have a significant gyn component, and clinicals do require clinic time, which generally consists of both OB/prenatal as well as gyn. Every CNM I know is highly skilled at ALL aspects of women's care, from menarche to post-menopause. So I don't agree that a WHNP degree is needed in addition to a CNM. It's redundant. If you're planning on getting a CNM, that's all you should need to be marketable in all aspects of women's healthcare and perinatal care.

A WHNP can pretty much do everything a CNM can do except manage labor and delivery. If you're interested in working in JUST a clinic setting, then a WHNP would be useful. I do think there is demand in many areas for WHNPs - Planned Parenthood and OB/Gyn clinics, primarily.

amos24 · Oct 22, 2014

acutally i am planning to go both so i may act as a consultant from mothers and further board my horizon to become better in what i do

RunBabyRN · Oct 23, 2014

If a CNM program is only teaching pregnancy and birth, then they're definitely not doing a good job. Most CNM programs that I'm familiar with have a significant gyn component, and clinicals do require clinic time, which generally consists of both OB/prenatal as well as gyn. Every CNM I know is highly skilled at ALL aspects of women's care, from menarche to post-menopause. So I don't agree that a WHNP degree is needed in addition to a CNM. It's redundant. If you're planning on getting a CNM, that's all you should need to be marketable in all aspects of women's healthcare and perinatal care.
A WHNP can pretty much do everything a CNM can do except manage labor and delivery. If you're interested in working in JUST a clinic setting, then a WHNP would be useful. I do think there is demand in many areas for WHNPs - Planned Parenthood and OB/Gyn clinics, primarily.

My comment was oversimplified, but it can't hurt to add WHNP after your name for 6 extra units (at least in the program I'm looking at).

ArgentumRN · Oct 31, 2014

Great comments from everyone!. Glad to hear there are other guys out there supporting our moms, their babies and their partners. I strongly agree that it all depends how you present yourself and the level of support you provide your patients with. I am also a male RN working Labor and Delivery with high risk patients and I love it. Nothing beats witnessing a new life taking his/her first breath. Very unique and life changing for sure! I'd say go for it with confidence and passion. You will make a difference.

ggoodman · Nov 13, 2014

Loved to see this post as I am 30 in nursing school and after experiencing the midwifery care model and watching my wife birth our son at a free standing birth center, I was hooked. They offered complete womens care, family planning, and had practice rights at the hospital. At the time of my first sons birth I was a FF/Medic and knee deep in nursing pre reqs so I dove in, loved and learned as Much as I could through the whole experience. I am seriously considering pursuing becoming a CNM/ARNP with the goal of starting a birth center that focuses on the midwifery model and offers the complete spectrum of women's care with practice rights at the local hospital but that is still a bit of time away.