Males In L&D

Brownms46 · Apr 22, 2002

I don't get this kind of thinking... :confused: !! You have MALE OB/GYNs...but NOT male nurses??? Something doesn't compute here!

Mujesira · Apr 23, 2002

That is right but I did an reaserch paper for a nursing school and a lot of hospitals will not allow male nurses to work in OB, and when these male nurses filled a law suit, they lost???? Not fair I know but it is true.

biscuit_007 · Apr 24, 2002

I really haven't worked ob at all but i have pulled shifts on "mother baby" floors. On one occasion, in a small hospital, there was only one ob nurse on shift. Well things happen as they will sometimes and we had three mom to be's pushing at once with only and certified nurse midwife on call. Needless to say all three nurses there that night, me included,( ob nurse, post partum nurse, and me the peds nurse) delivered babies with running supervision from the midwife. It was one of the scariest moments in my entire life, not to mention my nursing career. You can imagine my surprise and relief when my patient hugged me after we were done and said that i was the only nurse she ever wanted to deliver any of her kids if she had any more.

Long story short everything went well and i really started to think that i might like working ob more often and maybe even full time, until this same hospital refused to interview me for a position in L&D because i was a male and it was against their policy to hire males in that unit.

Kinda made me more than a little angry!

The worst part, and most ironic if you ask me, is the certified nurse midwife on call that night was also a male RN.

**SKM-NURSIEPOOH, BSN, RN** · Apr 28, 2002

originally posted by brownms46
i don't get this kind of thinking...!! you have male ob/gyns...but not male nurses??? something doesn't compute here!

that is rather stupid!!! :rolleyes:

talk about double standards.

Brownms46 · Apr 28, 2002

Originally posted by Mujesira
That is right but I did an reaserch paper for a nursing school and a lot of hospitals will not allow male nurses to work in OB, and when these male nurses filled a law suit, they lost???? Not fair I know but it is true.

I have NO love for the ACLU... BUT ....I think this is one I would like to see them deal with! I'm not male...and I have never worked in OB with a male nurse.... BUT ...I HATE discrmination in any form!

MO :cool:

MHN · Apr 28, 2002

Ladies ,I am a midwife who is a male yes i have worked on and off in maternity units since i qualified in 1974 . and why do you refer to nurses who are men as "Male Nurses" we are nurses period do you call yourselves "Female Nurses"

Brownms46 · Apr 28, 2002

Originally posted by MHN
Ladies ,I am a midwife who is a male yes i have worked on and off in maternity units since i qualified in 1974 . and why do you refer to nurses who are men as "Male Nurses" we are nurses period do you call yourselves "Female Nurses"

The specific of being MALE was for the purpose of this post..on this thread....and YES .... IF I'm trying to make a point I ..will specify male or female ...geezeeeeee! You would think I was saying something derogatory about males...

MHN · Apr 28, 2002

Brown ms its a matter of affirmative action for men in nursing.

nurses are still nurses despite their gender. I did understand the first post.The use of the prefix "male " in front of nurse can confuse some people,sometime I have been asked do you just care for men.

It has always been my personal policy to given the client in the maternty unit the opportunity to express their preference about whether i cared for them or not ,some women will refuse on ethic or religeous grounds, some even because of pressure from their partners of either gender. you will also find there are some general patients who have similar preferences I have looked after men who did not want those "girlies" caring for them.

I did not mean to offend but we are all allowed our own soap box this is mine.

Brownms46 · Apr 28, 2002

MHN...from reading my posts...I felt ...I'm ALL for Males to be treated equally in nursing! My post was NOT meant to be derogartory in form ...which I thought was evident! My bad...next time I won't bother putting my two cents in...as it doesn't effect me one way or the other! I felt... NO ONE should be discriminated against period!!

I also realize that OB isn't the only place where pts are given their choice of male or female caregivers! When pts join an HMO or other healthcare organizations...they also chose whether they want a male or a female as their provider! I can understand that! But what I didn't understand... :confused: ...is why many hospitals will have OB/GYNs who are males...but not nurses who are males!!!

And YES I realize a nurse is a nurse...whether male or female...hence my confusion! But like I said...no skin off my nose....was just offering MHO... period. I don't have a say in where nurses who are male work.. Maybe you should be writing to those who do...and save the soap box for them... :cool:

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Apr 29, 2002

If a woman chooses a male OB/GYN then she has had some say in who she chooses- but that would not be the case in a small OB department. I think that a small hospital and the OB nurse that chose to work there would be opening themselves for complaints of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior as some women get a little nuts in labor (and some already are nuts). In a larger hospital though the woman would be able to state whether she felt strongly against a male OB nurse, and in addition the males in the department would be able to give the nutjobs to a nurse less vulnerable to stupid complaints.

Remember that even the male MD's use a chaperone during pelvic exams (at least in this area) and that even female nurses have been accused of performing rough painful lady partsl checks (something that as a male I imagine you would not even want to be accused of)

I think men have a right to go into OB as a specialty, but I also think that patients have a right to be cared for by someone they feel safe with. For some women a man manipulating their body parts is decidedly unsafe, and that's not the fault of the nurse, but we need to respect their fears.

Brownms46 · Apr 29, 2002

Good points canoehead! :cool: I never even thought about it that way. I guess I have never had a problem with dealing with male or female. I just wanted the best person possible. But I have totally agree with everything you have said here!