male nurses in ob

Nurses Men

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I am wondering what the general experience of fellow RNs who happen to be male. In nursing school we were expected to do everything the females did. I did foley caths, shave preps, enemas, watched delieveries, checked pads, did peri lights, checked for dilitation and efacement. I was told by 2 instructors I should consider L&D for a career because of the positive feedback from my patients. Yet I find myself doing 14+ yrs. critical care which I love doing because I haven't yet found a place that would hire a male for ob. I think this is discrimination based solely on gender. If I had the chance to go to an ob setting now, I'd jump on it.

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Blues Forever

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I'm in agreement that I feel it's discrimination for hospitals not to hire nurses just on the basis that they are male. When I was in nursing school I had to have patients permission to watch deliveries etc and I was turned down by many even though many of the OB/GYNs were male. Male patients usually don't have a choice whether or not their nurse will be a male. Maybe in the future hospitals will realize that males can be an asset in OB!

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Where I did my clinical, the mother-in-law of one of my patients worked in the hospital cafeteria so I saw her every clinical day at lunch and she kept thanking me over and over again for taking such good care of her daughter-in-law. I was lucky. I never had a patient not let me take full care of her. My approach was simple. I acted in a totally professional manner. For some reason a female touching a males member is okay, but let a male touch a lady parts and there can be hell to pay. For some reason hospitals think male doctors can act professional but male nurses can't. I hate the term "male nurse". My license says "Registered Nurse" and that is all that should matter.

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Blues Forever

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Speaking as a nurse AND a mother, I don't mind male nurses in OB at ALL!!! I found that the FEMALE nurses were less compassionate and caring in L&D, since most compared MY deliveries to their OWN! Of course NOTHING was as bad as what THEY went through!! smile.gif

Seriously, though, gender discrimination is an important issue, and I look forward to the day when we are all judged on our professional merit and ability, not on which bathroom we use!!!

Good Luck!!

Heather

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