Men in the (nursing) field

Nurses Men

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As men how are you guys treated in a field that's predominantly run by females? Regardless of the responses I have already made my mind that this is what I want to do. Ladies do you consider men an asset or a good thing that more men are joining the field? Any thoughts would be great

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

I work with a few men. They aren't really treated any differently than other nurses. I think men in nursing is a good thing .

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I've seen a few particular nurses who seem to have a problem with men who are nurses, but they are the minority (and seem to be the sort that have a problem with almost everything anyway).

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Do you guys see men like a curiosity at work given is not as common yet?..btw like you ladies mentioned I think is great that more men are joining the field I think this is so important to break a few barriers in this field.im sure this field is very rewarding

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

No they're not a curiosity where I work.

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.
No they're not a curiosity where I work.

Nor anywhere I've worked in the past decades. A numerical minority, yes, but generally welcome on the units as we add a bit of diversity to the mix.

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My ICU is about a third male staff. It isn't weird at all. It is nice to have help from the guys especially turning heavy patients. Sometimes we take turns doing each others baths if the pt is more comfortable with a man or a woman. There are also a lot of male nurses in the other units throughout the hospital, except L&D. Also there are plenty of male aides, phlebs, radiology techs, etc. I think if you want to be a nurse, go for it! Gender isn't really an issue anymore, as far as I've seen.

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Any particular unit men tend to be better or is it average on most?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.
Any particular unit men tend to be better or is it average on most?

What do you mean? "Better" as in more effective, more accepted by patients?. . . or what? Based on my own experience, there are a couple of practice areas in which male nurses seem to have an edge - one is in correctional facilities & the other is with male patients (adult or adolescent) in inpatient behavioral health.

My stomping ground is ICU - I've never noticed any gender-based differences although there are some (stone age) physicians who are far more patronizing to female nurses. In those instances, your female colleagues may call upon you to run interference for them in order to avoid bloodshed - LOL.

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Lol yes that's what I was referring to thank you so much for the clarification. ICU seems like where I would like to be given I like something that is for ever changing to keep me going, but who knows I might just end up where I never expected. Life is full of surprises

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Men in nursing have come such a long way since I began 34 years ago. On my first RN job in ICU, my locker was in the basement of the hospital with the housekeepers and my time clock was in the female locker room. I had to make sure that there were no females in the room before I could time in.

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I have not secured employment as an RN yet, but I have worked in a clinic for about four years as a CMA, and I haven't noticed any differences in the way I am treated versus my colleagues. I have not noticed any difference in the way male nursing professionals are treated versus female nursing professionals.

During my clinicals while in nursing school, I noticed a higher percentage of male nurses than what I had expected based on statistics (men accounting for about 9% of all nursing jobs nationally) with the one exception of my first hospital clinical which did not have any male nurses on their unit.

I think the medical profession is very enlightened about men in nursing, but the media isn't doing us any favors. They like to perpetuate stereotypes about nurses in general, but male nurses seem especially dogged by them. Take "Nurse Jackie" for instance. I only sat through the first season--I didn't care for the show--but I noticed right away that both male nurses were gay, which is exactly like having a cop drama with two female cops--both of whom happen to be gay. A cop drama would never get away with that, but for some reason it is acceptable to portray male nurses in this light?

Having said that, there is nothing wrong with being LGBT. I just find it odd that Hollywood has chosen to perpetuate this stereotype.

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