Men in Nursing

fins · Sep 8, 2004

I've really only run into one problem being in a field dominated by women, and that is the conversations. You know, sitting in the break room during lunch type conversations. I hear about bridesmaid dresses. I hear about boyfriends. I hear about breastfeeding - long, detailed, passionate conversations about breastfeeding. Don't get me wrong, when I was in the navy we talked about breasts at least as much, but the context was ENTIRELY different.

I don't hear about hockey. I don't hear about football. I hear about "Vanity Fair" - I don't hear about "Alien vs. Predator."

The women are friendly, but sometimes the overlap of our interests is somewhat small. I just grunt, spit, and scratch my balls q4hr to reclaim my masculinity, and everything's fine.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Sep 8, 2004

Check out:

The Guys Club: Guy Students Come on In!

Best Wishes, hope you choose our career.

Nurseboi · Sep 8, 2004

Bryon,

I don't know if I have been able to identify any advantage to being a male in nursing, but I have noticed in my country (Australia) that many males in nursing head towards doing management roles. Most of the Nurse Unit Managers and even the DON in the hospital where I work are male.

I know that being a male in nursing, I seem to end up looking after the 'heavier' patients. This has not been good for my back LOL.

NeuroNP · Sep 8, 2004

A few years back, I worked as a CNA on a Telly unit and there was only one other male in the unit (an RN). Consequently, we got to do lots of lifting and the manager always called us to help her move anything, heavy boxes of stock, furniture, you name it!

So much for equal rights!

bryan

2rntish · Sep 9, 2004

I can add one more to Teeituptoms list; to get off of an asphalt paving crew in the middle of the summer, in the southern part of the good ole US of A.

I was dying.

There are no bad reasons to go into nursing...there are some bad nurses though. If you are commited to the program, stay the course and graduate, you will find your niche and be great at it.

I spent the first 15 years of my working life as a roughneck in the oil fields or as an A & P mechanis and lastly on the asphalt crew. All i could ever think about was a job indoors, climate controlled, with women...BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.

Indoors, climate controlled is great.............

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 9, 2004

I am not a male nurse, but I'm married to one! DH can't type, so I'll answer you.

DH went to nursing school in the early 80s after a variety of dead-end jobs: Air Force Flight School (Viet Nam ended and there was a Reduction In Force), working the oil fields, waitering, bar tending, driving a tow truck, loading trucks, Nurse Recruiter and hospital administration (long story) and following the Grateful Dead. He went to nursing school because it was a technical job in great demand, decent pay, steady work with benefits and a chance to meet women. He stays in nursing because it's steady work with benefits, decent pay, flexible schedule and he enjoys the work. Most of the time. He complains that the women we work with sometimes treat him as "one of the girls," and he hears far too much about pregnancy complaints, female complaints in general and lousy boyfriends/husbands. And sometimes we call him first to help us subdue a rowdy ETOHer . . . but that's more because he has a black belt in Hwarang Do than because he's male. We also call "Master Stacy" first if she's there -- she has a black belt in Tai Kwan Do.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 9, 2004

During the 70's when I came in, a male nurse was basically one of three things.
1. a medic in the war, and didn't know anything else.
2. using nursing as a stepping stone to being a doc.
3. you are gay.

Or because you left the seminary and couldn't think what else to do. Most of the male nurse I knew in the 70s were either gay, former seminarians or both. (Mostly both). In the mid 80s, I started seeing more heterosexual male nurses who weren't using nursing as a stepping stone. Mostly, they were choosing nursing as a second career after their construction jobs left them unemployed half of the year.

Gampopa · Sep 9, 2004

Another plus...while in nursing school the line for the men's room is very short at break time :)

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2004

Another plus...while in nursing school the line for the men's room is very short at break time :)

I like that one, I didnt think of it

Farkinott, RN · Sep 11, 2004

Just remember, don't get you r meat where you get your bread! :uhoh21:

Carthage1 · Sep 21, 2004

I am a licensed nurse in my country although I am not working as one....
I say If your heart is to go into nursing, then go for it. GOOD LUCK!

I think that your heart must also still be in nursing since you are reading ALLNurses.Com . I'm sure you know that many of your countrymen are coming to the U.S. to work as agency nurses due to the "shortage" of nurses here.

Eilana · Sep 21, 2004

Well, I'm not a male nurse, but I know guys in nursing programs that go into nursing because of the pay (as some of you had already mentioned). There are a lot of opportunities for males to advance in the nursing field, whether in rotation or management or even foreign placements.

Yes, going back to the point of a woman-dominated field. A lot time, nurses are referred by the pronoun 'she', rather than 'he or she' or the professors are generally all female. However, I think society is progressing as a whole and becoming more open to the idea of males in the nursing program ...