Nursing..THE GOOD & BAD as Male

Nurses Men

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Ok I am a 24 yr old male thinking about nursing. I work in the IT field and hate it. The nite shift is the main turn off . I cant tolerate a night shift position whatsoever.

Im thinking about going for an RN either ADN or BSN. I want to get into education and teach eventually

Well as a male could any of you guys tell me the good and bad of nursing as a male. I woudl like the 'raw' honest opinions.

Nursing would pay more money than I make now. IT Jobs are soooo scarce and I want something thats more people oriented.

So Im either thinkign about education or nursing

Thanks

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if your wanting to travel and a job were you can get work anywhere in the world, nursing would be the number one pick. like any job there are down sides, shift work, weekends and night duty. you get to meet alot of really nice people but you also have to deal with the dickheads of society and most of the time you have to take there crap with a smile. if your wanting to go into (education) go for it........ but just remember the saying "those that cant, teach.......thats a bit harsh and ive come across alot of great teachers (especially in emergency) but on the whole most went into education because they were no good on the wards. when it comes down to it, it cant hurt your career prospects to do nursing

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Nursing is tough on both males and females, for me I face the same challenges in nursing that my female counter parts do. There are many threads about these challenges on the general board, activism board and other boards.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

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Also,... there can be a great deal of animosity towards male nurses, believe it or not. Many of the traditional nurses (women) feel threatened by Men in "their" profession. This can lead to your "bar" being raised a bit higher.

I say "go for it",... we can always use the help. Besides, it's great to have more guys around to talk about "guy things"! Best of luck...

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Also,... there can be a great deal of animosity towards male nurses, believe it or not. Many of the traditional nurses (women) feel threatened by Men in "their" profession. This can lead to your "bar" being raised a bit higher.

I say "go for it",... we can always use the help. Besides, it's great to have more guys around to talk about "guy things"! Best of luck...

Sorry to tread on the "male" thread but I have never found the above remarks about animosity towards males to be true.

In fact, I'm amazed at it.

steph

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Yeah I work in IT and the field is awful. But I know i want to work in either Education or Healthcare

I am gonna see how can I shadow a nurse.

Well, you guys seem to enjoy nursing. The good thing is that no matter where I move I should be able to find a nursing job

BUT, I just cant get it out of my head that I may have to work 3rd shift again in my life. I work it now and it has been an awful, depressing expereince I wouldnt wish on my worst enemy

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what is it that you find so "bad" "hard" about working nights? ive worked nights for over 5 years i dont know why i like it i just do. also on nights you get to avoid some of the crap that goes on but that said nights have there own sort of problems to deal with

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

I currently work night shift, and will be going to days in a few months. Depending on what specialty you choose once you graduate, there are always day shift jobs, and 8-5 jobs like the recovery room, etc. There are plenty of options out there. I wouldn't reject nursing because you hate nights. There's always other options.

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Sorry to tread on the "male" thread but I have never found the above remarks about animosity towards males to be true.

In fact, I'm amazed at it.

steph

dont be so amazed. some, actually many, female nurses show big time animosity towards men.

ok for the OP. here is a few things, you asked for the raw version;

the bad:

one thing i dont like is you can no longer "tell it like it is". like if someone dose something dumb you cannt tell them "that was dumb" miss being able to do that. women just are more sensitive. i think some guys get this way after awhile too.

you are expected to do the heavy work, like turnning a 700lbs patient, no matter how busy you are. ask one of the women on the floor and if their busy and cann't help, its ok no big. if you say your too busy you will hear about it all dam day.

on the floor you will more than likely be the only guy. maybe another if your lucky. and have to deal with moody women during there time of the month. no one ever takes this into account. if a girl comes in with cramps and is bitchy, its your fault. bring up this issue and you get attacked by all. we all know about the moodyness and irritability but if you argue with them or remind them of it, to be not so irritable, thats your fault too and will hear about it. you are expected to be sensitive to them they are not expected to sensitive to you.

dont ever forget women love to gossip. and what is said doesnt go away by lunch like guy talk. grudges are held more often and for a longer time. if you vent about one person chances are every word you said will get around with a added bounus word or two. you really have to watch your back as a nurse.

you really really need to watch your back. some nurses spend more time poking their nose into everyone elses buisness than they do with their own patients.

some patients just dont like males doing things to them. its wierd in the ER during a crisis they dont mind so much but once they get up to the floor they think your a waiter not a nurse. and it can be a real challange getting a female nurse to switch patients or do things for you, dont get me wrong there are a lot of cool chicks in the field, seek those ones out. i had a 25 year old female patient that needed to be taken into the shower, docs orders. well she or i did not fell comfortable doing that. i just did not want to be alone in the shower with her. i could not get a female to take here to the shower and stay with her, which she needed. there are some that will always help out but not most.

there is no dout higher expectations for male nurses. no dout at all. they expect you to want to be a manager or something.

did i mention you cant tell it like it is. this is a big one for me. worth saying twice. even if its not dealing with you. like a nurse bitching about something you can not say aahh shut up about it already or they will turn on you and again its your fault.

everyone thinks your a doctor. this is good and bad. mostly bad though.

the gossip once again, dont let them know to much about your personal life. everyone will know about it.

then you have the should b's. the nurses that are always saying this is how it should be. seems no one wants to talk about how it is. these are the same type nurses that come on shift and the first thing they do is sedate their patients so they dont have to deal with them. i guess this is how they get so much time to stick their nose into everyone elses business.

ok last of bad. if you work around mostly guys you know the first thing after everyone gets their work laid out for them, they take it and go with it even if we dont like it we just deal with it. for nurses they will start refuseing and bitching about their assignments because their patinets are 15 yeards apart not next to eachother, before they even see their patients. seriously you can spend the frist half hour of your shift listening to everyone ***** about their assignments. man i wish they would just come in get their assignments and go with it. with guys you could just pretend cry and say something like aaahhh poor little guy has to walk an extra few feet boohoo. dont even think of doing this to a women or some of the fairy guys you find in this field, there just so sensitive.

the good;

your a guy. when you do get mad, i mean mad not upset, everyone stays clear. i think guys are just more willing to have it out.

they think your a doctor. if you call the pharm or something about your patient sometimes they think your the doc and get on it right away. kinda nice, i never till them i am the doc, but have had them, after the conversation is over they say, "ok doc ill get right on it". i use to correct them but it happens to often so i only correct them if its really needed now.

ok i will get a talking to about this but, if your single, there are so many horny girls you will be working with. a good thing i think.:) will not say anymore about this but could say a whole lot more. lots and lots more;)

some women listen to their male co workers more so than the female co workers, some.

i think its easier for guys to talk to the doc. we dont think of it in a personal way at all. for some reason alot of female nurses seem to get all personal about calling the doc or pointing out things to them.

dealing with those "mean" patients, its much easier for us. i just think our calm voices or just being a guy, patients dont act up with us as much.

we dont need as much help getting a patient out of bed or turnning them to do a dressing change. hell i can pick up a 150lbs old lady and put her in a chair by myself with out even thinking about it. a female nurse needs others there to be safe and even then they have a harder time of it. something that only takes us 1 minute might take a female nurse 15 minutes just to get someone to help, then they have to do it. this time really adds up by the end of the day.

all and all being a male nurse is great. every depaterment, well not O.B. and such, wants male nurses there. so big demand for male nurses. lots of hours to be worked if you want it. depending on how flexible you are you will be able to work whatever shift you want, might not be the area you wanted. but if you want a certain shift in a certain area with in a year i would think you will be able to get it.

o one last thing about women. you know they travel in packs, for the most part anyway. so if you have an issue with one they will more than likely go around looking for others that share their side of it and team up on you later. guys dont do things like this we have it out one on one and thats that, it over after that, not so for women they will stew over it all day or even all month waiting to bring it up again. for me, because i never take it personal, it's kinda funny to watch unfold. i must say i never had any real problem working with women at all, but have seen it happen to many others. it can get rediculous watching two female nurses have it out about the same things day after day and never realize they are the only ones that care about whatever they are getting into it about. those times when you wish you could just say shut up about it already. but, if you do that both will turn on you and try to convince you they are right and get you on their side, even though you dont care about it at all.

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Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
Sorry to tread on the "male" thread but I have never found the above remarks about animosity towards males to be true.

In fact, I'm amazed at it.

steph

Maybe because your not a Male RN, therefore never noticed any such animosity. However, just because you have not witnessed, or failed to witnessed such does not mean it does not exist. :rolleyes:

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dont ever forget women love to gossip. and what is said doesnt go away by lunch like guy talk. grudges are held more often and for a longer time. if you vent about one person chances are every word you said will get around with a added bounus word or two. you really have to watch your back as a nurse.

the gossip once again, dont let them know to much about your personal life. everyone will know about it.

O do they GOSSIP!!!! Its best if we as guys just keep our mouths shut. I have seen some trash talking occur, then the accused walks up and then its all fine and dandy, and im just dumb founded by these actions.

However there are some wonderful ladies in the field also.

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Sorry to tread on the "male" thread but I have never found the above remarks about animosity towards males to be true.

In fact, I'm amazed at it.

steph

sorry to jump on the bandwagon but yes it does exist. wheather in jest or spit you hear the comments that you only got the job because your male, your only incharge because your male, the boss takes it easy on you because he's male. yeah it exists

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