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.
Do you carry your own malpractice insurance, or does the HH Company you work under provide the same protection as in Acute Care facilities?
CG--I carry my own Malpractice even though many of my coworkers tell me it isn't necessary. My Attorney, who is infinetly familiar with the Florida Nurse Practice Act, informed me differently and I trust his advice and carry it. I fall under the same work guidelines that any JCOH accredited Hospital/facility/nursing home falls under. Like I say, this works for because I am responsable for MY actions and not those of a less then careful co-worker who may not ascribe to the same standards as I do. Lazy Unaccountable People bother me and unfortunately I see al too many of these kinds in our Local Hospitals(especially the Local VA Med Center)and Supervisors who are afraid to discipline these slackers. I decided long ago I couldn't tolerate these conditions and exited the Hospital and much happier for it. I did not see any major changes forthcoming in this respect. In home care visits I run like hell and see my patients so my weekly gross is high; (80-110 visits weekly) Contrast that to a Nurse working on a typical Med-Surg Floor who moves and attends to his/her Patients, these Good Nurses get payed NO MORE then a Lazy Nurse and this bothered me. Now I control, by my daily ambition and short-cuts(not quality cuts) I devise in providing Care, what I Earn. This simply is not possible in a Hospital, 99.9% of the time. As I say it works for me.:)
CG--I carry my own Malpractice even though many of my coworkers tell me it isn't necessary. My Attorney, who is infinetly familiar with the Florida Nurse Practice Act, informed me differently and I trust his advice and carry it. I fall under the same work guidelines that any JCOH accredited Hospital/facility/nursing home falls under. Like I say, this works for because I am responsable for MY actions and not those of a less then careful co-worker who may not ascribe to the same standards as I do. Lazy Unaccountable People bother me and unfortunately I see al too many of these kinds in our Local Hospitals(especially the Local VA Med Center)and Supervisors who are afraid to discipline these slackers. I decided long ago I couldn't tolerate these conditions and exited the Hospital and much happier for it. I did not see any major changes forthcoming in this respect. In home care visits I run like hell and see my patients so my weekly gross is high; (80-110 visits weekly) Contrast that to a Nurse working on a typical Med-Surg Floor who moves and attends to his/her Patients, these Good Nurses get payed NO MORE then a Lazy Nurse and this bothered me. Now I control, by my daily ambition and short-cuts(not quality cuts) I devise in providing Care, what I Earn. This simply is not possible in a Hospital, 99.9% of thetime. As I say it works for me.:)
Bottom line is you have found your nursing niche & reap the rewards thru your own professional contentment.
My husband and I are both nurses. We both work at the same facility on different shifts. I find that my husband is able to do this work without getting dragged into the gossip or back biting. Most of the women enjoy working with him, because he tends to be given the heavier patients.
My husband and I are both nurses. We both work at the same facility on different shifts. I find that my husband is able to do this work without getting dragged into the gossip or back biting. Most of the women enjoy working with him, because he tends to be given the heavier patients.
EENmorgan--This is what I, as a Male, find disturbing! That is, "women enjoy working with him, because he tends to be given the heavier patients" If Male and Female Nurses are compensated the same, why should a male be assigned the Heavy Patients more often?? Myself, I have One Spinal Column and its got to last me ONE lifetime; it won't if I pull on those heavy total care patients every night. Well that is a reason I don't work in Hospitals!:wink2: I think work should be equally assigned and if its not, its up to the Nurse to assert himself(in this case)and level the playing field. Fair is Fair and in this case a Male Nurse shouldn't have to care for the "Heavy Patients" just to curry goodwill with the female nurses. Only my humble opinion and Yes, when I brought the subject , it did ruffle feathers.
I would now Never share anything concerning my family, personal life, with other staff. Sadly, It just invites trouble and gossip!
aaamen to that. there are alot of good women, that will not back stabe and all but, just not worth trying to find out by way of trial and error to find out who is who. i work CCU now so not to much interferance sense we work so close with the doc. as long as the attendings like me, which they really do, i have no worries. and all the nurses including the manager know this. the main cardiologist did once get mad and demanded i cared for his patient, this after they changed my assignment cause a female nurse did not want a bariatric patient that ended up in our unit. lol, she, the nurse, got soo sooo mad. funny thing is i did not care what patients i had, just dont like switching after takeing care of my assignments for a hour. had the careplans and assessments all done and charted already. of course when i took over the bariatric patient nothing had been done. an hour later, after doing a bed change, care plan and assessments for my new patients i had to switch back. who got the last laugh here? she got put back a peg but i still did all the work.
CG--I carry my own Malpractice even though many of my coworkers tell me it isn't necessary. My Attorney, who is infinetly familiar with the Florida Nurse Practice Act, informed me differently and I trust his advice and carry it. I fall under the same work guidelines that any JCOH accredited Hospital/facility/nursing home falls under.
huummm. well check this out, of course he wants you to carry insurance. if you ever go to court he wants to be paid. make settleing cases easy. here is the deal though, if your HH carries insurance for you thats all you should take. if anything happens and someone wants to sue their attorney will go after who ever has the most money. if they can sue the HH company and collect from there insurance and/or the doc's insurance thats where they will go, usually not the nurse sense the HH company is providing the coverage and the attorneys to fight it. much harder to collect from a nurse even if they would win they can only take so much a month. now if you have your own insurance they think, well why not sue the nurse too, collect from all three. not in years but now. basically, means you are more likely to get sued just because you have your own insurance. your attorney know this, for him its another case another pay day.
I'm coming out of construction too. Started pre-reqs for nursing school last week. I've done alot of research on my career move and this site is invaluable. I have over 20 years const. exp and getting an ASN will give me a 33% raise right off the bat here in Florida. Looking forward to the change like you wouldn't believe. I need the challenge. Let's have some nurses go into construction if you want to hear some complaining. (that sounds mean but most of the gripes I read are happening in all lines of work) That's Life.
If you're single, and you're quite okay with that then that's fine. Just don't go in thinking, like this last poster seems to be suggesting, that you're entering some kind of candy store. The reality is the candy is all overpriced and locked up behind glass. Get into it because you want to help people, and only do so if you're a strong person.
well to some, it is a candy store:D. and some of that candy tastes quite good:p. plus i have a key that opens those locks right up . not saying this should be your reason for getting into it but it is a bonus. i work in so cal and must say we have some fine female nurses here. and two nursing salaries in the home not bad, easy scheduleing to meet family needs, getting interesting huh. some are down out right freaky and just want a little somen' somen' there more common than you think.
seriously though like jasano said, "Get into it because you want to help people, and only do so if you're a strong person"
EENmorgan--This is what I, as a Male, find disturbing! That is, "women enjoy working with him, because he tends to be given the heavier patients" If Male and Female Nurses are compensated the same, why should a male be assigned the Heavy Patients more often?? Myself, I have One Spinal Column and its got to last me ONE lifetime; it won't if I pull on those heavy total care patients every night. Well that is a reason I don't work in Hospitals!:wink2: I think work should be equally assigned and if its not, its up to the Nurse to assert himself(in this case)and level the playing field. Fair is Fair and in this case a Male Nurse shouldn't have to care for the "Heavy Patients" just to curry goodwill with the female nurses. Only my humble opinion and Yes, when I brought the subject , it did ruffle feathers.
worldtravellor, I agree. Nurseguy 2005 asked for raw, honest responses. In my opinion, it seems that the male nurses in our facility get given the heavier patients. It is not right. The patient loads should be evenly distrubuted. Many of the female nurses tend exclude them from the gossip and back biting which is a good thing, but it doesn't take away the loneliness of feeling isolated in the workplace. Another disappointing thing is that at staff meetings, if a male nurse makes a suggestion about patient care, it tends to get overlooked as if their opinion is not worth considering. This may not be every males nurses experience, but it is happening in my workplace. My husband enjoys nursing and would not change his job for quids. One of the great things about being a male nurse is that patients confide in and trust a male nurse more so then female nurses in some cases. The patients tend to feel more comfortable and safer with a male nurse for manual handling.
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.
Dud, I love the way you think about femal Nurse and I agree with every word 100% that came out of male issue lololo you hit the bulls eye right on target...
To nurseguy2005: I too came from a strong IT background into nursing. I have only read the first 2 pages and the last page of this thread so I may be redundant if someone else has already said it. My pre nursing education was mostly on science/engineering/physics so consider this when you read below:
1) Nursing school: very frustrated, nothing is based on logic. Nobody can precisely explain why things happen in a certain way. When there is no explanation, they tell you to memorize the answer.
2) Nursing school: gossips, gossips, gossips (always). In math formula, it is expressed as:- (gossips + 1)*(gossips + 2)*...*(gossips + n), where n is the total number of days you're at school (just a joke).
3) Again, nursing school: nobody likes the way you present your ideas in a logical way, they don't want to know and they don't care.
4) Yep, school again: kind of abusive compare to other ways of learning. High passing scores, fly 50 pages in 30 minutes in class, multiple tests every day etc. I was told this is designed to weed out bottom students. To me this is a lie. Instructors should set examples and have a heart to help students succeed rather than being mean and "see who can pass all my tests?" I'm a strong believer that those mean nurses are somehow affected by the way they were treated at school and their anger are displayed on the patients or coworker at work place. (being a male does not exempt you from this issue)
5) Clinicals: I was always asked to help because I'm male, that's fine with me. I do my tasks logically and this helps a lot. I am so used to multitasking with computers and that's the way I do my clinicals and be efficient. However, because of this, I made my classmate look bad and they didn't like it. But my hard work finally paid off - there was a tough nurse (can be considered mean) who didn't like everyone from our school (she has a high standard and we have arrogant students so I can't blame her). After some time there, she started to teach me some good skills and told me she sees that I work hard and made a difference.
At the real workplace, "thatoneguy" has a very lengthy and accurate description so pls refer to it. I have to admit that I see more people acting professionally at work than at school so I have a much better time after school ended. I don't feel I am being treated with privilage or deficit as a male nurse. You'll see a few better nurses and a few mean nurses everywhere you go. Everywhere is the same.
Also, think twice before you really want to switch career. You get away from the I.T. problems, but you have a new set of problems in nursing to deal with. I still have doubt if I have made the right move. Frankly, the hospital politics are no better that corporate IT politics. I see the major difference is there is no job security in IT but much better job security in nursing. However, I do see employers sometimes trying their best to retain good programmers but never see a hospital trying to retain good nurses.
Hope this helps and apologize if I have offended anybody.
. not saying this should be your reason for getting into it but it is a bonus. i work in so cal and must say we have some fine female nurses here. and two nursing salaries in the home not bad, easy scheduleing to meet family needs, getting interesting huh. some are down out right freaky and just want a little somen' somen' there more common than you think.
worldtraveler
102 Posts
CG--I carry my own Malpractice even though many of my coworkers tell me it isn't necessary. My Attorney, who is infinetly familiar with the Florida Nurse Practice Act, informed me differently and I trust his advice and carry it. I fall under the same work guidelines that any JCOH accredited Hospital/facility/nursing home falls under. Like I say, this works for because I am responsable for MY actions and not those of a less then careful co-worker who may not ascribe to the same standards as I do. Lazy Unaccountable People bother me and unfortunately I see al too many of these kinds in our Local Hospitals(especially the Local VA Med Center)and Supervisors who are afraid to discipline these slackers. I decided long ago I couldn't tolerate these conditions and exited the Hospital and much happier for it. I did not see any major changes forthcoming in this respect. In home care visits I run like hell and see my patients so my weekly gross is high; (80-110 visits weekly) Contrast that to a Nurse working on a typical Med-Surg Floor who moves and attends to his/her Patients, these Good Nurses get payed NO MORE then a Lazy Nurse and this bothered me. Now I control, by my daily ambition and short-cuts(not quality cuts) I devise in providing Care, what I Earn. This simply is not possible in a Hospital, 99.9% of the time. As I say it works for me.:)