2nd day and beyond (an update)

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

Thanks for all your responses to my last post. I think I'm in my 6th week on GYN/PP and love it. I haven't had any complaints from patients and have even gotten a few cards and some nice calls on the customer service line. I don't think I could be any happier with my choice to go into this area. I love the fact that I get to help people make the birth of their baby more comfortable. My favorite is post pardum I love teaching and have gotten pretty good at it. I also enjoy post C-sections they always come out of recovery feeling pretty bad but by the end of the second day are feeling so much better (with my help).

I've heard a few negative things from other OB/GYN nurses but nothing I can't handle. Mostly I get asked "don't you feel out numbered here?" Or sometimes I hear them talking about how patients don't seem to mind my being male at all.

The best part is the reactions I get from people working in other areas here are a few examples:

On my first day I called Pharmacy because my code wasn't in the Pixis here is how it went.

"My code isn't working in the Pixis, do I need to go up there or fill anything out?"

(Pharmacist): "No all I need to do is change something in the computer, what floor are you working on?"

"GYN"

"Wha?"

"GYN"

"Wha? I thought you said GYN"

"I did I work on GYN"

"Oh you mean float pool?"

"No my home unit is GYN"

"(Gasp) I'm going to have to call the director"

"Hmm ok"

Click

Meeting a nurse in the hall (who I haven't seen for a few months)

"Hey where are you working these days?"

"On 5"

"Oh med. surge?" (Which is on 5 but is never referred to as 5)

"No GYN"

"(Gak) oh you take medical overflow?"

"No mostly post pardum and some surgeries"

Silence....

Smile

Silence...

Smile

"You mean they let you do that?"

"Um yeah"

"How err um ahh........... ok"

Smile

It gets funnier and funnier to me because I've gotten over the initial uneasiness I had about being the first male on the floor. It tends to catch me off guard when people get so surprised

Anyway thanks again for all the nice things you said to me last time. Talk to you soon =)

Hi there! I must have missed your first post (which is really a shocker - I'm here enough that I should know EVERY post!).

I'm glad you're enjoying what you do, but I'm sorry you're running into so many odd responses. Too bad, it's their unit's loss :D

Welcome to allnurses!

Heather

Hee hee......glad you enjoy your job.....must be fun throwing folks for a loop like that. ;)

It has always been totally amazing to me that women will let their doctors put their arm in them, up to the elbow, but a male nurse down there-never! Go figure!

glad to hear you like your job, i personally love mine In L&D, my patients love me their response has been overwhelming and surprising.last week I had a patients mother in law tell me that my patient was uncomfortable with me and that i should not be her nurse. i went back in room to tell patient i was changing assignments so she could have a new nurse. she started crying and asked me to stay, she actually put her mother in law OUT of the room.

I really enjoy the response i get when nurses from other floors call and i answer the phone they often hang up saying sorry i got wrong number only to call back and get me again,:).

keep up the good work, we need more males in ob areas.

GASP!!! Males in OB!!!!????

hehehe, j/k! ;)

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I for one, am glad to see men in OB nursing....hey you bring another facet of care to it, and lots of great insights. And my personal experience is that the men were gentle and kind.....and very professional. Keep up the good work and do not be daunted by people with bad attitudes!

i think malews bring a whole different prespective to ob nursing especially. i have been told on numerous occassions how nice ,kind and gentle i am. I would do almost anything to help one of my patients and never get irritated or short with them. i have seen many L&D nurses tell patients rude things. like I did it so can you, just get over it.

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I think it takes the "right" nurse, regardless of gender, to make a good OB nurse. I have seen UNWILLING AND UNHAPPY participants in OB nursing in the military....like they were "forced" there and they really acted like they hated it--- they would avoid looking at me in certain situations,and practically RUN when I was breastfeeding my daughter. Some are not cut out for obstetric nursing, whether male or female, obviously.

All I am saying, is it goes WAY beyond gender, really. I wish we would JUST GET OVER IT!!!!!!! And if nurses are that rude, maybe it is time for them to move on to another area. At least, we are obligated to call their attention to their insensitive behavior. That is inexcuseable, in my book.

Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

When my oldest daughter (who was active duty army at the time) gave birth to her first child, she had a male army medic helping her to get the baby to latch on to the breast...he did a dang good job of being patient with her and the squirming crying hungry baby. He made her feel so comfortable, and encouraged her all the way. He did not work in post-partum, but in Newborn Nursery. I use to work in the very same military hospital's Newborn Nursery Unit, and it was part of our job to help new moms learn proper techniques for feeding their babies, and anything else that had to do with the care of the baby. I was privy to be able to watch this same soldier receive my first born grandchild immediately after his delivery where he did all the things a baby nurse does to a recently born newborn. I watched him bathe my grandson, give him his first shot, prick his little heels for blood, test his reflexes, etc. Then, when it was time for my daughter to see him, I went along with him to see him get the baby to latch on for a feed for the very first time. I was sooooo impressed with him, and told him so. Great medic! :kiss

I have never had a male nurse myself, but would not hesitate to have one. I, for one, am glad to see male nurses in with the female nurses on EVERY unit. If a patient prefers a female nurse over a male nurse when she is delivering her baby, nursing her baby, or when performing assessments on her while she's in post-partum, then she should have that option. If the patient does not complain about having a male nurse, then so be it. Hats off to you...Mark and Dayray. Keep up the great job I'm sure you are doing! :kiss

smiling blue eyes you are right some, or shall i say many nurses in my area or not cut out for ob nursing i often ask them way they do it. had the house supervisor the other night ask me why is it that most ob nurses are so rude,and act like the patient is a bother to them? she also asked are the nurses like this when they start or does something cause them to become this way? I personally think they just do it thinking it would be easier and that it is better because patients are not really sick. it is a shame for anyone to work in an area they do not enjoy, especially L&D and postpartum it is supposed to be such a special time for the family and i always try to do what ever i can so it can be that way for them.

thanks to everyone here for your support of male nurses!

i too feel it is time to get over the gender issue. i think it is getting better just not fast enough for me,:).

yeah! good for you. one of the nurses that really influenced me to enter nursing was a guy i met who worked on the peds unit where i volunteered as a teenager. your pts. are lucky to have you.

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