Obstetrics or mental health placement? (male nursing student)

joanna73, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2016

Are you interested in pursuing a career in L and D? If not, take the mental health placement. Mental health nursing knowledge is useful across a variety of settings.

loriangel14, RN · Mar 4, 2016

Yes it depends on your goals. If you are not planning on working in L&D I wouldn't choose that placement . I did a mental health one and was a great experience.

Fiona59 · Mar 4, 2016

I'm going to be blunt and tell you to go for Psych. It will benefit you in the long run.

Your school cannot deny you the OB rotation for your education but your patients can. There are certain ethnic groups that will point blank refuse you as their nurse or their husbands will refuse to allow you in the room. These groups will also try and only have female doctors there for the delivery.

I had male classmates on my maternity rotation and they were refused. It was frustrating and humiliating for them as they only saw the patient not the sexual being. But cultural considerations and patient comfort will always take priority over your learning experience.

As for work opportunities? No facility can refuse to hire you based on your gender but I've never in two decades met a male nurse in our L&D, ante or post partum units. These units are incredibly difficult to get hired onto and the managers will hire those who can meet all their patients care needs.

You need to remember that you are seeing this as an exciting opportunity with "novel" skills. These are patients you are talking about. Women are very vulnerable during this time, they may be comfortable with their male doctor being there because they've developed a bond with them but not with an unknown male nurse. Cultural attitudes will not be changed to accommodate you and the units are all about family centred care. I've worked on a unit where there was 4 bed wards and a spouse demanded only female doctors, female nurses and no male visitors to be permitted in the room while his wife was a patient (and she ante-partum). The Charge basically told him the on-calls were male and she wasn't banning family members from visiting the other patients in the room. We later heard that the Charge should have been more accommodating and tried harder to find this patient a private room.

So, in a nutshell, I'd say unless you plan on a career in L&D or going onto a NP role in this field, take the Psych rotation. As Lori said they are interesting. The skills you learn there will go with you to every unit you may ever work on. (In my day we did both Psych and Gynie rotations and in the long run the Psych was more useful)

joanna73, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2016

I'm going to be blunt and tell you to go for Psych. It will benefit you in the long run.
Your school cannot deny you the OB rotation for your education but your patients can. There are certain ethnic groups that will point blank refuse you as their nurse or their husbands will refuse to allow you in the room. These groups will also try and only have female doctors there for the delivery.
I had male classmates on my maternity rotation and they were refused. It was frustrating and humiliating for them as they only saw the patient not the sexual being. But cultural considerations and patient comfort will always take priority over your learning experience.
As for work opportunities? No facility can refuse to hire you based on your gender but I've never in two decades met a male nurse in our L&D, ante or post partum units. These units are incredibly difficult to get hired onto and the managers will hire those who can meet all their patients care needs.
You need to remember that you are seeing this as an exciting opportunity with "novel" skills. These are patients you are talking about. Women are very vulnerable during this time, they may be comfortable with their male doctor being there because they've developed a bond with them but not with an unknown male nurse. Cultural attitudes will not be changed to accommodate you and the units are all about family centred care. I've worked on a unit where there was 4 bed wards and a spouse demanded only female doctors, female nurses and no male visitors to be permitted in the room while his wife was a patient (and she ante-partum). The Charge basically told him the on-calls were male and she wasn't banning family members from visiting the other patients in the room. We later heard that the Charge should have been more accommodating and tried harder to find this patient a private room.
So, in a nutshell, I'd say unless you plan on a career in L&D or going onto a NP role in this field, take the Psych rotation. As Lori said they are interesting. The skills you learn there will go with you to every unit you may ever work on. (In my day we did both Psych and Gynie rotations and in the long run the Psych was more useful)

I wanted to say this, because the OP is male. Quite honestly there are few men I have ever known to succeed in L and D or postpartum. Call it discrimination or whatever you wish. The reality if you're male is good luck getting hired on these units.

elkpark · Mar 4, 2016

My recommendation would be psych -- OB is a v. specific specialty; you can go your entire career in nursing and, depending on in what area and with what population(s) you work, never need to know anything about obstetrics, but psych skills apply across the board. Wherever you work in nursing, you will be dealing with people who are angry, afraid, sad, anxious; people with various psychiatric disorders; family dynamics, and all the other "psych" issues. You'll be using therapeutic communication skills in any area of nursing, with any population. Psychiatric nursing knowledge and skills will benefit you across the entire domain of nursing. Best wishes!

Fiona59 · Mar 4, 2016

I wanted to say this, because the OP is male. Quite honestly there are few men I have ever known to succeed in L and D or postpartum. Call it discrimination or whatever you wish. The reality if you're male is good luck getting hired on these units.

My claim to fame. I say what others are thinking!

sunship88 · Mar 6, 2016

It's unfortunate but there are families because of cultural reasons that will refuse male nursing students, like Fiona59 said. Not the vast majority of the time, but it happens. Don't take it personally. During my maternity rotation 4 out of the 6 nursing students were male. All the guys said they had a great time overall. Your instructor will be able to find you families that are open to having you as a student. And I had zero interest in maternity nursing (and still don't) but being there for a birth and C-section was one of the best experiences of nursing school. So do what you want! That being said I enjoyed psych more and feel it is more applicable to all aspects of nursing....you will have patients with mental health issues across all settings.

CanadianRN16 · Mar 6, 2016

As a male who did his maternity rotation in a Hasidic Jewish and Muslim area, I got turned down by at least half my patients. However, I found the experience from accepting mothers very rewarding. Directly assisting with deliveries was one of my top experiences in school! So it's not all bad for men...if the mother is open minded. :)

Novo · Mar 8, 2016

Why not try to get into immediate care nursery?. I found cultural issues less of a problem there.

sdg13 · Mar 23, 2016

I'm going to be blunt and tell you to go for Psych. It will benefit you in the long run.
Your school cannot deny you the OB rotation for your education but your patients can. There are certain ethnic groups that will point blank refuse you as their nurse or their husbands will refuse to allow you in the room. These groups will also try and only have female doctors there for the delivery.
I had male classmates on my maternity rotation and they were refused. It was frustrating and humiliating for them as they only saw the patient not the sexual being. But cultural considerations and patient comfort will always take priority over your learning experience.
As for work opportunities? No facility can refuse to hire you based on your gender but I've never in two decades met a male nurse in our L&D, ante or post partum units. These units are incredibly difficult to get hired onto and the managers will hire those who can meet all their patients care needs.
You need to remember that you are seeing this as an exciting opportunity with "novel" skills. These are patients you are talking about. Women are very vulnerable during this time, they may be comfortable with their male doctor being there because they've developed a bond with them but not with an unknown male nurse. Cultural attitudes will not be changed to accommodate you and the units are all about family centred care. I've worked on a unit where there was 4 bed wards and a spouse demanded only female doctors, female nurses and no male visitors to be permitted in the room while his wife was a patient (and she ante-partum). The Charge basically told him the on-calls were male and she wasn't banning family members from visiting the other patients in the room. We later heard that the Charge should have been more accommodating and tried harder to find this patient a private room.
So, in a nutshell, I'd say unless you plan on a career in L&D or going onto a NP role in this field, take the Psych rotation. As Lori said they are interesting. The skills you learn there will go with you to every unit you may ever work on. (In my day we did both Psych and Gynie rotations and in the long run the Psych was more useful)

I know it happens, but I find it quite strange considering the number of male OB/GYNs there are in practice.

Fiona59 · Mar 23, 2016

I know it happens, but I find it quite strange considering the number of male OB/GYNs there are in practice.

The trend in my area is for women to be practising in gynie/reproductive health.

Women have had to accept male doctors, it doesn't mean we wanted them. As a young woman, it was almost impossible to even find a female GP, never mind a specialist in any field. We had no choice in our doctors but we could/can choose who we want in the delivery room with us as nurses. Many times the doctor only appeared to catch the babe. Traditionally, in many cultures, midwives have done all routine deliveries. Midwives were women until male physicians, medicalized birth after realizing there was money to be earned. I was delivered by a midwife in a maternity hospital, the consultant, rounded the next day to check on the mums. They only appeared if there was a difficult delivery.

Sometimes our comfort is more important than your learning experience.