SilverNova

interesting

I should not have said that. There is no data or facts to back up that statement. What I meant was, that is my theory on why hospitals are resistant to hire male L&D nurses. I have read that women's satisfaction with their birth experience had decreased nation wide in the last decade. There are several factors as to why.

that is ok. I put an argument in quotes, and write my counter argument under it.

"You are one person and can NOT speak for anyone else nor "most" women. The topic isn't about whom YOU would want as a nurse so why are you so bothered?" While you are correct that not ALL women have a preference. I believe that it's widely accepted knowledge, that MOST women feel uncomfortable with being nude for extended amounts of time in front of men. This is exactly why women and men have different changing rooms. Whether it's cultural, social conditioning, or biological, modesty is important to women, and being complete naked in front of men can be at the very least embarrassing. Being supported by people that have the same parts as you is comforting for many women. "discrimination in hiring practices based on sex is illegal, full stop." I agree, but there is a CLEAR preference for female nurses in this particular population of patients. This population is almost 100% female, with the exception of trans-men. I believe that only in very select areas, such as: a women's homeless shelter, female domestic violence center, or L&D units, employers should be able to accommodate and consider the needs of that specific patient population. What IRKS me about Male Nurses demanding employment in L&D units, while threatening lawsuits, is that these Male Nurses are insisting that female modesty is IRRELEVANT. They believe that discriminating against males, trumps female patient's preferences and comfort. "There is no male/female only aspect of providing nursing, or any healthcare for that matter, to any patient." I think many would disagree. Whenever I visit a Gynecologist, I am asked if I would prefer a female. I believe that this is strong evidence that there is a clear preference within the female patient population for a female provider, when it comes to intimate medical examinations. I am pretty positive that the VAST majority of woman that walk into a L&D unit do not want a male nurse. Many women may feel uncomfortable voicing their preference, for the fear of being call a bigot. "There is no justification for discriminatory hiring practices." I believe there should be some exceptions, when it comes to female intimate care, to consider the needs of population being cared for. There are reasons that hospitals are resistant to hire more male L&D nurses, and why these male nurses are resorting to lawsuits, or bullying with the BON, in order to get what they want. Those reasons are patient preference. Most hospitals have to compete with other hospitals for clients. They want to provide the best birthing experience possible so clients come back and recommend to others. Male L&D nurses decrease client satisfaction, and lead to unhappy birth experiences. Hospitals don't want this, so it's clear there is a mild resistance to hire more men. Again Male Nurses don't seem to care about this, and demand to be in a area where frankly they are unneeded and unwanted. There are dozens of other areas of nursing where male nurses are desperately needed and wanted. The fact some of y'all are going super hard to validate discrimination makes me wonder how y'all treat patients or their family. There is no justification for discriminatory hiring practices. I treat my patients and their families with compassion, kindness, and dignity at all times. I believe my comforting and emphatic nature, is my strongest quality as a nurse. I may have a few controversial opinions, but I keep them private, and conduct myself in a profession manner. Even though my comments on this site are very impersonal, in real life I'm a very happy go lucky and friendly person.

so he threatened the hospital to get the position he wanted? Jesus, have you ever thought for a second why a male may not be the best fit for the job? I mean men are paid more in every job category on earth. Even in nursing, male nurses make on average 17% more than females. but pushing women out of an area where women are preferred by the vast majority of clients is sexist????? I think it's women that are getting the crap end of the stick here.

Obviously I’m against discrimination, and understand you can’t ban men from being involved in labor. I do feel child birth has been a traditionally female experience, where men were not welcomed, up until the 19 century. That's the around the time when doctors started delivering babies, and only men were allowed to be doctors. Now much more women are entering obstetrics than men. Some of the best nurses I have met have been male, so I am in no way undermining their ability to care. Buuutttt child birth is a very sensitive area. 1 in 4 women have been raped or sexually assaulted. A lot of women have been in abusive relationships, and the majority of the abusers of women are men. I don’t see this ever changing, so I don’t see a perfect future utopia where men and women perfectly equal in this world. Child birth should be a safe space. I do think more and more male nurses adding their presence to L&D units, may slowly erode the unconscious trusting atmosphere of a hospital delivery room, and more women may start choosing home birth, birthing centers, and midwives to regain it.

it's a controversial opinion I know. My brother is a nurse, and my husband is finishing up pre reqs for nursing school. I obviously have no issue with male nurses, and I think they're great. I do however feel sightly differently in this one area of nursing. I was reading a thread on reddit, about male L&D nurses and many discussed how they, "talk about their kids to break the ice". What if you don't have kids? I think that if you have to go out of your way to make women and families feel unthreatened by your presence, maybe it's not the best fit. The tread also talked about how the fathers would give dirty looks to the male nurses, and were usually the ones to kick the male nurse out, because they want to advocate for their pregnant wife's behalf. Legally yes, men can work as a L&D nurse, obviously. Men can choose to work in L&D if they want, or yeah, the hospital will get sued. I think there is a reason most L&D nurses are female, and I think it's for the comfort of the women and families, especially religious and multicultural families. 85% of current OB-GYN residents are women, because I think that naturally there is just a shift being made, because women and families would prefer a female. A lot of women are unhappy with their birth experience in the hospital, maybe more female OB-GYNs can make a difference, maybe not.

so men are basically going to sue to force entry into female spaces.

i don't know why a man would even want to be a labor and delivery nurse, when there are tons and tons of other nursing areas. most women I know would prefer a female nurse, and even a female OBGYN. the only reason they settle for a male OBGYN is because there are more males in that field currently, although much more females becoming OBGYNs than males now. Most women would prefer a woman in the room with they have a male OBGYN. Whenever i see a male doctor and they need to examine a privet area, they always pull a female health worker to stand in the room. Will a male labor and delivery always to bring a female in when they do an examination? All the male nurses I have met in school have no interest in labor and delivery, and when I visited the labor and delivery unit all the nurses were female.

hello I read your previous post about finding the right NCLEX prep course for visual learners. I was wondering what prep worked for you as I am also a visual leaner.

"That would not meet the legal definition of discrimination. And all of those "high GPA, high test scores, and significant work experience" don't guarantee success in nursing school. " i didn't necessarily mean legally discriminate. I was more arguing that interviewing allows nursing staff to pick and choose who they let in the program. Obviously that means qualified people will be left out, even if they meet all the academic qualifications. "Own your awkwardness and quirkiness and roll with it." I am pretty awkward, and I roll with it to the best of my abilities. Most people think i'm nice and endearing, but I do think that I have had instructors see my awkwardness as a weakness. One example is when I was having a one on one meeting with my instructor, she kept asking me why I'm nervous. I said that this is just how I act all the time. She said that that could a problem because doctors may not respect me, and I may not be able to handle the pressure. I basically said that although I can appear nervous, I am able to handle criticism and conflict professionally. I don't know if she fully bought my answer, but I still passed the class so who knows. "You’re assuming that the interview is going to weed out people who are “awkward” or shy, when it could just as easily weed out people who come across arrogant or cocky." I do agree that cockiness and arrogance could pose a problem. No one in my cohort is like that at all, but I have heard horror stories. One story was a nursing student yelling at a CNA, and insisting that she take orders from him/her, because they out ranked her. Very awful. Maybe interviewing could weed out abusive people or cruel people, but most people are on their best behavior during interviews.

"Should schools then accept every student who can successfully fill out the application?" That was not my argument. my argument was that I feel an interview process could discriminate against awkward and shy people with high GPA, high test scores, and significant work experience in favor of people with more charismatic personalities with a lower GPA and lower test scores. "You say that having an interview could preclude students with good GPA but poor personal skills from attending school. What about the other side of that coin? Is it fair for a school to reject someone who has a less than stellar GPA but great interpersonal skills? I would argue that interpersonal skills are far more important to the day to day aspects of being a nurse than prerequisite GPA and volunteer hours." That is a good argument. It's hard to say. I feel like awkward and socially inept people always get the short end of stick when it comes to life, despite being extremely capable and intelligent. I feel many people that would make safe and efficient nurses will not be given the opportunity, and I find that sad. It hurts to know that because I have a deficit in my social skills, I may have never been able to achieve my career ambitions. Obviously charismatic people deserve chances too, and having good social skills could help you in your nursing practice, but I don't think getting into a college program should be a popularity contest.