c0untzer0

Hx: I am male, graduated from high school in 1962, my favorite aunt was an RN, and I wanted to go to nursing school. Unfortunately my guidance counselor convinced my parents that nursing was for females and I should go for medical school and be a physician. Instead I went into engineering. Fast forward to 2006: I retired and decided to go to nursing school, trained and worked as a CNA, graduated with an ASN in 2011, passed the NCLEX, went to work in psych, entered an RN to BSN program, and graduated with a BSN in 2016. I have experienced both sexism and ageism from the beginning of nursing school, but never on the floor as an RN! In school, during clinicals, all the MDs seemed fascinated and would ask "what's your story." They never asked that of any other student in my clinical group. During my Maternal/Child health semester I was fortunate to have a clinical instructor who was my age, and she saw to it that I got very chance the other students got; I never had a problem with patients in the L&D unit. I have worked psych, home health, long-term care, and hospice without ever having a problem with floor staff or patients. When discrimination came it was from instructors, older charge nurses, MDs, and nurse managers. Yes it is there, you just have to work through it by showing your competence. As for dealing with female patients: I questioned my clinical instructor in CNA training at a long-term care facility as to how to know if a female would accept care from a male CNA. She replied: "It's simple. Ask them, and they'll tell you." That's always worked for me.

I also like Alabama Shakes "Don't Wanna Fight," but...Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, S.O.B., more or less ends my day, enjoy: .Cheers to all us hard-working, under-paid, and under-appreciated nurses. Have one on me.

The U.S. health care "system" is broken beyond repair; this is just one ragged edge. Nurses need to organize and join National Nurses United! Solidarity is the only way we can make changes.