Whistler

And again. I am a nurse and male, not "male nurse", and I feel this a little insulting not as a man but as a professional. Nobody questions how a doctor (male or female) "feels" about patient genitalia (OB-GYN, protologist, urologist,..) in their assesments because their profesionalism is assumed unless proven wrong but when the "male nurse" shows up, we need to wonder if he would be able to keep their professionalism. Ugh!

Well, that is the very first thing I said in my post

first of all i want to say that i strongly believe that all health care staff should be able to speak and understand english with certain level of competence. there is no way around that. impressive resumes or nursing shortages should not bypass this point under no circumstance. it is reckless and disrespectful towards the patients (and other members of the staff) when a nurse, doctor, cna or clerk can not understand the patients or can not make him or she understood. i see examples of this everyday and it is really unfortunate. on the other hand, proficiency and accent are not interchangeable terms. some staff members have accents, but so do some patients. it is not the patient fault or problem having to deal with any accent from a staff member but the same work the other way around. we as nurses, usually, try to go beyond these language barriers and make sure we understand the patient and that the patient understands us. that is (or should be) also a given. but, when we talk about accents, what type of accent are we talking about. the strong brooklynite accent, the nasal accents from new england, those singing-like southern accents, etc. which one? what really makes me a little uncomfortable about this topic is that the accents some people seem to talk about are foreign accents. these are the same people that mention things like "foreign nurses" should learn and adopt (like it is so easy to do) an american accent (again, which one?). i live in brooklyn and work in new york where literally 50% of the population has an accent. my neighbors go through their lives speaking chinese, russian, italian, polish, hebrew, creole , spanish and probably dozen of other languages and can be (at least some of them) very proficient in english when they have to, most of them with an accent. i am not bothered by their accents and they not seem to be bothered by mine. so when some people seems so offended by those accents ,my brooklinite paranoia tells me that the accents they talk about are not from peggy sues, jimmy bobs or donnas (using some other post example), but pedros, rashids, kwon lees and mohammeds. and the fact that those accents usually are attached to skin colors other than the european standard one, put me totally on guard. this is america. the land of the diversity and multiculturalism. the land of tolerance, freedom of choice and cult. this is what i believe and that is what i work for. if some people think that everybody that comes to america should change and adapt to the domestic norm (like there is only one) maybe should check their understanding of america and american values. yes if you move to this country you should obey these laws and accept this constitution as yours and yes you should learn english as a way to integrate better in the society. but the language you speak in your home, the food you eat, the clothes you wear and the temple or church you go to pray is entirely up to you and nobody should have anything to say about that. there are other ways to understand societies that value more the uniformity. the one language, one culture and one set of social values. we fought one of those cultures in world war ii and their social norm did not seem to work that fine for a part of that population. accents should not be an issue more than when people talk fast or low. that is the way the talk and they just need to be sure the have been understood. patient care should not have to be compromise by that.

I am pretty sure there is no other profession with a bigger obsession to prove to everybody how little we care for the money, and how compasionate we are. Well. certainly I love my job and find it much more fullfilliing at a personal level than any of my previous jobs. Also I am telling you I would not do it if that means for me struggling in paying my bills or putting food in my children plates. Besides, where is the great salary? Compare to what? Flipping burgers? Sure! but A lawyer? A doctor? Not quite. Also, the whole "calling" and "love for the people" it is very good but that should never be instead of being professional. I don't care if someone cares or not for me while taking care of my health if he or she are professional all the time. Again I love my job and work with the people. But "people" a vague term. People includes human being that have little or no manners, that are intentionally offensive, noisy, demanding beyond my duty and what they should expect and definitelky deserve, recless, eveil and plain stupid. I encount thses sort of "people" everyday and believe me puttong up with them makes my paycheck very little. The only thing that makes it better is the other people just the opposit that, thank God, I also encounter every day.

Hey, not to add anything new that hasn't been already said. I went through nurse school married with 3 children and a full time job (that included one and a half hour conmute) and passed school and NCLEX. It can be done but believe me it will take a lot of comitment and discipline. You really need to prepare mentally for long hour classes after your 8 hour job (unless you are lucky and can get some sort of a deal with your employer) and study time (more important than classes probaly). You really need to talk to your wife since this would involve both of you having close to zero common life. I would kid you not. If you could do it without working would be better, but is not impossible. Discipline yourself, make a schedule and follow it religiously and forget about TV and other stuff for a while. Good Luck

I heard similar things before and it is sad. Not because the husbands object the male nurses to assit their wifes, I guess they have the right to voice their concern or preferences. The sad thing is that those objections are almost always against the nurse and not the doctor. Makes me think that in their minds nurses are some sort of "altar boys/girls" for the doctors and need no further profesional consideration.

:cheers:

i am not questioning your capacity or right as a parent or a patient to decide who you want to take care of you or your daughter. that is the very thing i said. i don't care about your reasons and i don't have a problem with it. this is not about me, dude. you are the one who have a problem with male health providers apparently. and again, you have the right to choose who is going to provide that care based in whatever you want. if your 6 year old daughter "freaks out" if a male doctor or nurse clean or examine her perineal area, probably she learnt that from you. and again, i am not questioning what, when and how you educate your children. but modesty is something learnt. having a nurse as a father she could have been more used to that if you would have taught her so. and please, i am not judging you. my problem comes when you would ban any male nurse of doing any sort of peri care to prevent any potential pedophile of getting close to any child "private". you says you don't, but you question your colleagues (and your own!) professionalism and integrity based on their own gender. i understand your concern. i am a father also. but assuming that any male could put your child in danger (and by that assuming that no female would) is a broad and unfair declaration. this is not about my pride. my pride is not before my professionalism. if i as a nurse tell your wife that since most of the children sexual abuse comes from fathers and family member, she should prevent you, the father, of changing diapers, bathing your daughter, and in general, expending too much time alone, you would be upset beyond words because that is insulting. no matter if it is true that many fathers abuse their children, that is an insulting and unfair thing to say. even if i am trying to protect the children and limiting the risk. i am curious in how you handle peri care in your female pediatric patients. do you refuse it, explain to the supervisor.. by the way, the banning of the pei care it was sarcasm.

Wow! Since we can not be too careful let's ban also the "male doctors". In fact, since there could be some female pervs, let's ban peri care completely. I know where you come from, I am father of a boy and two girls, but that is an unfair an broad generalization. It's like saying that since most of the crimes are committed by people of low incomes let's consider all poor people as suspects. I respect parents and patients when they have their preferences, beliefs, modesties or even biass because it is my job and I am a damm good professional but it is very very uncool when a collegue question me, not only of a lack of profesionality but even of a lack human morale fiber. Not cool

You are welcome. It seems to me you are preparing yourself a lot. I like also the 3500 the way the show the rationales, I didn't use it that much, though. However, my advise is prepare thouroughly but don't delay taking the NCLEX. The sooner is the better. I agree that you should not go foolishly and fail (having to wait 45-90 days and wasting $200) but you have also to take into consideration that you have certain momentum from school that is priceless. The more you wait, the more staff you are forgetting. Also, looking other people posts, 50-60 is pretty much the average for everybody. Remember to review your prioritazion, delegation and infection control. And, as I told in another post, make yourself a "mantra" for the test. Something like "everything is going to be OK", "I am the best" or a prayer. When you are taking the test and start to panic, repeat you mantra (6-7 words) over an over. That way, since you can think two thoughts at the same time, your haead will empty all the distracting stuff ("I need to start working". "I can't afford another test", "What is my husband/wife/parents going to say if I fail" etc..). This will help you to refocus on the test. In my opinion, NCLEX is crazy but the question are a little easier than Kaplan's. Good Luck!!!!

congratulations!!!:yeah:

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:yeah:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! :yeah:

Hang in there. You probably have done better that you think

Hold on Mave. Confident is not the norm when you come out the NCLEX. Don't feel stupid. You made it this far which proves you are not. Try to keep yourself busy until wednesday and then tell us you passed :wink2: