Just1Question

I am not particularly impressed with the OPs post - as a student you are merely a guest in the hospital and when a pt allows you to assist in their care it is incredibly gracious of them. As a student you do not have the run of the hospital and to posses the nerve to discuss this with the father and bring it up with the hospital. You strain hospital schools relationships and it is behavior from men like you that lead to the nurse manager deciding it was not in the patients best interest to have you present. As a student during birth you are there merely to observe and I am not surprised many mothers are uneasy about having a strange male focused on their privates. As a male I would not like a female student watching as I had a vasectomy, however if the nurse was a female it wouldn't bother me. I would go the next step and say that if I was in a management I too would use my role to protect my patient if I felt they would be at all embarrassed or uneasy with a student observing without even running it by them. The difference is, you do not have a 5 week clinical in a urologist so this situation doesn't happen. As a guy on maternity floors it is always best to role with the punches - you have a bit more to prove and by fighting back you will not prove it, professional and excelling at building relationships with the patients you are assigned is the best way.

I am a male nurse who aspires to work in L&D and have pondered this field based on my experience in nursing school. Like most other males I had a large number of patients refuse to allow me to be present during their delivery, I felt hard done by because they decided before they met me and I like to think of myself as a caring compassionate person. I ended up observing 2 births, the first I was put into scrubs (to fit in) and went in as pushing was underway and aided the nursery nurse. There was certainly a tense moment when they weren't quite sure who I was (at least that was my perception), however with a baby coming focus was soon directed back to the matter at hand. Once all the commotion died down the family soon warmed up to me. The second one was a laboring mom who on a very quiet day agreed to allow me to care for her, but as pushing commenced and for exams she would rather me not there. I was fine with that. However after spending a little bit of time with her and her husband ithey informed the nurse that I was welcome to stay for all of it. I ended up doing my last rotation (where they immerse you in a specific unit) in maternity and had a wonderful experience with all involved. I have thought long and hard about my experiences and whether going into maternity is something I should pursue. What I concluded is this - as a student during labor you are there to observe. If I was having a vasectomy, I would have no problems with a female nurse, or a female doctor however the thought of someone just there observing is not something I would be comfortable with. Once you have a role, the relationship becomes very different, or if you had an opportunity to build rapport before then the comfort level changes, but as a male hoping to get involved in L&D I totally understand why so many women so no to male students.

I just received an email about this thread from a lovely member. I have to say your message made my day - unfortunately the message ended up in my spam folder and while trying to get it into my inbox so I reply I ended up loosing it. :-( Please please do email me: [email protected] as I would love to reply to your original message! Thanks!

Thanks for the reply guys - I understand there are more barriers to entry for me into this field and I could well have problems with discrimination, however I am more than willing to prove myself and build up my resume. I certainly would be interested in a special care nursery - as I agree it is a very similar role. We will see how it goes - from my experience with the nurse I spent the day with, it seems that facility was very welcome to men. All the nurses were eager to help me learn. I will be aiming for there I think.

Thanks for all your encouraging posts!!! I am excited to hear it is an option. I am actually the only guy in my class - we have 47 students. It wasn't actually my instructor - she is a woman's health NP and really tried to get me involved during birthing and postpartum care. The way the clinical work the charge nurse paired up a student with a staff nurse and 1 patient. Our clinical instructor would make rounds, check in on us, do a PA with us, etc. I was always paired up with a patient who required no woman's care and when a birth was taking place they would ask the patient if they minded students - when they said yes, the staff nurse always made sure to mention to the instructor 'no men'. I spoke to the director of our program about my recent great experience - she is eager to get students there.

When I entered nursing school, I was certain my goal would be critical care. I thought the lure of intense nature of the work would capture me. I was unconcerned that the deaths would get to me - I felt my upbringing on the farm made me immune to such emotion. I got a job in the ICU (PCA) a little under a year ago and I am wavering on my convictions - I don't really like critically ill patients and my farm experience didn't make me tough enough! My wife is pregnant and I am having a fantastic time being a long for the ride. This past week at my pediatric rotation the census was low on the peds floor so someone had to float to maternity - I was the drawn out the hat. The nurse I was with was amazing - she introduced me and every family welcomed me to care for the patriarch and the baby. I did a lot of assessments, saw a baby be born, took care of the newborn, participatied in education, etc. To date I have never felt so overwhelmed and confident all at the same time. After we had finished up, she complimented me on my work and said that I should strongly consider L&D nursing - it had never crossed my mind before. Since then the thought of being an L&D nurse has entered my mind and become lodged firmly in my aspirations - I am even thinking that in the future I might even continue to become a midwife. My problem is we did our maternity at a different facility and as the only male in the class I was clearly discriminated against. In 6 weeks, I took care of 2 babies whose mothers were discharged, after my instructor spoke to them they gave me a postpartum mother, who was discharged before I finished getting report (they said it was bad luck), and the other three weeks they let me look at charts and watch the shaken baby video (multiple times). The nurses would instruct the other students that I was no invited in the delivery suite, without even asking the patient. My goal of entering L&D nursing is not to be a male nursing renegade, it is I truly because think pregnancy and birth is magical. I love strong families, new babies and educating everyone to become one strong harmonious team. The birthing mother I took care of thanked me profusely for caring for her and her baby - even took a picture of us. I previously did EKGs and never had a lady request a female tech and although birthing is slightly more intimate I am not convinced many women would be put off by a male nurse and I fully understand if they would rather a female. How common is a male L&D nurse? Do you think a lot of centers although never admitting it will not hire a male for this role? Am I under estimating how many patients will ask for a different nurse? Any and all advice is appreciated. I just want to make sure I am not wasting my time on something unobtainable. Thanks for all your advice.

Hi Guys - I am student nurse and although many aspects of maternity are exciting (I can't wait to work with the babies, the excitement of birth, etc) I am just unsure what functions and activities a student nurse will be involved in. Being male I just wonder how personal interactions are? I am not overly concerned, I currently work as an EKG tech and know most women are very open to male staff - but would be open to advise you can guys can give? I really do want this to be a good clinical -