Michael2546

By the way. When my son was born in 1982 the head nurse of the OB/gyn floor was a male.

I just looked at my license. It just says registered nurse not male or female. I have always cared for my patients the same regardless of gender. If a female needs a cath then she needs a cath and I do it. If a male needs a cath I am sure any registered nurse can perform this procedure. Our scope of practice is not gender specific in Tennessee.

I absolutely agree with everything you have said. Doctors are not questioned about whether they perform task on women and neither should I. Back in the early 90's I worked in an emergency room. All the other nurses had gone to supper and only myself and an old doc were present in the ER. He said we had a patient that needed a lady partsl exam but her would have to wait a half hour until a female nurse returned from supper. The patient was bleeding. I told him that we are all nurses not male or female and that professionally we could perform the exam. Talking to the patient revealed she did not have a problem with us performing the exam she just wanted results. Another time one of my female patients needed a cath. I was told by one of the older nurses that I could not do the procedure. I told her to check her license and I would check mine to see if it said male or female. I also told her to check the scope of practice to see if it differentiated gender specific task. I got the cath and performed the procedure. Nurses have to step up and take charge. We are no different than the physicians. We all have jobs to do. Sure there are some nurses who are not as professional and probably should not be nurses as there are MDs that are not as professional and should not be physicians. Well I guess that is enough on this subject.

I am an RNFA (certified). I have harvested vein. Harvested radial arteries. Assisted in plastics removing parts of breast for reductions. Sure there are lots of procedures I could perform solo BUT for what I am paid I would not accept the liability. I did a procedure by myself once but it was because the MD told me to start the case and then he had an emergency and could not get back. It was a minor case. I would not willingly do this unless I got a lot of compensation. I think the malpractice insurance premium is probably more than 3 times what I am paid as a first assistant. BTW the majority of the first assistants here are not even RN's they are scrub techs that just took a written test and paid their $300 dollars.

we have the same problem with the certified scrub techs (cst) in the operating room. what i am doing about is is this: rn's are licensed to practice and are ultimately responsible for patient care. after consulting with the state board of nursing to see what posititon the board takes on cst's i was told that certified does not mean licensed and since the rn is licensed he or she is responsible for the actions of the cst or cna. nurses have to take charge. you are the supervisor. do not let any subordinate give you backtalk. unless you act like you are in charge you will not be in charge. just remember in the courtroom it does not matter if you jurt someones feelings or not. you are responsible by virtue of your license and you will be held accountable. so step up and take control of your practice. take a lesson from the md's: they will not tolerate insubordination and neither should you. thank you.

You never hear the term Male Lawyer or Male Doctor so it is about time to lose the male nurse title and be either a competent nurse or incompetent nurse and stop segregating us a male and female.

I work in a large hospital and we are required to purchase our own scrubs. Not just for outpatient procedures but for all procedures (heart, neuro, transplants). The only people that are provided scrubs are the MD's and CRNA's. I remember when we had to wear hospital scrubs and could not wear them out of the hospital but now if you wear hospital scrubs you will be repremanded. I have tried to get the policy change back but the National infection control nurses group have published studies that show no increase in infection rate with staff wearing scrubs laundered at home. AORN still recommends that the hospital provide scrubs and there is a study ongoing about this issue but economically the hospitals are not going to change back because of the savings on scrubs due to theft. I have heard that Vanderbilt University has gone to a vending machine scrub dispenser where you swipe your card and it gives you scrubs then you return them. If you fail to return them it will not dispense you another pair until you return the previous pair. Sounds like a good idea.