ssi9699

well thank you,posters for illustrating the differences between men and women. Once again, we are talking about men who are nurses, not working with men in any possible context including college. Men who choose nursing are, with few exceptions, different. And those of you who speak altruistically, think what you want to. But if you happen to know a group of men who have all been nurses for awhile and just talk with them at social functions, your perspective MAY change. The lesson for me here is that unless you have the same opinion, don't bother posting,because you get attacked. And I won't. I resign.

sorry, IMO, less drama with straight men generally. Note: IMO. And as for me,personally, over the years when I have seen certain names on the schedule with me, I really look forward to that day. Many other days turned out to be terrific, but when you know you're working with people with good work ethics and attitudes, well, then, I don't care if they have purple stripes, old, young, male, female, single, widowed, straight, gay, tall, asian, or whatever, even with an impossible work load, you're going to have a good day. As I said, I can only base MY opinions on MY exposure to having the privilege of knowing half a dozen men nurses very, very well. I guess it all comes down to less drama and the "lets just all do our jobs" attitude. Very common with this bunch. They have some wonderment at why this isn't the norm. After you work with almost all women for years, you don't expend more time wondering. Women are just different. Men are simpler creatures. I work with all women now and each and every one of them have those same wonderful qualities, but it's the first place in over 20 yrs that's happened. (So I really, really appreciate them.): Nurses who do their jobs, work as a team and have a good attitude. Course, the average experience in nsg in my dept. is 40 yrs, but that's another forum....

Interesting discussion. I'm fascinated that so many deny that it is inherent human nature that people are judged and stereotyped. Oh come on...you mean to tell me you don't remember how differently you were treated when you were 23 and weighed 120 pounds as opposed to 52 and 200 lbs? How about part-timers and full-timers. Being the rare minority (whatever race or religion that applied to in the situation). Gray haired and wrinkled? Male or female? Definitely not all bad differences, some have been great improvements. Happens when you are in a hospital, at a PTA meeting, or at a retail store. Talk to men who are RNs who have worked for awhile and I'll bet they will tell you when they happen to be working a shift where the staff is dominated by straight men who are RNs, the day is heaven-sent. The work just gets done. Oh sure, it definitely CAN happen with females, too, but it would be with a specific crew with the qualities you have spoken of in previous posts. Even slacker RNs, when they are in a field of other men step up their production, I guess from effective peer pressure. But most men have worked in other fields with a lot of other men, so the contrast to them, as the OP stated, is more apparent. Many nurses, including, so obviously many of the ones commenting on this board, have only worked in female-dominated fields. And men working in, say the manufacturing world are not necessarily the same caliber of compassion as men who are nurses, so to stretch the comparison to them is not 'apples to apples'. To return to the original poster's statement, if I were floating to a new hospital, and I had a team of 4 men to work with or 4 women, knowing absolutely nothing about them or the work ahead of me, yeah, I'd definitely pick the men. Just my opinion.

Thanks to all who have shared local program info so far. I feel getting teens to consider nursing is very important in the long run for nursing. We know of many colleagues who went to college for this or that, or worked in different fields and then finally came around to realizing that nursing is where they belonged. Imagine if they had that thought at age 16 or 17! Going to college would have been so less complicated! Please post here with what is going on in your community! And if yours, like mine, falls short, think about some of these programs you read in this thread, talk to your PTA president, the principal at your child's middle and high schools, your hospital bigwigs, their "recruitment and retention" committee or Human Resource manager. Your kid's guidance counselors. Tell them what others have and ask for the same!

Occasionally we transfuse Remicade, usually for arthritis or Crohn's in my new department. I tried to look up the policy on infusion when I discovered there isn't any. We make a big deal about these infusions; they have an appointment, are admitted as an outpatient, have one nurse assigned to them, and are infused with the same protocol (actually, more stringent) as far as VS and staying with the patient, as blood transfusion. This is all by word of mouth, of course. When I suggested maybe we need a protocol, so new staff like me have something to go by, they shrugged it off and said we could write protocols on everything we do, what would be the point? This is the ONLY med we treat like this, so it seems odd to me that we are just winging it. I'm willing to do some research and try to help develop some guidelines, so I'm asking anyone who infuses Remicade or who have received Remicade as a patient to share what the nursing staff does for the patient. I know it comes up mixed according to the patient's weight from pharmacy,and they have some special tubing they send up with it. The most I can glean from my internet searches is it should be infused in no less than 2 hours. Would love to hear from you!

Well had the opportunity to talk with the hospital CEO and brought up this very topic! We are going to talk again about this and I still need MORE ideas on how we nurses can introduce the field of nursing in a positive way to high schoolers. Something that could be done in a day or a short period of time that wouldn't require students to sacrifice some other class in order to look into nursing. Maybe some type of summer shadowing program or evenings? My old employer had something set up with high schoolers coming in on the evening shift...I remember them being in the newborn nursery for a number of days, but i tried to block out all memories of that job, so I don't know any details :uhoh21:

I have worked as a solo nurse in a very busy single-doc practice in OH. In 1992 I was paid $18/hr. Was offered a position in 2005 to be RN for one doc in a 10-12 doc practice for $15/hr in VA. Was offered a solo RN job for a solo specialty practice just establishing which required out of town conferences, traveling, marketing, luncheons, and presentations on my own along with insurance work, gov't statistics, estab support groups, and, oh yeah, the actual clinical nursing part of the job, too. It was a mgmt job (salary) that I turned down at $25/hr, it was worth about $30 min in this market for that level of commitment. That was not an "office nurse" job, it involved much much more. Know what the job actually entails. 6 mo later the practice was transfered to another arm of the corporation and I was offered the same job for $18/hr. Point is, the SAME job in the SAME town in the SAME year fluctuated from 18 to 25/hr. And THAT is WITH office experience and over 20 yrs RN experience in that particular field of medicine (and recent medical marketing experience). You will find a few smart docs that will hire hospital nurses they know and trust and match their hospital pay because after a time they realize a good nurse in the office is worth the pay. We can make their life so so much easier, and high turnover (for all staff) in offices are very common. You really have to know how to read the doctor, know when to stop pestering the doc make a decision on your own and when it's appropriate to put it in his/her lap. You have to love teaching. I found office work to be MORE demanding physically than the floor and much more hectic and stressful! There is an incredible urgency and time factor in a busy office; angry patients, distressed ones, dirty ones, pitiful ones, wild children, etc. I loved the work and learned so much so quickly.There is a certain predictability to look forward to, but I still advise a new grad to get some basic hospital experience. It will give you a foundation of organizational skills, time management, and confidence. It will help when you counsel patients in the office, too, as many of them will end up in the hospital for surgery, procedures, etc. I have worked alongside a number of nurses who have always worked in offices and now are orienting to a hospital position and the majority have an extremely difficult time transitioning. The transition from hospital to office is much smoother, but anticipate you will sacrifice the pay. Money isn't everything. Also, working at the hospital can give you ideas of who has reputations of being hard to work for, or great to work with! Quietly getting the word out that "if you ever need another office nurse, Dr. Snedly, you let me know!" may not lead to a job with Dr. Snedly, but if you develop a good rapport and reputation with him, he may refer you to a colleague. And those jobs are the ones that the doctors are more likely to offer you a higher salary for.

interesting we base our responses on the type of nursing we know, still amazed that it is done any other way. My experience in two vastly different hospitals in two areas of the country were the same. Time for an epidural? The deal is the family leaves the room...go out and touch base with other family...give them an update, go to the bathroom, go get a quick bite to eat, etc. The anesthesiologists don't like a lot of chatter or inquiries while they are placing the epidural, I don't want to field questions when I am documenting, hold the patient, coaching the patient on what to expect next, etc. I always enjoyed holding the patient in the proper position because it was an intimate "bonding" time for the nurse and patient during the height of the patient's labor discomfort. Many docs were very particular on how they wanted you to "hold" a patient, and many times they could turn a difficult stick into success due to positioning. To trust this to a layman is needlessly asking for trouble. It is the administration of anesthesia, and where else in the hospital will you see family help with the administration of anesthesia?... not in endo, the units, surgery...this is serious business. I can't recall anyone strongly objecting to not being able to watch a huge needle being stuck into the back of their loved one in between contractions. But returning to the point of the thread, it is tragic but fainting can occur at so many points during the labor and delivery. It is no one's fault, IMO.

I would love to see a shadowing program where a nurse would spend a day with a high school student taking them around to various areas, standing in the background with them and observing while explaining the basics of what was going on, i.e. a brief surgery, PACU, L & D, nicu/nursery, oncology, critical care, med/surg, endoscopy, interv. radiology, ER...whatever was available for the day. Obviously no time for ALL of them, but a nice range from the list. It's hard to get a picture of nursing from spending a morning on med/surg because there are so many completely different worlds in nursing. Not to mention psych, home care, office, clinics, etc. I would like to see students get an introductory talk emphasizing the flexibility of nursing, the autonomy, the critical thinking skills developed, the rewards of doing work that actually MEANS something, not just makes a company make money, as in so many other fields. Then a flash of different realms of nursing to illustrate the points in the introductory talk. There are some great ideas that have been posted on this site so far, keep them coming! The average age of nurses continues to grow higher, and students in nursing school are very often people who choose nursing as a second career, or as an afterthought because of something a friend or relative put into their mind, as was the case with me. Why not make it a first thought for high schoolers? I never really knew what a nurse DID, just that they worked in a hospital, you had to not mind blood and you gave shots. As one poster insightfully remarked, even if few high school students going through an Intro to Nursing day went into nursing, the gradual expanding awareness of what nursing is really all about would be invaluable to uplifting the image of our profession. Agree?

My hospital has a nice summer program for 3rd year BSN students to introduce them to nursing. The big oversight, IMO, is we do nothing in this area to introduce nursing to high school students as a possible career. To me, when these kids are looking at colleges, they often select colleges based on possible majors. Equally important to court are the students who are deciding whether to go to a college which offer a nursing program, not just those who are almost finished with their BSN. Two of my own kids have recently taken two different national-based "interest surveys" at middle and high school, and do you know that nursing is not even LISTED as an option for a career? They have all these jobs like "shoe repair" and such, but not nursing. They do have Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Anesthesist, but not RN (or LPN). Well, gee, wonder why no one is going to college to be a nurse? I'd like to see my hospital have some sort of shadowing program for anyone interested in finding out what a nurse does. Please share what your community or hospital does to introduce high school students to the field of nursing.

"In all honesty, there are not that many drugs that will cause a case to be cancelled if the patient took them that morning. The big ones will be the blood thinners, possibly some antihypertensives, and the diabetic meds." Heart ICU and ceecel.dee: thank you for your response, the message seems to be it is indeed up to the nurse to choose the medications, based on institution guidelines. I am a L & D nurse "by trade", now in PAT, and most pregnant women that I am used to caring for are not on ANY medications, so I am having to look up most all the drugs to see what they are for and what their actions are. It would be nice, (like a very few of the primary doctors do), if THEY told their patients, when they met in the office to decide to do the surgery or procedure, what medications for them to take the morning of surgery, but I am hearing from you both that that is not reality. I guess over time I will learn the most popular drugs, look up the others, and it won't all seem so stressful. Thanks.

In the PAT department I am orienting in, there are vague guidelines on our printed brochure the patient gets that state the patient should be NPO after MN day of surgery, but take their heart or BP meds that morning with a small sip of water. The "understood" rule is if they are diuretics, you tell the patient to skip those. And if they are taking "stomach" medications, the "understood" rule is they take those, too. Other things, like pain meds, antipsychotics, etc are gray. I'm sorry, but I feel uncomfortable picking and choosing which medications the patient should take. I am afraid of the consequences of either taking OR omitting a medication. I can just see some surgeon or anesthesiologist coming back to me and saying "why the heck did you tell them to take/not take that drug?" My coworkers all have many decades of experience, so my 20 years makes me a novice. It all makes me feel like I'm practicing without a license and taking on too much responsibility with what I think should be the pt.s' personal physician's call. Am I making too much of a big deal about this issue?

indbletrble, an amazingly excellent analysis. In my recent job interviews where I was applying for positions totally different than my area of expertise, I was struck by how the skills for the new job(s) were so similar to the ones for the rest of my resume. Assessment, teaching, leadership, prioritizing, handling conflict, crisis. Qualities like work ethic, thirst for learning, teamwork are more prized by employers than if you can do a specific skill. Talk to anyone in nursing management. They would much rather have a good person with a proven track record and train them on the specifics of a nursing position than have a highly-skilled nurse whose attitude/work ethic will be like a cancer in their department. On first glance, it looked like I shouldn't have even gotten an interview, but each time I was offered the job immediately. CharmCityRN, don't let the fear of losing your skills be a major influence on your decision. You are honing your skills more than you realize, just in a different setting.

I find it frustrating when I talk to friends in other fields who continue to improve their standard of living as a reward for hard work, continuing education, loyalty, ingenuity, etc. They get paid to come in for meetings and inservices, they can't understand why in the world you would go without a meal break, or have to eat in 5 minutes while standing up, much less not be able to go to the bathroom some days for 7 or 8 hours. I remember when I was having a baby, my friend also delivered. She worked, with a 2 year degree, for the cable company. Her delivery had zero out of pocket expenses for her and she got 8 weeks paid time off. I had the same length of service at the hospital I worked at, got 2 weeks of paid time off and a deductible and 20% copay. Oh, and she didn't even have to pay any premium for her health insurance, either. Sometimes you just can't look at how much you get paid per hour, its other factors, too. Not to mention all the other stressful responsibilities as stated by others in previous posts. One thing for certain in healthcare, though, people will always need nurses. Despite nursings' compensation concerns, several of my husband's business-mfg. employed friends, who's salaries quickly surpassed his RN salary (which they thought was hilarious), have been through a number of jobs due to 'downsizing" while he has steady work. Now he doesn't look quite the fool to them anymore. Stress of a different kind for them.

I so miss working at the bedside where I feel I belong but I refuse, just refuse to take less pay than what I was paid for an office nurse job...12 years ago (!)to work per diem.. with NO benefits, NO guarantee of any hours, NO day hours, and the obligation to work a certain number of weekend shifts. No, no, no. :angryfire To have 21 years of experience and be offered $17.50 an hour? If more nurses would have a backbone and say "No", instead of "Yes, I guess" and just take what mgmt gives, they might have to change their scales. Or they could just go around saying they have a 'shortage.' We're out here, and I know dozens more in my own tiny network that would love to return to the hospital, even to work the off-shifts and all, but not at a dollar or two more than a new grad and to be dumped on because I'm 'only prn'. End of rant. Ok, I feel better now.