Question for nurses that are male...

[NurseLife88]

So I'm an avid reader of corny advice columns, just can't seem to get enough lol. Stumbled across a column this week. A nurse wrote in regarding some problems his wife had with his career choice as an RN. The part of this that stood out was he identified himself as a Nurse who is male and not a "male nurse" because he found that term to be offensive. I had never thought much about the term male nurse and didn't realize it could be construed as offensive to some men. Now I am curious as to how you nurses that are men like to be identified and/or how you identify yourself. I realize we don't say she is woman nurse so I got to thinking why it is many of say he is a male nurse, instead of just being a nurse. What do you think?

[MJH3483, BSN, RN]

You are lost

[Farawyn]

You are lost

No. I'm not. I'm right here. Living on Long Island, just like you.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

It has nothing to do with misogyny but the fact that I'm consistently fighting to keep my patient assignments with the excuses consisting of, "she can't have that patient, she's pregnant" or "she can't have that patient he's too big." Equal rights do not flow in one direction.

"She's pregnant" might be a valid reason for not taking that patient.

Equal rights have always benefitted the male, who is considered "more equal." I'm finding it difficult to respect the guys whining about how their rights have been ignored, invalidated or abused.

Because, you know if there's no male nurse on this shift, somebody's gonna have to take care of those patients, and it will probably a seasoned nurse who isn't likely to be pregnant.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Do you insert IVs because of your sex?

Men are sometimes asked to perform certain, many times unpleasant, tasks entirely based off of their sex and that is the issue.

Well, no, but men are (infrequently) asked to perform certain tasks based on their gender. So? After thousands of years of male privilege, you don't have much to complain about.

[pixierose, BSN, RN]

It has nothing to do with misogyny but the fact that I'm consistently fighting to keep my patient assignments with the excuses consisting of, "she can't have that patient, she's pregnant" or "she can't have that patient he's too big." Equal rights do not flow in one direction.

"She can't have that patient, she's pregnant" can fit a variety of patients (not just "big"). There are legitimate reasons why a nurse who is pregnant cannot take a patient (i.e. Rubella, shingles, etc). It's called being a team player.

I'm genuinely curious though; how often are you "fighting for your assignments?" Granted, I haven't been in the field that long ... but I've never seen a patient given to a nurse simply because s/he's "too big." I was given the largest patient on the unit all week long last week ... all 5'1" of me. We rotate this fella because of his stellar personality; thus, the "male nurse" on our unit did indeed have him as well (aka being a team player ... there's those two words again).

What I *have* seen a lot of: "pixie, can you take female patient x to the bathroom please?" from male techs... and then those certain male techs (not all, just a few bad apples) disappear from the floor when I'm done helping. But that's a different issue ...

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

Like pap smears?

You're right about the IV argument, though. Touche.

I know many men who have been turned away from women's health units solely based off of sex.

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

Well, no, but men are (infrequently) asked to perform certain tasks based on their gender. So? After thousands of years of male privilege, you don't have much to complain about.

Ah, some animals are more equal than others right? Let's fight injustice with more injustice? Is inequality just a banner that you wave around to elevate yourself above others?

You would have an argument if we were talking about anything but nursing considering that men are the minority in nursing and are routinely subjected to discrimination.

I did not discriminate against you, my father did not, nor did his father considering we weren't even in this country. If we are going to measure the wrongs of our ancestors and treat each other by the horrors of the past then where is our future? The holocaust was justified by the perceived wrongdoings of the past, the Tutsi genocide was justified by the perceived wrongdoings of the past.

Lets be adults and move forward, together, equally.

Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less. ~ Susan B. Anthony

[MJH3483, BSN, RN]

profile is old

[MJH3483, BSN, RN]

depending on the acuity of the patients, i can promise you i am fighting to keep my patient assignments often. seriously i don't just make this up and i am sure it has a lot to do with unit culture. the difference is if a woman does not want me seeing her female parts, no one is going to force her to receive care from me. it's not like we just pawn off female patients to other females. however, i work 3 in a row often and so many times have 3 different assignments in 3 days. sometimes you get tired of being a team player when you're consistently taken advantage of. theres no rotation of the big fella like on your unit. someone being pregnant is not a good enough excuse. do pregnant doctors not see their patients? give it to another female nurse, not continually change my assignment. also its not just about size, i wrote a previous post about this. the sad thing in all of this, is that i am probably not portraying myself in the best light, but i am indifferent towards that. believe me, i know what kind of nurse i am and what i do on a daily basis. my accolades speak for themselves.

[James W.]

Some of the strident seeming 'feminazi'-like posts

on this thread, bring to mind a saying my mother used..

"Two wrongs - don't make a right."

Men who are nurses are both appreciated, & deprecated,

due to perceived reactions to their sex, role & personality.

Just as women who choose to join military combat,

fire-fighting, & police roles are - from their viewpoint.

It is true however, that working in a predominately female

profession brings extra issues for men, the anti-male stance

of feminists as academic authority in education being but one..

This anti-attitude is publicly/politically unacceptable in the

case of women in military/F-F/police roles however, & goes

to illustrate yet another aspect of the 'double standard'..

[Ecs268]

Fry hats, white skirt uniforms, white panty hose, ugly white hospital shoes.......

Oh the horrifying sterile looking uniforms....prim and proper...makes me want to throw up in my mouth...

I'm sure those before us, before the invasion of the male species, are growling at us in their coffins as we work the floors.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

It mostly does. And has. For years.

*hands you a history book*

Don't go throwing your fancy pants book learning at us.

Next you'll be telling us you even know how the civil war started. Nobody knows that.... (hey, where did the emoticon button go)...not even the president of the eunited states!