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?

[Farawyn]

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!

I have an AN crush on you, too.

[Farawyn]

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.

This is apt.

I can thank men for the s c r u b s.

I've worked with great nurses, female and male. Great docs, too. I've been lucky that most of my co-workers have been more of "it takes a village" mentality. Tom took my shingles patients when I was pregnant without resentment, as I took his sensitive female patients who preferred a female nurse. We turned patients together. We worked codes together.

A new nurse working about a year complaining about pregnant or small female nurses, citing a sort of female privilege leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I guess in this day and age, it is to be expected, but I'm going to speak against it every chance I get.

I'm freaking adorable- the furthest thing from a feminazi, but if that makes you feel better, have at it.

Hopefully nurses like him will grow up a bit and learn it's about the patient and working together and give and take, not about his fragile male ego.

[cyc0sys]

I tend to agree. My patient assignments have been tailored to my gender to also include the violent, demented, 'handy' patient, and even extend to the inappropriate family member. However, this doesn't upset me. If the rest of the nursing staff cannot deal with these challenging patients, it reflects poorly on them, not me. I lead from the front.

What makes me mad is when some Diva patient requests a female nurse after I walk out of the room and I have to hear the BS about that assignment change. I've only had one male patient ever refuse care from me and he simply stated that he didn't want me to bath him. Which was fine with me because he was a bit of a dirt bag anyway.

[Farawyn]

I tend to agree. My patient assignments have been tailored to my gender to also include the violent, demented, 'handy' patient, and even extend to the inappropriate family member. However, this doesn't upset me. If the rest of the nursing staff cannot deal with these challenging patients, it reflects poorly on them, not me. I lead from the front.

What makes me mad is when some Diva patient requests a female nurse after I walk out of the room and I have to hear the BS about that assignment change. I've only had one male patient ever refuse care from me and he simply stated that he didn't want me to bath him. Which was fine with me because he was a bit of a dirt bag anyway.

Maybe Diva Patient had other issues, Mr. Judgeypants.

You guys do all realize it is NOT about you, yes?

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

This is apt.

I can thank men for the s c r u b s.

Men had nothing to do with scrubs, keep in mind men have had a long presence in nursing and generally wore tunic tops.

The rise in healthcare prices and the subsequent push to decrease costs forced the hospitals to move away from the whites so that they did not have to wash and maintain the uniform. The movement to adopt pants started even well before this and really got moving in the 60s.

[offlabel]

The panel of folks considering "women's issues" is male, and men are controlling our reproductive health.

Men are controlling your reproductive health?

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

Maybe Diva Patient had other issues, Mr. Judgeypants.

You guys do all realize it is NOT about you, yes?

We unified nurses regardless of age, race, or sex.

[Farawyn]

Men had nothing to do with scrubs, keep in mind men have had a long presence in nursing and generally wore tunic tops.

The rise in healthcare prices and the subsequent push to decrease costs forced the hospitals to move away from the whites so that they did not have to wash and maintain the uniform. The movement to adopt pants started even well before this and really got moving in the 60s.

My mom wore the badass white dress with the cap and the red lipstick... and the cigarette.

[Farawyn]

We unified nurses regardless of age, race, or sex.

I ws speaking to the guys. But thanks.

[Farawyn]

Men are controlling your reproductive health?

From a governmental standpoint, yes.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

(...) as well as the other traits a man brings to the table such as less call offs, more reliable, more physical, less backstabbing drama among coworkers, etc..

I've called out twice in three years at my full time job, and I never called out once at my PRN of a year and a half while I was working there. Of course, that makes me a flighty, unreliable, less physical employee because I have two X chromosomes. My male coworkers, on average, call out way more than I do.

People don't call out because of a particular set of chromosomes. They call out because of things like having children, which, actually, is the responsibility of both males and females. It takes both a male and a female to make a child, last time I checked, and differences in call out patterns are usually nothing more than one partner not picking up his share of the parenting work. I used that pronoun on purpose.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

This is apt.

I can thank men for the s c r u b s.

I've worked with great nurses, female and male. Great docs, too. I've been lucky that most of my co-workers have been more of "it takes a village" mentality. Tom took my shingles patients when I was pregnant without resentment, as I took his sensitive female patients who preferred a female nurse. We turned patients together. We worked codes together.

A new nurse working about a year complaining about pregnant or small female nurses, citing a sort of female privilege leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I guess in this day and age, it is to be expected, but I'm going to speak against it every chance I get.

I'm freaking adorable- the furthest thing from a feminazi, but if that makes you feel better, have at it.

Hopefully nurses like him will grow up a bit and learn it's about the patient and working together and give and take, not about his fragile male ego.

Just using the word "feminazi" tells me a lot about the poster -- and nothing good.