I try not to be too sensitive about stuff like this, but it is discouraging that even today people sometimes feel they have to preface the word "nurse" with the word "male," when their nurse happens to be a man. It is discouraging to see a supposedly progressive news organization like Yahoo! continuing to "otherize" us males by using such verbiage:
London (AFP) - A Filipino male nurse was jailed for life with a minimum of 35 years on Tuesday for poisoning 21 patients with insulin at a British hospital, two of whom died. Nurse jailed for life for poisoning patients - Yahoo News
It reminds me of when I was telling my friends and family I was going to nursing school. I remember how my pastor told me, "Do you really want to spend your life being a male nurse?" To which I replied, "No, I want to spend my life being a nurse."
Seriously? What if people called someone a "female doctor" or a "female lawyer?" This is silly.
I remember way back in clinicals at the VA a male veteran asked me if I was gay. I said no, I was married to a woman, etc. He asked to see a picture of her. I obliged. He said okay, you can touch me. Afterwards I felt embarrassed for myself. I should not have to defend my profession or throw my gay colleagues under the bus like that.
I know, flame me or say these are "microaggressions." Maybe you are right. But it is not fair either to our male or female colleagues.
Considering that women still DOMINATE nursing leadership what do you want me to say? Stop discriminating against yourself?
I'm just trying to survive in a career built by women, for women. Fortunately for me that despite the roadblocks society sets up for men in nursing we still are flourishing.
Lol yes...we DO need to stop discriminating against ourselves!
I hear women say things all the time about how they "just get along soooo much better with men" blah blah. Women are just as guilty of it as men are!
Facilities are NOT addressing the issue. I do not mean 12 point type on a name tag, I mean color code, big letters. Did you ever see the vests the FBI agents wear as they storm your office?
...
I think that a male who is identified as a "nurse" would be seen just as a "nurse," and NOT a "male nurse."
I agree with you on the top point, less so on the bottom. I'll explain. The last two hospitals I've worked in have clinical staff wear color coded cards attached to their IDs that have giant letters (I can read them from across the room). RNs are blue cards with "RN" in giant white letters, MDs are red cards with white text, and CNAs/MHTs are white cards with red text. I rarely get asked who I am... although I also usually introduce myself as, "Hi, I'm Dogen. I'm your nurse."
I'm not sure about the "male nurse" thing. I get asked if I'm working as a nurse while I go to medical school often enough that I think there's a strong undercurrent of gender stereotyping involved, and that people think that as a man I shouldn't want to be a "just a nurse." I'm not sure, though. It's not something that I can explore with patients (aside from the lack of time, and my sense of professionalism, in general no one wants me engaging in gender politics at work). It's just a feeling I have. :)
Be proud of the fact you're considered one of a kind. I'm 20 years old, and a male lpn. I get loads of questions from not only patients, but their family members AND my friends. I embrace the fact that people question me and my career. Nothing wrong with being a male nurse.
You can't blame people for hundreds of years of nursing being a female dominated profession.
The original nurses were nuns. At least you don't get asked, "Are you studying to be a nun...."
I don't blame people for associating nursing with women. I knew the field was made up of 90% women when I decided to become one. I only have a problem when people imply that I shouldn't want to be a nurse because I'm male, or that the entire field of nursing must be a temporary place for me while I pursue something else. And even then, I don't care what they think about me. I think about what it implies they think about female-dominated careers to say that I shouldn't want to be doing one.
I'll grant anyone that this theory is based entirely inside my skull, on the assumptions I make about other people's motivation. :)
There are gender roles hard wired in us as a species. I referenced these in previous posts about languages with masculine and feminine words. In the English language words ending in "or" tend to be masculine (actor, doctor).
The traditional nurse's uniform with the cap reflected the gender or the profession.
There is also the whole socialization of gender roles that society is grappling with: working moms, stay-at-home dads, gay marriage (a man having a husband, a woman having a wife), transgender rights, etc.
Interestingly enough, in the UK people think of a man when they think school teacher.
There is no question today that people can be anything that they want.
I remember a time when the term (please forgive me, but I am quoting history) "black doctor" was used (late 1970's) with the inference that the doctor's acceptance to medical school was based on race and not abilities. At that time, orderlies tended to be African-American men and as more African-American became doctors they did not have to deal with the issue (as much) of being mistaken for an orderly being that they wore the uniform of a doctor (white coat and tie).
As a society, we have surpassed that and given time we will surpass "male nurse" too.
uses a male for the role of the nurse and a female child as the patient. This is no accident. Given the size of J&J, every aspect of their advertising is meticulously controlled (just like other large corporations) right down to the color of the walls in the commercial.
So is this just trying to be PC or is it aimed at getting more min into nursing? I think the latter.
Perhaps it also challenges the media perception of "all men are sexual predators" by allowing the nurse to care for a female child...
Just as I pointed out with the picture of all the people in scrubs, identification remains an issue. NPs and PAs deal with this regularly. As the PCP withers and NPs take the role (of PCP), there will be issues there (there already are with the debate over "mid-level providers").
As this becomes more acceptable I believe that we are going to see a new term for NPs as they will need to be distinguished from both nurses and doctors as they become the main PC.
We'll have to agree to disagree on the extent to which gender roles are hardwired. Prior to becoming a nurse I got a degree in psychology and worked in a cognition lab, studying how people think and the factors that influence them. As a result of the years I spent doing research I tend to lean more toward crediting socialization rather than genetics for most complex behavior (eye-hand coordination is genetic, becoming a baseball player is not), but this really isn't the forum to go into that, and I'm generally happy to disagree amicably. :)
There are gender roles hard wired in us as a species. I referenced these in previous posts about languages with masculine and feminine words. In the English language words ending in "or" tend to be masculine (actor, doctor).
The traditional nurse's uniform with the cap reflected the gender or the profession.
There is also the whole socialization of gender roles that society is grappling with: working moms, stay-at-home dads, gay marriage (a man having a husband, a woman having a wife), transgender rights, etc.
Interestingly enough, in the UK people think of a man when they think school teacher.
There is no question today that people can be anything that they want.
I remember a time when the term (please forgive me, but I am quoting history) "black doctor" was used (late 1970's) with the inference that the doctor's acceptance to medical school was based on race and not abilities. At that time, orderlies tended to be African-American men and as more African-American became doctors they did not have to deal with the issue (as much) of being mistaken for an orderly being that they wore the uniform of a doctor (white coat and tie).
As a society, we have surpassed that and given time we will surpass "male nurse" too.
uses a male for the role of the nurse and a female child as the patient. This is no accident. Given the size of J&J, every aspect of their advertising is meticulously controlled (just like other large corporations) right down to the color of the walls in the commercial.
So is this just trying to be PC or is it aimed at getting more min into nursing? I think the latter.
Perhaps it also challenges the media perception of "all men are sexual predators" by allowing the nurse to care for a female child...
Just as I pointed out with the picture of all the people in scrubs, identification remains an issue. NPs and PAs deal with this regularly. As the PCP withers and NPs take the role (of PCP), there will be issues there (there already are with the debate over "mid-level providers").
As this becomes more acceptable I believe that we are going to see a new term for NPs as they will need to be distinguished from both nurses and doctors as they become the main PC.
I agree, but I don't necessarily believe that NPs have to be called something different. I believe the lay population simply needs good education done in an easily-understood way; but this is my opinion. I'd be curious to see research done on these matters.
A nurse with a clinical doctorate should be able to introduce themselves, "I'm doctor Khaan, nurse practitioner," or, "I'm doctor Khaan and I'll be administering your anesthesia today." If the laymen understood that doctor is an academic term for level of education, this would be smoother. It was also then give credentials so they know what doctorate you have. I'd probably introduce myself in this way: I'm doctor Khaan, doctor of nurse anesthesia, and I'll be administering the anesthesia for your aortic valve replacement. Do you have any questions?"
SubSippi
911 Posts
Lol yes...we DO need to stop discriminating against ourselves!
I hear women say things all the time about how they "just get along soooo much better with men" blah blah. Women are just as guilty of it as men are!