"Medic" to replace the term "nurse"

Nurses General Nursing

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As a male, the term "nursing" has always been an obstacle to me. The concepts of "nurse" and "nursing" come entirely from the feminine - breast feeding, and wet-nursing. The rather modern concept of a "male nurse" thus carries a self-contradiction that is preserved in the language and the culture.

So it seems quite natural to find that the term "male nurse" carries its typical stigmas, that males are dwarfed by females in pursuing work in the nursing field, and that nurse shortages continue to exist around the world. It seems quite a logical concept to consider changing the common institutional name of the nursing profession itself from "nurse" to the more inclusive "medic."

Such a change is likely to have an positive impact on the nursing field, making it less of a woman's role, and opening it up culturally and socially to young men seeking to be of help in the role of medicine, but whom are not endowed by nature with exclusively feminine capabilities.

Regards,

Specializes in LTC, Med-Surg.

Nurses are the physician's safety net. We see their patients every day and they rely on us to catch things they miss...whether male or female, a good nurse can make or break how a patient does.

This is just like all the other dividers in the nursing world....stupid! Why do we feel the urge to compartmentalize each 'sect' of nurses? Male/female, BSN/ADN/DIP, LTC/MED- SURG, LPN/RN...need I go on?

We would all do much better as a profession if we stopped sniping at each other and worked for better patient care, better staffing, etcetera.

***for the record, I am a female currently TCU RN DIP...which means I'm....a nurse!*** :clown:

Specializes in LTC, Med-Surg.
You know the best way to remove some of the "stigma" of being a male nurse? Be professional, do your job better than anyone else, care with all your heart, and be attentive. Even though I'm "only a student", I've already found that few people will question you if you do your job well. And if they do, just do a little education on the history of nursing and how it has its roots largely in monastic orders taking care of those who couldn't take care of themselves.

My EMT friend told me to never call myself a medic. His exact words were "you're not a medic, you're better than me". By no means is a nurse better than a medic, but they have a great deal of respect for the work we do and see themselves as a completely separate section of healthcare.

There is no such thing as " only a student"... You are a nurse in training! We love having students on my unit! They are some of the most caring and dedicated people. Probably cuz they haven't yet been polluted by all the politics.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Cardiac.

Speaking as both a nurse and a paramedic, I'm about as excited about nurses calling themselves medics as most nurses would be if paramedics called themselves nurses. I'm proud to be a paramedic and it's a lot different from being a nurse. I wonder if military medics are annoyed that paramedics are often referring to themselves as medics, since the role of a military medic is so much more than a paramedic.

Specializes in Step-Down.

I am a young male and I have no problem with the word nurse. I think Nurse sounds much better than "medic". When I hear the word "medic" I think of a Tech like a med tech. Nursing encompasses so much more than medicine. Nurse sounds better.

Specializes in pediatrics, public health.
As a male, the term "nursing" has always been an obstacle to me. The concepts of "nurse" and "nursing" come entirely from the feminine - breast feeding, and wet-nursing. The rather modern concept of a "male nurse" thus carries a self-contradiction that is preserved in the language and the culture.

So it seems quite natural to find that the term "male nurse" carries its typical stigmas, that males are dwarfed by females in pursuing work in the nursing field, and that nurse shortages continue to exist around the world .......

This is where you lost me. If you're going to rename a whole profession, you can at least do your homework and know something about it.

FYI THERE IS NO NURSING SHORTAGE! There are posts here every day from new grads desperate to find jobs, and even experienced nurses are having to look a long time to find jobs. No need to rename the profession to get more people to go into it -- we've got plenty already!

Specializes in Emergency Medicine.

+1

I left medic back on the bus and never looked back. I went to school, bettered myself and am proud to call myself nurse. The word I can't stomach is murse. You can't say that word and have it sound good at all. Horrible.

Given that organized nursing has its roots back in the missions and monasteries at the begining of recorded history, caring for the sick and poor was first the work of monks not women. The woman as "nurturer" in the family unit kinda fell into the role during village conflicts and war. The exploits of Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton are just contemporary figures that further defined the current role of the nurse. The word nurse has only been around since the 14th century. As a male nurse I feel that I'm in good company with a proud history as a caregiver.

Here where I live Medics go to school longer than many Nurses. Im doing the Practical Nursing which is a 2 year Diploma, the RPN's, the 4 year Bachelor (RN) and the NP.

Medics however start out as EMR's which is a basic course and isnt all that much $$, next step up is the EMT(technician), followed by the EMT(Paramedic) which costs over 3x the amnt of what Im paying for what Im taking :eek:. Not a bad wage either, very comparable to Nursing...depending on whether one is a EMR or Paramedic the wage can run from $25 at the low end to $40+ at the highend, not including differential wage (callback, offduty, etc). however looking at some of the other careers, Nursing and Paramedics both look questionable now, when one could sit in an office as a councellor and make over $55 an hour :p

Specializes in Med-surg, ER, agency, rehab, oc health..

So if a male nurse is a murse is a female nurse a furse? I say a nurse is a nurse. And when a patient says "oh you're a male nurse" I say "Well contrary to popular belief I take care of females too!" My father was a nurse for 20 years, and I'm a nurse... and proud to be one:cool:

As a male, the term "nursing" has always been an obstacle to me. The concepts of "nurse" and "nursing" come entirely from the feminine - breast feeding, and wet-nursing. The rather modern concept of a "male nurse" thus carries a self-contradiction that is preserved in the language and the culture.

So it seems quite natural to find that the term "male nurse" carries its typical stigmas, that males are dwarfed by females in pursuing work in the nursing field, and that nurse shortages continue to exist around the world. It seems quite a logical concept to consider changing the common institutional name of the nursing profession itself from "nurse" to the more inclusive "medic."

Such a change is likely to have an positive impact on the nursing field, making it less of a woman's role, and opening it up culturally and socially to young men seeking to be of help in the role of medicine, but whom are not endowed by nature with exclusively feminine capabilities.

Regards,

I don't like the term nurse either since it reminds me of nipple sucking as well. But what can you do? Most nurses around here identify themselves as RN anyway despite their gender. Medics are generally paramedics. It doesn't really matter though as long as the pay check is hearty enough.

I like Pookie myself, and Pooker for the male form would be nice. Or how about Sweetums! or even Hey, You! It could be Hey, YouThere! for the male version.

I like Pookie myself, and Pooker for the male form would be nice. Or how about Sweetums! or even Hey, You! It could be Hey, YouThere! for the male version.

Pooker is kinda weird, but I'm ok with the rest. I could live with sexy stud.

Pooker is kinda weird, but I'm ok with the rest. I could live with sexy stud.

Maybe just Pook for the guys.

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