"sister" = registered nurse

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Im a male nursing student and have come across ALOT of people refering to the role of a registered nurse as "sister" and LPN as "nurse". This is in Australia so we might be abit behind the times. This happen anywhere else?

I work in a nursing home and if a resident needs something explained or given that a LPN cant do they often say "ill just go get one of the sisters". I suppose its useful in distinguishing between nursing roles.

Also when i tell people im studying nursing at uni they ask "wil that make you one of the sisters or a nurse". Maybe its an Aussie thing.

I was a patient in the ministry of defense hospital in Kuwait City for a while and most of the RNs were from India. The females were called sister, the men were called Mr. and last name. i.e. Mr.Smith.

aloha

Jim

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I had never heard of this!

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

This paragraph is from an article about Catherine McAuley, who started nursing publicly in 1798, written about in

"Careful nursing: a model for contemporary nursing practice" by Therese Connell Meehan BSN MA PhD RGN, (JAN 2002,44(1)), :

sheds a lot of light on it. The entire article is really interesting.

"These emerging nurses considered themselves a secular

group in the common 19th century meaning of the term.

That is, although they were faithful Catholics and Protestants,

they were concerned with the world and its affairs.

However, the plain, dark costume they adopted and their

merciful work gave them a religious appearance. This

impression together with existing social and political conditions

led to a directive that they either form a religious

order or give up their Institute. At first McAuley was firmly

opposed to the idea of a religious order but as their work

grew and its importance became more evident, she agreed to

it (Moore 1841/1995, Harnett 1864). In 1831 they became

the Religious Sisters of Mercy, and over time became major

providers of nursing services in Ireland and around the

world."

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Specializes in cardiac.

a male nurse is called a good samaritan.

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Here in Australia I'm constantly called sister, especially by older patients. I don't really like it but I can put up with it. I once heard a male nurse introduce himself as 'sister'! I couldn't stop laughing at that one.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Ortho/HH/Radiology-Now Retired.

Oh please spare me!!! For heavens sake! The term "sister" ceased being used in Australia YEARS ago!!! About the only places you'll hear that word used in reference to a nurse today is in a nursing home or Veterans hospital! By ..... OLDER people!!! Nurses here, whether male or female, are mostly referred to by their own name. NOT a title!

And..... FYI, we DO NOT have LPN's in Australia. We have EN's. Enrolled nurses. While in some ways similar to the American LPN, they are distinctly DIFFERENT!

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Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.
We have a few actual "Sisters" that are RN's...but that is a title of Religion as a Nun and nurse. You refer to them as "sister _____" commonly or "nurse sister _____".

But yeah...we call LPN's LPN's and Nurses Nurses.

:yeahthat: We have a St. Mary's hospital near where I live and there are still nuns there that work as registered nurses.

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Ihad never heard of that ....but you live and you learn something new everyday...by the way iam new to this fourm.. iam a first year nursing student ..33 years old...and this is the hardest thing out side of giving bith to my 3 children that i have ever done but ILOVE IT..

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Specializes in med/surg.

For those who KEEP asking what we call a male nurse in the role of sister - if you'd actually read back you'd see I answered it straight away!!! However, for those who didn't read it first time her gpoes AGAIN..... they are called "charge nurse".

OKAY???

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Specializes in Case Management.
Mister Sister? ;)

LOL

:roll :roll :roll :roll :roll

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What DO you call a nurse who is in the role of a "Sister", but is a man?

In England we call male nurses who are in a leadership role a charge nurse, and a female a sister.

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Specializes in Junior Year of BSN.
For those who KEEP asking what we call a male nurse in the role of sister - if you'd actually read back you'd see I answered it straight away!!! However, for those who didn't read it first time her gpoes AGAIN..... they are called "charge nurse".

OKAY???

Uhhh...:chair::smokin:

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