which would you rather work with male or female nurses?

Published

:twocents:I think we have a serous problem. Not enough men in the nursing profession. Way too much estrogen (which causes whining, back biting, gossiping about your co-workers). I just want a mixture of males and females who are competent and kind to thier patients and co-workers. It's been a really long time since I've seen teamwork at the hospital where I work. I've seen alot of new nurses who believe they know everything, have attitude problems and get by with it through management!! I also want to say that if you have poor leadership, NOTHING will ever work...

I'm a female.:D I prefer male nurses. The men I have worked with prefer to talk about themselves or other interesting subjects. The female nurses I have worked with tend to want to talk badly about other nurses. I hate gossip.:banghead:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
The men I have worked with prefer to talk about themselves

Yeah, me too. But, hey, it's not my fault I'm so darned fascinating...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yeah, me too. But, hey, it's not my fault I'm so darned fascinating...

:chuckle

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Just reading an interesting book, "Mar and Venus in the Workplace"...explains how Men and Women communicate differently. Verbalizing (Venting) is often used as a way to clear thinking, planning, and to express comradeship, while others may interpret it as complaining. Men and Women misread each other's methods as negative. Some over-generalization, but a good read overall. Has helped my understanding and I felt comfortable working with Women already.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yeah, me too. But, hey, it's not my fault I'm so darned fascinating...

:up: :chuckle I love to hear men talk about themselves!!!! It's so much more fascinating then any mean-spirited gossiping.:yeah:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med-Surg, ICU, ER, Tactical Medic.

I am new to this forum, but I thought I would share a little insight.

I worked as a medic in the USAF for 6 years. 4 years of which I bopped in between Med-Surg, ICU, and ER. On the floors, I was one of 3 men on an 18 person team. After that I went to a clinic, which I despised.

First and foremost, it is the individual's character, knowledge, skill, and teamwork that I identify with when calculating their overall contribution to the team. Testis vs. ovaries come in last, if at all.

I do remember having a great female mentor who just happened to weigh 100lbs soaking wet and was all of 5'3". I am 6'2", 220lbs. Her diminutive size and gender never once entered into my mind, except when I would get jokingly on my knees so she could talk down me when counseling me in the finer points of patient care.

I have no issue working with or for women. However, in my experience, most of the women I worked with preferred male nursing staff. Reasons given=less b(*&ing, less backstabbing, complaining, personal drama, and generally easier to approach when working out a problem. Me, well I honestly thought I disliked working with women for a while. Then I changed sections, and realized that I hated tardiness, laziness, arrogance, weakness, and ignorance in general, not just from the female gender. However, because I had only seen those traits in a predominantly female staff, I began to associate those traits with working with females in general. As an aside, once more males begin to enter the workforce, I think you will see that many men share the same positive and negative traits as their female counterparts. Sure, we may never get pregnant to go on con leave, but we have wives that do, and I am just as likely to blow out a knee or back, and be out of work with that condition as well. Guys can be good of bad, as can women. I think if the workforce was 50/50, we would see no real preference except for perhaps personal bias. Except when it comes to ambulate Mr. Jones, a ravishing 350lbs of raging diabetes. I prefer kind, intelligent, hard working people, not a gender or race, etc. I do however like to have at least one other guy around, if only to pass on a crass comment. That is until I find out that female staff on the floor have a dirtier mind than me.

On a side note. Women, just because we are twice your size does not mean we do not really appreciate help ambulating a patient or moving them in bed. You can pull my man card for this, that is fine. We like our knees and vertebrae to remain in the same basic configuration as when we started that shift, so that means two person movements all around.

Beyond that, I do not have an opinion. At least that is what my Nurse Practitioner girlfriend tells me ;-)

-Redfoot

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

Some of the best and worst nurses I've worked with were guys. In general, I enjoy working with them, but let's not forget about the girls out there they don't get all catty.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm gonna give a little perspective from a field with no females in it. I'm in Engineering, have been for over 8 years, starting my road to changing to a nurse tomorrow (starting prereqs for the Accelerated BSN program). There are NO WOMEN in Engineering, and most Engineers have no social abilities. So, count your blessings, guys. At least for the most part, it is pleasant on the eyes looking at all of the females working in your field! lol

With that said, there's plenty of gossip to go around in Engineering as well, so I doubt it really matters.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

:nurse:Thanks every body for all of your great insights, thoughts and suggestions. Oh, and one more thing- NURSES RULE!!!!!:saint:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neurology.

I just got into the field 5 yrs ago and on my floor there were mostly females. Quite honestly...I was totally amazed at how "naughty" they were. I only thought the guys gathered round to talk smack. I was amost embarrassed.

Now that time has gone by I have been blessed with a mixture of ratios. I too dig a good ole' fest filled with testosterone and good times. I do however really like working with my ladies. At times a get a little over-protective of them as we work Neuro and have a lot of combative peeps. The one thing that is taxing is being "the man" on the floor...."Can you help boost my patient" or "Can you come and help calm my patient that is threatining to kill me?". All in all...I work with a great team of both sexes. There is just sometimes where the estrogen is so damn high that I have to go home and make sure my cup size hasn't gotten any bigger (haven't gotten any bigger than a D-cup though:chuckle).

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Okay, call me sexist, but I prefer working with female nurses because they look a LOT better from behind while wearing white scrubs and red panties!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Okay, call me sexist, but I prefer working with female nurses because they look a LOT better from behind while wearing white scrubs and red panties!

:lol2::yeah:I'm a sexist too!!!! Nothing like having a good-looking man around to help me forget about my crummy job!:p

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion