? Regarding Facility's Decision Not To Hire Male CNA/RNs

Nurses Men

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So, I've been doing my CNA clinicals at an adult care facility in their skilled nursing unit. My first day there, as usual, I was nervous but ten minutes into being there a resident passes away. She'd been there for the better part of 20 years, her CNA is hysterical (she'd been caring for her for over 15 years) -- sitting on the floor crying, hyper-ventilating, etc, she was completely unable to provide post-mortem care. I jumped in and offered to help and she begged me to, saying she couldn't do it, so I did it.

Her, my instructors, the other CNAs all said I handled it like a professional. So, being the only male in my class and the only male at all (other than residents) in the facility, some of the residents have begun asking for me by name "Go get that new male CNA I saw, I want him to take me to the bathroom/change my clothes/give me a shower/etc." Which I'm all more than eager to help and I do.

I've really hit it off with a lot of the residents and several of the CNAs/RNs. Quite a few of the residents hate the lifts or have such fragile skin that we can't use lifts on them (they have to be lifted by hand), and what might take 2-3 of them to do, I can on my own very easily. Because of what I bring to the table for the staff (a strong back, eagerness to learn, proverbially get **** done -- I like geriatic patients, a lot) and to the residents (I'm the only male in the facility, I can talk about sports, women, cars, hunting, etc with the male residents and some of the female ones have told me they'd wish they hire some males).

So anyway -- residents and staff have made comments about me working for the facility and that they'd like me to be there, I'd love to work there. Great staff, even better residents. So, I'm speaking with one of the RNs and ask:

Me: "I haven't seen a single male here outside of a dining hall cook and a janitor. Are there no male CNAs or RNs for the residents?"

RN: "Umm...nope, we don't have any on staff."

Me: "Why? You and the other staff have talked about how great it'd be to have a male or two around, and the residents say the same."

RN: "Oh I do feel that way but I don't make the hiring calls. HR has made it their official policy that no male CNAs or RNs are to be hired."

Me: "How? That has to be illegal."

RN: "Oh I'm sure it is. A while back we had a male on staff, I think he was a CNA, pretty sure anyway. Well, without going into too much detail but I'm sure you can figure out...he got SUPER friendly, and not in a good way, with some of the residents. So, ever since then HR has decided that males are prohibited from working here as a CNA or RN."

Me: "So because of one guy's decision to molest some patients, people like me are now screwed?"

RN: "Seems that way. But don't take it personal, we love you here. You're eager, quick, and we don't need to hold your hand and coach like most of the students who come through. I'd hire you but I can't."

So...what do I do? Can I do anything? I'm still in clinicals so I don't want to do anything while here that might get me thrown out and jeopardize me finishing this so I can sit for my certification. But I also want to march into HR and go "This is what I heard from your staff , is this true?"

Sorry for backstory but I wanted to put it all into perspective.

Specializes in none.
I'm AF as well 4MOX, or 911 in the old days. And yeah, I guess we did have it better! Plus the girls were much cuter...

Funny thing is that my doc at the VA. Soviet born and bread PLUS She is a Knock Out.

Yep - ran into this where I did my CNA clinicals. Every frimpin' CNA/LVN/RN sung my praises - but, they only hire males as RNA's (which, coincidentally only work 8-5 M-F; presumably so they won't try and sweep an 85 year old off her feet). Didn't even bother applying. Still looking, too.

----- Dave

As luck would have it, our last night of clinicals DHHS made a surprise visit after they received some complaints from residents and others, I'll share some of them:

- A resident being forced to have a BM in a wash basin - the CNA (employed, not a student) when questioned about their logic for this had no answer.

- A resident fresh from hip surgery (literally, had been back about 4 hours - anaesthesia still hadn't worn off) was given his dinner and told if he wanted it, he'd have to feed himself, said resident was in NO means capable of this

- Same resident a couple days later was denied dinner until 11pm for being "unruly"

- Deceased resident had passed away, the CNA in charge of their post mortem care was notified it needed to be done but afterwards could not be found. It surfaced later that the CNA decided to go out to eat, when questioned by DHHS for this decision the CNA said "They're dead!! Why the *** does it matter?" Resident was also in a double, the roommate is bedridden but fully aware - was left in the room with the deceased for two hours, despite their call light being activated and asked to be taken out of the room (normal facility procedure anyway, just wasn't done by the CNA)

- Hip surgery resident made frequent oral (and written requests by family members) for a fracture pan (coincidentally, doctor's orders also ordered a fracture pan) but was never given one. During the DHHS reeming, 2/3rds of the CNAs could not identify the fracture pan from the pans they laid out.

- While DHHS was there, one of them "secretly" (they slipped into the shower room behind a CNA and resident but didn't make themselves known, stayed behind the curtain) overheard a CNA tell a resident "If you touch me again you're going to make me lose my job!"

Anyway, the list goes on. A lot of stupid stuff, most of it abuse, incompetent CNAs, etc.

DHHS has since taken over the facility indefinitely while they work out what they want to do with it and the residents. I think out of the 15 CNAs on staff that shift, 12 or so were fired by DHHS and will probably be blacklisted.

DHHS let us finish our clinicals under their supervision -- it was surreal but an eye opening experience of what can happen when you start viewing your work as a burden/paycheck.

The whole myth that males are better because they can "lift" is being taken away. As a CNA and now as a nurse I mistakenly thought I could do single person transfers because, well, I am a pretty big guy. I ended up getting in trouble for it now asa nurse because I work in a rehab unit and one of the patients wasn't feeling well and told the PT to go get me and have me do the transfer so the patient wouldn't have to do so much work. In the end, I got reamed by the PT Department head and my DON because the facility policy is for no single staff transfers unless the pt can participate in 85% of the transfer and a 110 lb 5'2" aide can handle it by herself. In the end I was working against the efforts of the physical therapists and enabling the patient to not progress towards their rehab goals. So now... I don't do any transfers if I can help it, and if I do, a CNA is right there with me.

Specializes in Critical Care/Vascular Access.

I don't think it's an accurate stereotype to say males are discriminated against in the nursing field as a whole. It seems to be a facility-specific problem. I worked as an extern at a local hospital during my last semester of nursing school, which involved a lot of floating through different floors and departments. A couple of weeks before graduation, after only about 4 months working there, I already had two RN position offers. I took the one I liked more, am working there today, and have never felt at all discriminated against (aside from the occasional patient that preferred female help for baths and what not).

I agree with what a couple of other people said: pack your good skills and work ethic and take it somewhere that wants and appreciates it. They're definitely out there.

Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.

needless to say, it is sad to admit that discrimination is alive and well. therefore, take this as another lesson in life and move on to better and bigger goals. in addition, don't let this perturbed your path in your chosen career, in the near future you'll look back and grin on how miniscule some minds can be. wishing you all the best in all of your future endeavors...aloha~

Specializes in none.
needless to say, it is sad to admit that discrimination is alive and well. therefore, take this as another lesson in life and move on to better and bigger goals. in addition, don't let this perturbed your path in your chosen career, in the near future you'll look back and grin on how miniscule some minds can be. wishing you all the best in all of your future endeavors...aloha~

discrimination always was and always will be with us. no law or policy can force anyone to change what they carry in their heart. i found the best way to be a male nurse in a female environment is come in, get your work done, get paid and go home. that's it. that is my entire philosophy.

Specializes in ER, ICU.

Thanks for showing what men add to the profession. It's not just upper body strength, but diversity of attitude, and personal and life experience. I've had many patients tell me how they love male nurses for the attributes they bring. I wouldn't worry too much about their policies. In my experience if they are that narrow on one issue, they will suck as an employer anyway. I feel if an employer fails to recognize my sterling qualities, then I don't want to work there. Unless they are the only meal ticket within 100 miles I would just do a great job and look elsewhere.

If Martin Luther King or Susan B Anthony had just accepted it as the way it was, where would we be as a society. They fought the wrong and changed society. Accepting a wrong contributes to it. Discrimination based on gender is against the law regardless of the gender of the person. Males are not considered a protected class but it is still illegal to discriminate against them based on gender. Your choice but until they are challenged and or end up being sued nothing changes

Are the hiring statistics of hospitals, public record?

It would be interesting to know which facilities hire male nurses, and which don't.

I recently had a friend of mine point out that one of the places he was applying to, had a recruiter who has "women's studies" listed on her education credentials.

He did not get selected for an interview and wondered if it was because he was male. I told him there is no way to know, plus everyone makes it a point to throw out that equal opportunity employer disclaimer on applications anyway. (not that it means anything)

But as far as the whole "women's studies" is concerned, i understand that it promotes a certain understanding of society and the woman's perspective.

But to be honest, most of the girl i know who ever made that a focus of their studies, seemed to have a chip on their shoulder when it came to men. Not a huge chip mind you, but a chip nonetheless.

I guess i'm just wondering if someone with that type of background in a high up position, can truly make an impartial decision when it comes to hiring a man, or would they immediately default to hiring a woman instead.

Makes you think.

Specializes in OR, Trauma, OH, Vasc., Ortho, Gen.

From an HR perspective I would never advise a manager to not hire a male or shy away from males. It's is simply against the law to create policy again hiring either gender. In the corporate world you would get the crap sued out of you. The same is true for a practice of discriminating against males. As some one who worked in HR and now pursuing nursing I would love to be discriminated against on the bases of sex. Notice the company need not have a policy of not hiring men in order to have a very good chance of a favorable verdict, they need only have a pattern of not hiring equally qualified applicants. If you wished to pursue action it is important to do so within a year. As employers with more than 30 employees are required to keep applications for positions for one year from job posting closing date. After the year we get rid of them as they can be subpena but if we don't have them to turn over it's a mute issue. The only fastest way to change hiring practice in today's world is regretfully using the legal system IE legal action. Often a simple complaint with your local EEOC commission can open a whole can of worms with an employer and they have the ability to impose some consequences with enough teeth to cause change. you could rest assured with my company a call from EEOC was answered promptly and very carefully. 6yrs HR manager with company employing ~200 employees.

Never trust hearsay...you are all up in arms for something that's probably an untrue rumor amongst staff...we know how frequently that happens

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