Hey everyone! A little background: I always thought of myself as an ER/OR kinda guy and just find it so interesting I was planning work on one of those units when I finish school.
However, since I started my OB rotation a few weeks ago, I have just fallen in love with the units and the mommys/babies with all thier AP, IP and PP care.
Today I was placed in L+D. I found a nurse to teach me for the day and greeted her proffessionally.. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Good morning! Its nice to meet you, my name is ian and I am the student assigned to you today. *smile/extend hand to be shaken*
Nurse1: *she looked me up and down* "Men dont belong on this floor"
Trying to keep my composure I just kept silent for a moment, smiled and asked her to give me report on the patients we would be taking care of today. She didnt. So I thanked her for her time, took some initiative, and got the charts to get myself report I then introduced myself to both patients. They received me very warmly so I was very pleased. Both were 3/4 dilation with pitocin. I went to the Nurses station to chart some of observations, and my nurse walked over to me, *she had just come back from breakfast break* and told me very harshly that both patients said they didnt want me as thier nurse because I am a male and that I am not to go in and even talk to them again.
I was taken aback because they had received me very warmly and it was very unexpected that BOTH young female mothers would be so kind to me and then tell her (without me even seeing her enter their rooms coming back from break) that I wasn't to see them again.. Something was just off.
I kept my composure, stayed calm and told her that I understood and that I had plenty to do on the unit research wise and not to worry. She didnt respond and just walked away.
Now I have been with many of the nurses on this unit doing other areas of my rotation and have a very good reputation because of my energy and willingness to learn. The charge nurse walked over to me after witnessing what happened and changed my nurse.
My new nurse we so excited to have me on her team, it was such a difference and nice to have someone as positive and outgoing as I am to be teaching me. We hit it off, I got report on her patients and she introduced me to each one of them. The families loved me. One patient with her husband and mother in particular. After being introduced to her and her family, my nurse and I were doing the morning assessment and I was just rattling off everything I had learned so far regarding AP care, reading the FHM/Contractions and all that. The mother I guess felt very safe with me after hearing that I knew so much because 2 hours later when i went into the room to check in on her, she was screaming that the baby was coming.
My nurse and I did the prep and called the midwife and I was going to leave the room because I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable... Not only did she tell me to stay but she motioned me to hold up her left leg while the husband held the right in lithotomy position! I was walking her through breathing and pushing and by the time the whole thing was over the family just couldn't stop thanking me for being part of their birthing process and taking pictures with me, letting me do teaching, ect.
I cant tell you how much confidence that gave me. I showed the patient that I knew my stuff, acted professionally and confidently and got treated with respect. So far I have loved this unit and my OB rotation and was talking to the nurse there about working on the unit when I finish my RN. They seemed very receptive to it.
As a side note: the first nurse I started out with took another student (female) after I left and that student informed me that the patients were asking where I had gone to and why I left thier care.. That really hurt my feelings because that just tells me that my first nurse simply lied to me
Over all the entire experience was amazing, as with all my other OB experiences. I know having men on the unit is rare but I really do think I found my specialty! :monkeydance:
I am a male midwife in Australia. When I did my course , the only people I had any trouble with were the female staff in the Delivery Suite. The patients were great. I didn't have as bad a time as Ian though. You should have reported her for sexual discrimination!
What I learned from that is that CI's don't really want you to make waves. We as students come and go but the CI's have to see these nurses over and over again. The situations are usually handled behind closed doors as a whisper in a manager's ear but nothing more.
Hey everyone! A little background: I always thought of myself as an ER/OR kinda guy and just find it so interesting I was planning work on one of those units when I finish school.
However, since I started my OB rotation a few weeks ago, I have just fallen in love with the units and the mommys/babies with all thier AP, IP and PP care.
Today I was placed in L+D. I found a nurse to teach me for the day and greeted her proffessionally.. The conversation went something like this:
Me: Good morning! Its nice to meet you, my name is ian and I am the student assigned to you today. *smile/extend hand to be shaken*
Nurse1: *she looked me up and down* "Men dont belong on this floor"
Trying to keep my composure I just kept silent for a moment, smiled and asked her to give me report on the patients we would be taking care of today. She didnt. So I thanked her for her time, took some initiative, and got the charts to get myself report I then introduced myself to both patients. They received me very warmly so I was very pleased. Both were 3/4 dilation with pitocin. I went to the Nurses station to chart some of observations, and my nurse walked over to me, *she had just come back from breakfast break* and told me very harshly that both patients said they didnt want me as thier nurse because I am a male and that I am not to go in and even talk to them again.
I was taken aback because they had received me very warmly and it was very unexpected that BOTH young female mothers would be so kind to me and then tell her (without me even seeing her enter their rooms coming back from break) that I wasn't to see them again.. Something was just off.
I kept my composure, stayed calm and told her that I understood and that I had plenty to do on the unit research wise and not to worry. She didnt respond and just walked away.
Now I have been with many of the nurses on this unit doing other areas of my rotation and have a very good reputation because of my energy and willingness to learn. The charge nurse walked over to me after witnessing what happened and changed my nurse.
My new nurse we so excited to have me on her team, it was such a difference and nice to have someone as positive and outgoing as I am to be teaching me. We hit it off, I got report on her patients and she introduced me to each one of them. The families loved me. One patient with her husband and mother in particular. After being introduced to her and her family, my nurse and I were doing the morning assessment and I was just rattling off everything I had learned so far regarding AP care, reading the FHM/Contractions and all that. The mother I guess felt very safe with me after hearing that I knew so much because 2 hours later when i went into the room to check in on her, she was screaming that the baby was coming.
My nurse and I did the prep and called the midwife and I was going to leave the room because I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable... Not only did she tell me to stay but she motioned me to hold up her left leg while the husband held the right in lithotomy position! I was walking her through breathing and pushing and by the time the whole thing was over the family just couldn't stop thanking me for being part of their birthing process and taking pictures with me, letting me do teaching, ect.
I cant tell you how much confidence that gave me. I showed the patient that I knew my stuff, acted professionally and confidently and got treated with respect. So far I have loved this unit and my OB rotation and was talking to the nurse there about working on the unit when I finish my RN. They seemed very receptive to it.
As a side note: the first nurse I started out with took another student (female) after I left and that student informed me that the patients were asking where I had gone to and why I left thier care.. That really hurt my feelings because that just tells me that my first nurse simply lied to me
Over all the entire experience was amazing, as with all my other OB experiences. I know having men on the unit is rare but I really do think I found my specialty! :monkeydance:
First, let me say that you sound like a GREAT student. I am so sorry that you had a bad experience with the first nurse you came across in OB. I remember being exactly in the same situation as you while I was in my L&D rotation. Some nurses were completely receptive and others were not. I found myself slipping over to the NICU and now I have been a NICU nurse for 2 years. I will say that it will probably be a little more difficult to be a male L&D nurse but if you are interested go for it. If you were to work on a Med surg unit you would have female patients. Good luck to you in whatever area of nursing you go into, I am sure you will be a great nurse.
Yes it can work. 5 yrs in OB and still love it. I do have the occational breakdown and have been known to rant about discrimination but for the most part its wonderful.
The only problems you run into are with other nurses, yes some patients will prefer a femal but thats not even a thing. The real opposion you will encounter will be from other nurses.
If you truely love OB then you have to do it. It will be hard at times but youll figure out how to deal with it.
Ian, I can't wait until you get out of school and join the rest of us guys in Perinatal nursing....You sound like you handled it well. Who cares what the old battle-axes think about having men in their department. They have male OBs/residents/students all the time, what's the difference? My favorite classes/clinicals were in maternal-newborn. The whole conception-embryo-fetal-delivery process just fascinated me...The amazing system of checks and balances that we as humans were given to be able to sustain life like that throughout a pregnancy amazes me... Keep plugging along!
Thank you all for the kind feedback and responses! I really do think this is one of the areas I have fallen in love with. Its just SO fascinating to see the process of life and the varying stages, complications, interventions ect.
Its very rare that a bad apple gets me down But thats what god invented half-baked ice cream for! ... and subsequently my LA fitness membership hehe. (gotta keep toned!)
Anyhoo, I have been doing alot of research on this lately and I am goign to see if I can maybe get a PCT job on the unit in the mean time while i work on finishing my LPN (I finish in OCT) and getting into a RN program by january (cross your fingers!). My instructor works on the L+D floor so its quite possible to secure a position there. Ill keep you guys posted.
I have been reading the allnurses forums almost daily for three years, and I finally made an account so I could respond to this posting. You really want to work in L+D as a male nurse? There is something very fundamentally wrong with that!!! When I was in my L+D rotation, I intentionally avoided interacting with the mothers so as to not make them feel uncomfortable as they most certainly would be with a male nurse. And, you were actually comfortable helping the patient's husband hold her legs open? This is where you think you "have found your specialty"?? Male nurses do not belong in L+D. Just as females do not belong on the battle field or working as police officers, etc. And to the original poster, would you be comfortable with a male nurse helping to hold your wife's legs open??
That posting by Jason, really, a bit over the top man. It really makes no difference whether this guy is married or not. And if he wants to work in L&D, so be it.
If we are lucky, we have a sense, a calling if you will, of which area of nursing strikes us as the right one. It appears to me that the original poster is excited. Excited about nursing, and today it is L&D. Tomorrow it may be back to the ICU. :roll
No matter, his enthusiasm is admirable and noteworthy in a profession so woefully lacking in those very attributes.
Jason, re-evaluate your comments. Perhaps you saw more in the posting than actually exists ? Just food for thought brother.
To the OP: great job! You should definitely write a letter to that manager about that awful RN. I would have been happy to have you as my nursing student (as the precepting RN OR as the birthing mom!).
I have been reading the allnurses forums almost daily for three years, and I finally made an account so I could respond to this posting. You really want to work in L+D as a male nurse?
There are a couple of TOS in his post, which I edited. However, please let's allow Jason to have his opinion without personal attacks, such as calling him a troll or sexist. (Not just to you but to everyone).
Or simply ignore him. All opinions on Allnurses should be respected, as repulsive as you may find them, and the opinion debated.
This includes Jason respecting the opinions of others.
Please note that several posts were removed and/or edited. Don't be bothered by that. It's only to help with the flow of the thread. :)
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But thats what god invented half-baked ice cream for! ... and subsequently my LA fitness membership hehe. (gotta keep toned!)
Psqrd
206 Posts
What I learned from that is that CI's don't really want you to make waves. We as students come and go but the CI's have to see these nurses over and over again. The situations are usually handled behind closed doors as a whisper in a manager's ear but nothing more.
P2