What are your views on male nurses

allnurses Guide · May 2, 2016

Same thing as I think about female nurses: are you good at your job? are you there when needed? are you a team player? can I depend on you? all genderless questions!

Seriously, I appreciate both my male and my female colleagues, as individuals.

mkk99 · May 2, 2016

I think it's interesting that it seems every male nurse who finds this site needs to post their own thread about it

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · May 2, 2016

In my opinion there are really only two kinds of nurses, the good ones and the bad ones. Male, female, both, neither...gender just doesn't matter, talent matters.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · May 2, 2016

In my opinion there are really only two kinds of nurses, the good ones and the bad ones. Male, female, both, neither...gender just doesn't matter, talent matters.

^ I second this...it doesn't matter EXCEPT whether one is a good nurse or a bad nurse. :yes:

Farawyn · May 2, 2016

I think it's interesting that it seems every male nurse who finds this site needs to post their own thread about it

boom.

ArtClassRN, ADN, RN · May 2, 2016

So I'm only recently new to nursing, but as a male nurse I do get asked quite a bit why I went into nursing.

I started doing my prerequisites in 2007 well into middle age, and I got very little "Why nursing" type questions from people outside my family.

My family, on the other hand, a decade later, STILL doesn't really get it.

nursemcsleepy, BSN, RN · May 2, 2016

First off, there's no such thing as a 'male nurse'. You're a nurse. Plain and simple.

What you need to question is why people are asking you why you want to be a nurse? Nursing is a predominantly female field, and questioning why a man would want to enter that field is is so chauvinistic, and just highlights society's views that men are stronger, smarter, and downright better than women. It's implying that nursing is not just a surprising career choice for a man, but a poor one. Asking 'why would you want to be a nurse?' is asking why wouldn't you be a doctor? It's implying you're not smart enough or hard working enough to get into medical school, where the real men belong. 'Why would you want to be a nurse?' is saying you don't fit the stereotype of an effeminate, gay man, without saying 'I would never say it's wrong to be effeminate or gay... I just would never, ever associate you with them'.

And then comes your career choice. 'You're a male nurse? You must want to go into cardiac, or psych, or the OR, or trauma' - where the excitement is. God forbid you're a man drawn to NICU, or medicine, or oncology, or pediatrics... because those are soft specialties, where the delicate, fragile women belong.

But don't worry. You're a man in nursing. Everyone will be falling over you to hire you, 'because they need a man's touch on the unit'. 'Because women gossip and are catty and don't work well together'. 'You'll get into management in no time'.

Don't ever feel like you need to defend yourself for becoming a nurse. If you're taking a defensive stance on going into nursing as a man, you're really just defending yourself against someone's perception of women.

I hate these posts.

pigginsrn · May 2, 2016

I wish there were more

CVICU-Nurse1.5 · May 2, 2016

I got into nursing because my first career wasn't helping anyone and I don't want to waste my life isolating my talents. Graduate this year but honestly I rarely get asked by patients or others why I'm becoming a nurse, most praise it

westieluv · May 2, 2016

I think nursing stopped being a "female" career about the time that we stopped wearing white caps, white skirts, and white hose. It doesn't even occur to me anymore if a new colleague is male or female, they are just a nurse and potential friend. I have seen great male and female nurses and terrible male and female nurses; human nature is human nature, regardless of sex.

I will say that I sometimes enjoy working with men more simply because they are less likely to be drama queens (kings?) and stir up gossip and other trouble in the workplace. If that comment makes me sexist, then call me sexist, I'm just stating what I've observed based on my personal experience in working as a nurse for the past couple of decades.

downsouthlaff, LPN · May 2, 2016

I'm an LPN and also a Nurse who happens to be male. I find that I'm treated no different than female nurses in regards to pay or treatment. I'm expected by the nursing home I work at to carry out the same tasks and duties of any LTC Nurse. I don't often get asked why I went into nursing I feel like Male Nurses arent a big stink anymore. Remember it's way more important to be remembered as a good nurse than as a male nurse. Make people forget your gender and judge you on how good of a Nurse you are at your job [emoji1]!

klone, MSN, RN · May 2, 2016

My husband is a nurse. He's not common or boring, but the idea that male nurses are rare birds IS.

FWIW, I get called "doctor" all the time too. And I'm a chick. IMO it has more to do with patients' health literacy, rather than some pre-conceived notion of how a physician (sorry, pet peeve of mine, saying "doctor" instead of "physician") should appear.