When will they change the name???

suzanne4, RN · Apr 27, 2008

And if they change it, I am sure that many of the male nurses here would just quit. It is an honor to be able to use the title RN after your name, and no matter which gender that you are of. Same thing with physicians, it was never changed when the first females started in that role either.

It does not matter what gender, nationality, skin color or anything else; what matters is if one can live up to the expectation of being a nurse and not worrying about a name for it.

nightmare, RN · Apr 27, 2008

There is nothing wrong with ' nurse ' it is an honourable title.

Hospitallers may have been working with the sick to begin with but they quickly turned into soldiers.Anyway I guarantee that if you referred to yourself as a hospitaller your patients would say,"what's that? " and you would have to use the word nurse to explain yourself!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller

donsterRN, ASN, BSN · Apr 28, 2008

I'm working too darned hard to earn the right to be called a Registered Nurse.

That name is OK by me.

CaptGaston · Apr 28, 2008

I can say I am proud of my title as RN, I have no problem saying that I am a "male nurse".

CC-RN-EMTP · Apr 28, 2008

When will there be another term for males besides "nurse"? It's the only reason I haven't become one...
(By the way, I am a SURGICAL TECH & ER TECH (Reaalllyyy macho, huh??)
But serious, if any job needed a generic term, this is the one...

If the name is enough of a reason for you not to become a nurse than nursing is not for you.

CC

bill baldwin · Apr 28, 2008

Try to change it, and you will have a rebellion on your hands. Especially since this demand to change the name typically comes from students or non-nurses. Those of us in the trenches long ago learned to deal. If you want to become a nurse, or be a nurse, perhaps you should, too.

Sorry to be blunt. No offense intended. This is semantical window-dressing and nothing more. If somebody doesn't want to be a nurse solely because of its name, then I don't want them to be a nurse because of everything else that implies about that person's readiness to BE a nurse.

~faith,

Timothy.

It is estimated that 50+ million American males would prefer a male nurse

over a female for intimate (call it pelvic) care. That's one third of the

male population.

This means (in addition to more nurses in general) that a 75/25% gender

split is required in female-to-male nurses. Right now, we have a 92/8%

balance. All the male nurses currently being kept off the OB/GYN and L&D

corridors by female patient demands still aren't enough to meet the needs

of male patients who request them.

Male nurses are 2:1 more like to quite the profession in their first five

years. The main reasons given is their self-image in nursing and the fact

that they can't deal with the gynecocracy.

Anything that brings more men into nursing and keeps them there would

be a great help to the male patients who want them present in far greater

numbers. The name "nurse" has always been a problem for attracting men

into the profession in greater numbers... and that's the bigger issue.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Apr 28, 2008

Yes, this is a BIG problem with attracting males into the profession.
The female dominion of nursing, "The Nightingale Syndrome", is
actually only 150 years old. But that has been enough time for the
label "nurse" to have acquired a "female" connotation in the minds
of the general public. There does not seem to be a way to change
this to a genderless term. Female nurses are very comfortable with
the description and have every right to maintain it.
The best suggestion I have heard is to change "male nurses"
to another name and leave the female practioners as "nurses".
800 years before females started to dominate the field, the term for
males performing nursing-type medical services was "HOSPITALLERS" .
In some Crusading military orders they actually traded chainmail for
boiled linens as they shifted duties from road patrols and ramparts to
hospital wards. The name has a strong masculine history. It implies,
"Are you man enough to do this job?", which is exactly what is needed
to bring more men into medical nursing, instead of just paramedic fields.
"I'd like a nurse," could someday mean, "I want a female caregiver."
"I'd like a hospitaller," could someday mean, "I want a male caregiver."
Seems simple enough. Just set a date for the switch... and change
a problem as quickly as resetting a clock in time.

Like some other responders, I worked hard to achieve the title, "nurse," and while I do joke about it a bit, I'm pretty proud to bear it. Plus, with all the tasks, be they vital or menial, and all the paperwork, be it annoying or irritating, I darned sure don't have time to be fighting off any Saracens.

nightmare, RN · Apr 28, 2008

Like some other responders, I worked hard to achieve the title, "nurse," and while I do joke about it a bit, I'm pretty proud to bear it. Plus, with all the tasks, be they vital or menial, and all the paperwork, be it annoying or irritating, I darned sure don't have time to be fighting off any Saracens.

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

Just noticed in another post I read the use of the word 'hospitalist' I assume meaning doctor.Now there would be potential for even more confusion surely?

RNDave · Apr 28, 2008

What other term would we use and confuse everyone including ourselves? Most patients I get are excited, for whatever reason, that I'm male. I had one cantankerous male patient, though, who said, "Oh, a male nurse." It was a smart alec comeback but I said, "Well, I can't be the other kind of nurse."

In school I thought I'd introduce myself as "I'm Dave and I'll be your RN" once I graduated. But I just call myself a nurse and leave it at that. I'm much prouder of being a nurse than any of my previous career incarnations.

Cheers,

Dave

RNDave · Apr 28, 2008

"Saracens", "Hospitaller", "Gynecocracy"...? If nothing else this thread has been good for my vocabulary :chuckle

bluefabian · Apr 28, 2008

I have no problem dealing with reality that I am a nurse. Signed off my charts, papers or letter with either an 'RN', 'Nurse' or 'Registered Nurse' with pride.

Yet from my experience, the most annoying thing that I ever encountered in my working life... is to be labelled as a/the Male Nurse. It's like, another realm out there. There is this 'nurse' domian and another 'male nurse' domain. In a way nursing is being divided into two.

Happen to me all the time. I can't be regarded or spoken as the nurse, but the 'male nurse'. People may think I am honoured, but trust me... I think it is degrading. My last job interview that I went for listed me as applying for the post of 'Male Nurse' in the haemodialysis unit. I thought I was applying for the post of Renal/Nephrology/Dialysis Nurse - not the other way around!!! Funny. Then again, it was a Middle East job (which I got anyway) and there are considerations about male caring for female patients. Won't elaborate further than that.

And another thing - a nurse being stated as she/her, as it sounds oblivious to the fact that there are males around. I've seen this being done by Nursing Managers during meetings.

Other than that, I am fine with the title. No need to change, because doing so to me, will further divide this holy profession that it really is. Gender equity and non discriminating practice is all that I want.

This may be blunt and harsh... but if you care so much about title... maybe this job is not for you. Sorry.

nightmare, RN · Apr 28, 2008

I suppose we did change the title ' Sister 'for 'Charge nurse' to accommodate males but it still incorporates the word 'nurse',and whatever fancy title is thought up the patients will still call out 'nurse' when they want something.