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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...
Wow, I like that!
I think of "nurse" more as lying in the frame of "nurturer" or "one who intervenes on your behalf" the same as counselor, gardener, coach, soldier, marshall or leader. None of those are gender associated. Men and women do all of those jobs, so "nurse" doesn't stand out to me.
Except of course in the way that it is superior to all of them. :thankya:
I am a nursing student right now and I don't care whether I'll be called a nurse or not. However, I think the word "nurse" to a non-english speaker might seem a little confusing. For example, in Spanish, the word for nurse is "enfermera". It implies someone who works in an infirmary, oversees someone's health, works amongst the sick. Granted, the word itself in Spanish is feminine, but it is a more accurate word for the line of work. I'm not expecting to be called anything other than nurse when I graduate, but here was my two cents.
Let me tell you about a platoon of cavalry scouts who mistakenly associated "nurse" with feminine and delicate. As a medic, I served four years in a mobile surgical hospital (MASH). During one of our field exercises, we encountered a surprise attacked by a platoon of cavalry scouts. Only a small number of us had weapons assigned, but we did have a couple of hogs (M 60) and a fifty (50 cal Browning), belonging to the unit assigned to provide security and conveniently not present at the time. While the attack was unexpected, it quickly turned out to backfire onto the scouts when a couple of delicate girlies jumped on the 50 and 60s and completely overwhelmed the scouts with firepower. They later admitted it caught them completely off guard. On the civilian side, some of the same guys who believe nurse means "girlie" will faint at the site of a drop of blood. Nursing is a tough job no matter who you are. No name change required.
Let me tell you about a platoon of cavalry scouts who mistakenly associated "nurse" with feminine and delicate. As a medic, I served four years in a mobile surgical hospital (MASH). During one of our field exercises, we encountered a surprise attacked by a platoon of cavalry scouts. Only a small number of us had weapons assigned, but we did have a couple of hogs (M 60) and a fifty (50 cal Browning), belonging to the unit assigned to provide security and conveniently not present at the time. While the attack was unexpected, it quickly turned out to backfire onto the scouts when a couple of delicate girlies jumped on the 50 and 60s and completely overwhelmed the scouts with firepower. They later admitted it caught them completely off guard. On the civilian side, some of the same guys who believe nurse means "girlie" will faint at the site of a drop of blood. Nursing is a tough job no matter who you are. No name change required.
That's true, I've worked with some female nurses that are way tougher than a lot of dudes I know. Especially the nurses who grew up in the inner city and have two or three children at home who are depending on them. Yeah, those nurses shouldn't be messed with.
I don't have a problem being called a male nurse. If anything is to be said for male nurses it is that we have to work real freakin hard to perform our jobs constantly swimming in a pool of estrogen. I mean if you think working on a floor that employs 2 male nurses compared to 14 female nurses is easy you are in for one HUGE surprise. It takes a lot of crap to perform under those circumstances. If you think that the term "NURSE" is the worst thing coming try being elbow deep in poo or knee deep in someone else's urine when the shift before you "forgot" to empty the catheter bag! If you aren't secure enough with who you are and the work that you perform to deal with the "label" then move along. Try medical school. Maybe that would be a label that wouldn't embarrass you!
I am proud to sign my name and end it with RN BSN I sign it on EVERYTHING!
7daysatsea
20 Posts
The answer is in your question.
You haven't become one for a reason other than the name.