some younger male nurses.....

Published

I can say I have nothing but love for the older male nurses (I mean over 30) that I work with. That said, the younger ones have got to be the most apathetic, jerky people I have ever had to deal with. They specifically work at night because they don't want to really deal with patients when they're actually awake. They specifically wear the light blue "MD-looking" scrubs so that they will be treated like doctors, and many times are--because they're men, and they've purposely dressed this way. The more mature men on my floor don't care what color scrubs they wear, and seem very helpful and kind and caring. Time and time again I witness a patient who is reluctant to ask anything "petty" of these guys (like fetching a glass of water or a snack, etc) but will think nothing of calling some random female nurse to come do it.

It' a disservice to any male nurse that really cares about his practice and isn't just "slumming it" because he couldn't get into med school. Nursing is not "slumming it" and if you have to pick a night shift to do your job because the thought of dealing with people when they're conscious is so irritating, rethink what you're doing and go into research.

I'm a male nursing student I graduate in august it's unfortunate that you've had such terrible experiences with male nurses. it's funny you mentioned the doctor thing because when ever i had clinicals at a nursinghome residents would call me doctor all the time. it's nothing you should take offense to you gotta to remember that these older people come from a generation where male nurses were unheard of and all most all doctors were men. but as far as purposely dressing to look like a doctor ,and working 2nd shift so you can slack off thats really lame.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Family Practice, Primary Care.

I've actually noticed the exact opposite from seeing male nurses, young and old alike. They typically are far better with patients than many of the female nurses.

I only met one I didn't like, and he was in his 50s and treated me like a child and avoided any patient care other than giving meds like the plague. It was kinda disgusting.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
I've actually noticed the exact opposite from seeing male nurses, young and old alike. They typically are far better with patients than many of the female nurses.

I only met one I didn't like, and he was in his 50s and treated me like a child and avoided any patient care other than giving meds like the plague. It was kinda disgusting.

I've sometimes thought that being a man in nursing entails a certain amount of "swimming upstream," even under the best of circumstances, so men may be a bit more apt to actively choose nursing, rather than to just fall into it by default. Over time, though, I've largely abandoned that notion. There may be a few little girls who grew up wanting to be a nurse the way I grew up wanting to be a cowboy or a fireman, and made it through nursing school before realizing as young women that it wasn't all they'd hoped it might be. But it appears men are more apt to leave nursing within the first five years than women are, and really, it seems like most nurses, regardless of gender, who last more than a few weeks to a year have made a conscious choice to stay in nursing.

I continue to believe, however, that some patients, families, and doctors are a bit more respectful to nurses with a Y chromosome. There have been times I have related better to a particular patient than some female nurse did, simply because I tried harder. But there have been a handful of patients, male and female, who've been nasty and abusive to females, but more civil to me, and the only explanation I could see was that I was a guy.

One female nurse whose opinions I respect recently wondered whether some of the confused and agitated patients on our unit respond better to males is because our voices are deeper and softer. With our population, that seems like a plausible hypothesis. Then, too, in some instances where a patient seems to be headed in a violent direction, I think I may feel less threatened than some of my female peers.

Then, too, of course, there are those pleasantly demented little-old-ladies who seem to appreciate that they finally get a chance to sexually harass their nurse, just like the guys do. (Just kidding. Sorta. Well, sometimes.)

In short, I've encountered patients I've gotten along pretty well with who have been far less satisfied with nurses I know are much better than I am. So I'm as hesitant to take credit for those who may like me better because I'm male as I am to take blame for those who want nothing to do with me because I'm male. Nor do I entirely blame nurses who sometimes find it hard to deal with people who think they should take crap, just because they're women.

I think we all have to live with the reality that the last people on Earth who know what a good nurse is sometimes are our patients.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in SRNA.

Well, thank goodness I only have 1 and 1/2 months to go before I am no longer a jerk or apathetic.

:chuckle:chuckle:chuckle:chuckle:chuckle

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neonatal ICU, Pediatrics, ER, LTC.

As with anything, you can make generalizations about any profession or group of people, it doesn't make it true.

I am a "younger male nurse" and worked in a very female dominated department (Neonatal ICU) for several years. I do not act like what has been described by any means and I make it very clear that I am a nurse-- not a doctor.

I could make the same generalizations about younger female nurses also! There are those people everywhere.

Now I am the Director of a unit and could make comments about all age groups and sexes.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.

i dont want to push any buttons but actually males were the first nurses! I know that may sound crazy but hey dont take my word for it...

heres the link

http://menstuff.org/issues/byissue/nursing.html

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My Mom had quadruple bypass two years ago...and she hada rough go of it...kidneys really went to heck...

I stayed at the hospital 22 hours every day .for nearly 6 weeks..There were all ages and both sexes of nurses....One of the kindest to my Mom was a young guy in his early twenties..He was also the one everyone called to turn or pick up nearly every patient in cardiac stepdown...He worked nights and from what I saw that unit really had no slow time of day...and 4:00 am seemed to be a favorite time for all kinds of emergencies...He always was helpfull..always had a smile (sometimes a tired one, but he kept it anyway)...Except to write in that pile of charts I never saw him sit down..he never seemed to go on break either.

Just a word in defense of an age group..others were not so great...and older nurses did seem to have it more together...but they did not have a corner on it...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I appreciate all the responses from my male counterparts. What I really wanted from the original posting was honest feedback about this, and I got it. I saw that many of you were not very happy about being generalized, and many more felt like one of the biggest obstacles was not being taken seriously because of being male. Thanks for all the responses, angry or not.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I never wanted to go to med school or ever tried. Why would anyone want to be a Doctor? I work at a teaching hospital. The residents have no life and make less than nurses. I enjoy having 4 days off a week.

-David

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med/surg, day surgery, psych as a CNA.

I've never noticed that. I did read somewhere once that the "millineials", or the younger generation, has a much different work ethic. That is generalizing though. Since I'm the only male nurse on my unit, I don't see this. Of course, where I work, in day surgery, we have no night shift and most of my coworkers are older females in their 50's and 60's and even early 70's. When I was a younger male nurse, in my 30's, I worked nights because that was the only shift available.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I appreciate all the responses from my male counterparts. What I really wanted from the original posting was honest feedback about this, and I got it. I saw that many of you were not very happy about being generalized, and many more felt like one of the biggest obstacles was not being taken seriously because of being male. Thanks for all the responses, angry or not.

I don't know why you wanted honest feedback on this topic...and frankly, its none of my business. If this was your original intention though, I feel obliged to say that your method is both unprofessional and childish. There is no reason to goad someone into anger for your own selfish interest. Nobody likes being angry or being made into a pawn to unwittingly serve someone else. If you want our opinions just ask, if want to manipulate us, please go elsewhere.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

JuneBride you seem to have an awful lot of time during your shifts to so closely monitor the work habits of your peers as well as asertain their motivations for working a particular shift or wearing a particular color scrub set. Personally as a young male nurse who works night shifts often wearing blue scrubs allow me to clue you in a few things. I do not want to be a Doctor nor do I represent myself as one, while I respect them and have many doctors as friends I am a nurse and my patients know my role in their care. The large name tag I wear clearly states my job title and creditentials however more importantly I introduce myself to my patients, families and coworkers. While I work night shift, it is so that I can be home when my son wakes up and I can put him to bed before I leave for work. As far as not working as hard on night shift a few of my recent nights have including sitting with a six year old girl who was scared the man that shot her was coming to finish the job so that she feel safe for a few hours, coding a 3yo ALL patient for 6 hours and taking a 4yo to emergent neuro surg for the third time this week. The pesky thing with kids is they don't all know that the real nurses like you work on day shift and so they mistakenly try to die on my shift which requires me to actually interact with them. As far as the color of my scrubs I wear whatever is on top in my drawer.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion