Being a Male Nurse

[Cammer]

Well said MagRedC5. You made some excellent points of history and it really is nice to see the trend begin to equalize between genders. From what I have learned of history, in the 20th century nursing changed from a mostly nongender biased profession to becoming exclusively associated with females. The pendulum is swinging the other way now with more and more men becoming nurses.

However, in regard to the title Male Nurse; I feel that it is inappropriate. Especially when the term is capitalized in text. This implies that a man who is a nurse performs a different job than a woman. I don't mind being a nurse who is a male, but I don't like the term Male Nurse, nor do I like the term Female Nurse. It is not completely accurate. To make my point - If I was a male and I worked in a hospital that only cared for female patients would I then be a Female Nurse? As a nurse I take care of both males and females, so am I a Bi-gender Nurse? I know this is a small point, but I just wanted to show how silly it all is.

But aside from all that, a nurse is a nurse. There is no need to separate out male nurses from female nurses other than to make an issue of the individual nurse's gender. This opens the nurse up to prejudgement and is really unprofessional. The gender of a nurse is really irrelevant and any attempt to make it relevant reeks of sexism. This has no place in our field.

[SoldierNurse]

[ QUOTE ]
Cammer said:
Well said MagRedC5. You made some excellent points of history and it really is nice to see the trend begin to equalize between genders. From what I have learned of history, in the 20th century nursing changed from a mostly nongender biased profession to becoming exclusively associated with females. The pendulum is swinging the other way now with more and more men becoming nurses.

However, in regard to the title Male Nurse; I feel that it is inappropriate. Especially when the term is capitalized in text. This implies that a man who is a nurse performs a different job than a woman. I don't mind being a nurse who is a male, but I don't like the term Male Nurse, nor do I like the term Female Nurse. It is not completely accurate. To make my point - If I was a male and I worked in a hospital that only cared for female patients would I then be a Female Nurse? As a nurse I take care of both males and females, so am I a Bi-gender Nurse? I know this is a small point, but I just wanted to show how silly it all is.

But aside from all that, a nurse is a nurse. There is no need to separate out male nurses from female nurses other than to make an issue of the individual nurse's gender. This opens the nurse up to prejudgement and is really unprofessional. The gender of a nurse is really irrelevant and any attempt to make it relevant reeks of sexism. This has no place in our field.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, I can certainly respect your thoughts on dislike of the "Male Nurse" title. Yet, when I say I'm proud to be a Male Nurse it is like a public reminder that a male, just like a female, can be a nurse. I really enjoyed reading this article by Cathryn Domrose titled Men At Work. Go to this link... http://www.nurseweek.com/news/featur.../manenough.asp
Anyway, my point is the nursing profession should not be looked at as a feminine profession and by getting the "word" out that there are male nurses helps spread the "word". So, I don't think the title of Male Nurse implies a man does different nursing than that which females do. A male nurse, a female nurse, a Texas nurse, an Army nurse, a Navy nurse, etc. are all nurses no matter the gender.

BTW, just trying to get my viewpoint across. I do agree with you that a nurse is a nurse, no matter the gender.

[wannabenurse]

I would like to become male nurse hopefully

[kevinc]

I agree that the "male nurse" tag is not fair. For all the "women's rights" movement over the years, the fields with mostly women still carry the stereotype for men... do any of you watch Scrubs? That's one of the funniest shows on TV... they call the male nurses "Murse", which is quite funny!

Online Learning Marketplace and Resources

[benz27]

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thanks Ben

[nursinghumor]

Hello Ben,

I'm curious, would you be interested in contributing an article to our "Nurses' Views of The Nursing Profession" section? The topic is "Would you recommend nursing, why, or why not."

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Some of them are real eye-openers

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http://www.4nursing.com

[klh8]

Im a male med-surg nurse and on my floor I am the only male RN. Well we have a very inappropriate male patient on the floor. I come into work yesterday and take an assignment. Well I didnt take this patient and my Nurse manager comes in (female) and states that your a male and you have to take this male patient, because he is saying inapproprate things to the female RN's. I tell her that what she just said was very inappropriate, because im a male RN I have to take any unruly male patients. So that would mean everytime I work I would have to take this patient, because im a man. Then today she says in a meeting that she has to protect her female staff!!!! Are you kidding me, I guess then being the only male, means im the odd man out. Or what if the patient was hispanic and made inappropriate comments about other races would that mean only the hispanic nurses would have to care for this patient. Any suggestions????????????
Its tough being a male RN sometimes....

[ns lpn]

If the inappropriate comments are sexual in nature I can kind of understand why she might think you'd be more able to deal with the client - but what if he was inappropriate with you- then I'd refuse stating that your protection as a "male" nurse should be just as important as the protection of the "female" nursing staff. That said, I think I definatly would have taken offense to that meeting myself.
I am female and think we should be treated as equal as possible but sometimes as nurses we get case assignments based on our sex to contribute to better care ie...an elderly woman with dementia hitting out at a male nurse and is fine with a female nurse - wouldn't it be easier and more logical for the female nurse to provide the care? or if a female was inappropriate with a male nurse but not a female nurse then yes it would make sense to assign the pt to the female nurse.

Don't know if this is any help but I thought your posting should have a response of some kind and I could tell you were frustrated. If it upsets you more I'm truly sorry.

[shelrn]

Being a "female" nurse I'm sure I don't have all the issues some of my fellow nurses do. I want to say that I work with a number of nurses, both male and female. I have never felt any friction between us. I also graduated with 6 men and they were some of the brightest and best students in the class

[nursinghumor]

This is kind of cool

September 20, 2004 (LINCOLN, Neb.), Male nurses pose for calendar:"The nurses in a new calendar may not be your idea of a pinup. They're all guys. More than 65 nurses applied to pose for the "Nebraska Men in Nursing 2005 Calendar." Twelve were chosen."
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/stra..._calander.html

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.nursefriendly.com