what are your thought on men is nursing???
i personally have alot of respect for men who choose nursing as a career. i think it takes alot of hard work and alot of people think just because someones a male in nursing that he has to be a homosexual. they don't think that men could have the same passion women do and i don't believe that. i think people can be very closed-minded and i'd just like to say thanks to all those men out there who actually stuck with it even though people can be that way. You guys are very important and special people
...i mean you can do all the heavy lifting for me now. hahaha j/k. thanks.
Hi Baby_Nurse,
Thanks for posting to the newest section of the forum, and I'm glad to see that one of my female comrads is actually the first to post here. I have been real busy getting my website ready for some really awesome upgrades.
Being a man does not mean that you are incapable of compassionate care. Being a male nurse does not necessarily mean that you are gay. I am not gay, and truthfully, don't really know that many male nurses that are. The gays that I do know are superb nurses.
Many other stereotypes exist as well. Many of my older patients either think that I am a doctor or that I am somehow going to become one soon. Still others in our society somehow think that male nurses are perverts.
These negative attitudes have not discouraged me, but they do give me cause for concern.
Nursing is my life and my passion. It has made me a better husband, a better father and indeed a better man.
TracyR
www.nurseserver.com
www.nursinginamerica.com
www.gotravelamerica.com Tracy, I have to give you a hard time. "The gays that I do know..."
you meant guys right
Excellent addition to the site, Aaron! I am very glad to have men in nursing. It is a refreshing change. I have seen one male nurse treated poorly and that was just last year. I've been around for 26yrs. I thought he was an excellent nurse and a wonderful guy. He got rewarded in that the Orthopaedic group at our hospital hired him. YEA!!!! Now he doesn't have to take the crap that he was served daily. I don't think is was his sex because they treated everyone like crap. The new folks that is. I look forward to reading this section Tracy. Glad to have you on board!
It's funny, but I grew up not knowing that being a nurse was odd for a man until I was older. My parents are both nurses. So am I for that matter, and an extended family member who lives next door. (Better not sneeze on my block). I'm an LPN working on my RN, and planning on a bachelor's, dreaming of a master's. Life can be so complicated! But my fellow guys and I do get some odd looks from parents, kids, elderly, etc. when we say we're nurses. I think it's cool, changing perceptions and all. Whenever someone asks me if I'm going to be a male nurse I tell them "No, I'll treat female patients too". Stumps them for a minute, then they usually get it. I just want to encourage more men to join the team. I'm the only male nurse at my workplace (LTCF), and I feel really accepted (I'm also the baby at 24). I like working with women, although men do bring something different to the job (aside from heavy lifting abilities) and that's good. I think it makes the profession richer. After all, you wouldn't paint a picture with just one color, would you?
Hey Generation2,
Glad to have you on the forum. Sounds like you and I have a lot in common.
Way to say it my brother-man! In the 10 years that I've worked in the O.R.(as an orderly and then anesthesia tech.), the most common question has been, "So, are you gonna go to med school?". Why would I want to be a doc, when every doc I know hates his/her job? I am in my first year of nursing school and look forward to the day that I can put "RN" at the end of my name.
When I decided to go into nursing everyone looked at me funny and said "why"? My answer then was because I like a challenge. My answer today is close to the same, "I love a challange" I have the respect of my peers and my supervisors, and the love of my patients.
My wife even thinks it has changed me for the better. I am a retired NCO from the USAF after 20 years of "yes sir and you will" and even I can see the difference. I only hope that I can continue to spreadthat difference to my children and patients.
I have been a nurse for 18 years... Best thing I ever did. I have went from male orderly to CNO...
hi All!
I am a male nurse in Singapore, i must say i always thought such society views on male nurses are only relevant in asian countries. But i am wrong, i live in Singapore and over here society at large still does not accept male nurses taking care of female patients. However, only ICU male nurses are the few who can nurse female patients as the criteria for taking critically ill cases relies on the experience of the nurse on duty. Having said this, one has to be tactful, cos the family members are not that agreeable at times. Guys like me have to get a female chapron to come along whenever we need to screen a female patient for any procedures.
I have to say once i even had an old lady who didn't mind me bringing her for shower bath! My friends and boss almost fainted when we saw the smile she had. Some even thought she was senile!
hello everybody mdj1320 here as a future male nurse.doing my prereqs now .work now as an electrician have been for 6 years.till economy went downhill spent 1.5 years unemployed.mom was nurse and said i would be good at it.so i'm giving it a shot.
good luck man, you'll do fine-just have to fight through a few things...and you'll make it if you just stick with it.
I am a (male)nurse and love my med/surg job. I have been a nurse for seven years and a cna before that. I have only ran into one person that didn't think men should be in nursing, she retired about 2 years later with 43 continuous years under her belt. I feel that we add a sort of camaraderie that you don't see on a female only unit alot of the time, but sometimes I DO feel like the local CRANE... (can you help me lift the pt in 9b) but I dont mind, I can use the exercise hehe (i have dunlap disease; my stomach dunlap over my belt buckle!) I have been told by many patients that I am a very caring and compassionate person and a good nurse. Now if i can get the wife to believe the caring and compassionate part, i would have it made in the shade!
Good luck. Most of the males I know chose nursing as a second career, like yourself. They are smart, dedicated and some of the best nurses I have had the pleasure to work with. They know how to function in the real world and don't burn out as easily as younger grads do. Lord knows we need the help. They also don't play the stupid games women tend to play..thank goodness!
My significant other is a male nurse and I've discovered that you run into some problems the females don't...but it's a great profession...good luck again! If we can help...let us know!
I'm sure you're kidding about your wife! The male nurses I know are some of the best guys in the world! True your'e physically stronger than those of us who are females...but as a whole I find male nurses some of the most caring, compassionalte, passionate and sensitive men I've ever had the pleasure to meet.
Thanks for being here!
I try to steer clear of the little old ladies who actually want the man to do their baths
. There are some perverted old ladies out there I tell ya!
I hear that one shortbus! My first semester clinicals were in a nursing home, and I figured out pretty quickly why they put us there: old people have NO SHAME!
Those folks will tell you and show you stuff that blows a new student's mind. Whew! Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if I could've convinced them I wasn't their doctor...
yeah, my first day at this nursing home, I heard some funny things. The first was from this 80some year old lady who said, "He's got a TIGHT butt".
Then this one lady said to one of the aides, "have you seen that new doctor (referring to me)? He's a real [censored]!"
Now that women, for the first time outnumber men applying to med school, and women soon will outnumber men in being admitted to and in graduating as doctors, dont you think that the attitudes of male nurses will then change? In the future, if trends continue, the majority of doctors will be female.
The old "stereotype" of doctors being male, and nurses being female, will no longer exist after females start making up the majority of med school graduates, and the majority of new doctors are female.
I would think/my opinion that once the public gets used to seeing most doctors as being female, that opinions of nurses will be affected as well.
