How well accepted are male nurses in maternity, labor and delivery? Do many female patients decline to have them assess and treat them?
We just finished a unit on this aspect of nursing in nursing school and I was totally fascinated. I'll have a clinical rotation coming up in a month or two. I never had kids of my own, so there was much that I'd never been exposed to and I might well be interested in going into this branch of nursing.
Brewerpaul wrote:How well accepted are male nurses in maternity, labor and delivery? Do many female patients decline to have them assess and treat them?
We just finished a unit on this aspect of nursing in nursing school and I was totally fascinated. I'll have a clinical rotation coming up in a month or two. I never had kids of my own, so there was much that I'd never been exposed to and I might well be interested in going into this branch of nursing.
It all depends on the patient...usually it's not so much the patient as their spouse/boyfriend who has the problem. They will go to a male doctor but don't want a male nurse in the room. We don't have any males where I work (either place) and I have had patients refuse to have males students observe.
In my clinical experience I have not come across any women that said no to my taking care of them in OB or other wise. Having viewed 2 c-sections 3 vag deliveries (one was my wife, which we had a wonderful midwife who let me help deliver our son) I have actually had a lot more experience than most of the females in my class.
My instructor would go in and talk to the patient that morning to give them the opportunity to refuse with out my being there. I think most patients realize that nursing is a changing field and are getting more confortable with the idea of males.
I did my OB training in a Catholic Hospital. During my rotation the nurse I was assigned with and I delivered a baby. Many pages were made to the doctor who was in the doctors lounge. He took his time and showed up to cut the cord.
Now I personally have no desire to work in OB, but perhaps there are men that would like to work in OB and why not? We have male OB-GYN doctors and anathesiologiest in the OB/Delivery wards. I see nothing wrong with it at all. Yet we have patients who object to the male nurses, but not the doctors. And we have hospitals that will not allow male nurses to work in OB such as the Catholic Hospital that did allow male student nurses. I think this kind of discriminating towards male nurses myself...but OB/Delivery is not for me personally so I of course have never made an issue of it. But again I personally see no problem with having male nurses in OB/Delivery if that is the type of nursing they wish to practice.
Thanks
