Being a Male Nurse

[daveyaud]

Is anyone on-line a Male Nurse, or know someone who is?
I am a 35-year old male starting school in September working towards being an RN.
I was wondering if anyone has had any problems/issues working in a predominately female profession.
Any help would be great?

[markLDRN]

hi, I am a male nurse obviously from my name. I enjoy being a nurse and for the most part have been well accepted even in my area of interest. i think you will like it if you do it for the right reasons. don't do it for the money do it because you want to and enjoy working with and helping people.good luck.Mark

[H2OHead]

I see alot of men in the hospital. For some reason, "male nurse" just rubs me raw, though. I took the same boards as females and prefer just plain old "nurse, RN or hay-you". Do your absolute best in school because the nursing community and especially the docs are going to expect you to know everything.
The floors don't have as many men as they should (except the PCU usually has a few guys there), but critical care, cath lab, OR, and ER seem to have alot of guys working in them.

Best of luck no matter what you decide to do.

[GLVeale]

I wholeheartedly agree. Whether a person is a male or female, a nurse is a nurse. I have been a nurse for 25 years and still love what I do. There is nothing like helping someone deal with their illness. And we actually get paid to do it. What a deal!!!!!!!!!
Gary

[nursinghumor]

Male nurses make up bout 3-7% of the nursing population depending on where you go. I've been in practice since 1997 and don't have any regrets.

Is there discrimination against men, depends on where you go. Many people see a male nurse and automatically think they are homosexually. Some nurses, especially from the "old school" may still hold the opinion that guys have no place in nursing, so they'll ride you harder. There's a thread and a section on male nurses in this forum:
http://www.nursingdiscussions.com/male

You can find resources for school a http://www.4nursingstudents.com

Feel free to ask questions here, I'm sure lots will come up. Welcome to nursing, hope you'll keep us updated as you go!

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.com

[Randy, RN]

Yea,it bugs me too. When people see (for 24 years)my name tag and say, "So you are a MALE nurse, huh? Why didn't you become a doctor?"...I want to scream BECAUSE I DID NOT WANT TO...hahha...AND YES I AM A MALE AND A NURSE.

But, over the years, I have learned they mean no harm, just used to take them back and they would wonder why I would become a nurse....a male in a female profession? I tell em and that settles it, usually. But I have really noticed the past 5 years, I don't get asked that anymore. Prob. because more males are in the field and I like that.

I met my wife in nursing school and nursing has MANY side benefits...hahah.....like meeting my wife.

I think we should consider another name, other than "nurse" as "nurse" came from an obvious source and is not descriptive of what we really do.

No wonder folks think of it as a female profession. Even it's name is female in origin.

Just the midmorning musings of an old nurse.

[CCHADWI]

So what is another name you can go by? Let's come up with some and we can start the buzz and see if we can get everyone to catch on.....it surly can't hurt to try...

[KEVIN88GT]

I'm 24 with a bachelors in biology and I'm in my 2nd year of nursing school (graduating in may) I just came back from the hospital (we have clinical 2-3days a week) where I worked in the nursery with newbords today. I cant explain the feeling that you get, and it's not only in labor/delivery it's on almost all other units. It's that feeling that an accountant or a lawyer will hardly ever get. Oh yeh and no i'm not gay (to dismiss the above assumptions) I cant wait to graduate and get paid for doing what I love. By the way there are A LOT of guys in the program about 14 out of 70 in my graduating class and almost 40% out of the next years class (same size of 70) so yes there will be much more male nurses very soon. I actually think that the number might get as high as 50% in another 25-30 years.

[SoldierNurse]

Hey Randy,

I don't know what all the fuss is in regard to the title of a Male Nurse, which I'm very proud to be. My Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary defines nurse as 1. An individual who provides health care. The extent of participation varies from a simple patient-care tasks to the most expert professional techniques necessary in acute life-threatening situations. The ability of the nurse to function in making self-directed judgments and to act independently will depend on his or her professional background, motivation, and opportunity for professional development.

The word "nurse" was not used until the thirteenth century. It originated from the Latin term to nurture. Translations of non-English works prior to the early 1900's typically used the term "nurse" when referring to male health care providers. The first nursing school in the world was started in India in about 250 BC. Only men were considered "pure" enough to become nurses. During the Byzantine Empire nursing was a separate occupation practiced primarily by men.

In the New Testament, the good Samaritan paid the innkeeper to provide care for an injured man. No one thought it odd that a man should by paid to provide nursing care. In every plague that swept Europe men risked their lives to provide nursing care.

A group of men, the Parabolani, in 300 AD started a hospital and provided nursing care during the Black Plague epidemic.

In 1808, Lazaro Orranti and Martin Ortega were two men employed as the nurses at a hospital in San Antonio. The hospital employed only men as nurses.

In the middle 1800's England became embroiled in the Crimean War, and the United States fought the Civil War. During the Civil War both sides had military men serving as nurses although we only hear about the Union volunteers, who were predominately female. The Confederate Army identified thirty men per regiment to care for the wounded. The Union also had men in the military serving as nurses. Men, including Walt Whitman, served as volunteers.

Today men are resuming their historical role as caring, nurturing nurses, just as some women are resuming their roles as physicians. After a century as a predominately female profession nursing is changing again. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next century.

[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.