New title for male nurses?

[Cammer]

So does the phrase 'male nurse.'

Good point! I guess I need to lighten up a bit.

[SoldierNurse]

Good point! I guess I need to lighten up a bit.

Hello Cammer,

Rather than re-name our profession for the sake of gender equality, gender acceptance in a non-traditional role, etc., we should focus our energy on educating the general public on the significant role nurses play in patient care.

:cheers:

BTW, personally I like the term male nurse and see nothing wrong with it. However, I'm perfectly content with the title of nurse, too.

[Cammer]

Hello Cammer,

Rather than re-name our profession for the sake of gender equality, gender acceptance in a non-traditional role, etc., we should focus our energy on educating the general public on the significant role nurses play in patient care.

I definitely agree with you on this! The last thing I want to see happen is a renaming of what we are/do. Educating the public about the real modern role of nursing in healthcare is a worthy cause and it will happen eventually. I just wish there were a few more hours in each day to accomplish it faster! Well, maybe when I'm finally done with school.

BTW, personally I like the term male nurse and see nothing wrong with it. However, I'm perfectly content with the title of nurse, too.

I know you like the term male nurse. Personally I don't hate it, I just believe that it sends the wrong message to the public. Use of that term implies that what you do is different from a nurse, when actually there is no difference between a nurse and a male nurse. Therefore I prefer to use the term nurse when I tell folks what I am.

:cheers:

[SoldierNurse]

I definitely agree with you on this! The last thing I want to see happen is a renaming of what we are/do. Educating the public about the real modern role of nursing in healthcare is a worthy cause and it will happen eventually. I just wish there were a few more hours in each day to accomplish it faster! Well, maybe when I'm finally done with school.



I know you like the term male nurse. Personally I don't hate it, I just believe that it sends the wrong message to the public. Use of that term implies that what you do is different from a nurse, when actually there is no difference between a nurse and a male nurse. Therefore I prefer to use the term nurse when I tell folks what I am.

:cheers:

Psst, being content is a good thing.

However, I'm perfectly content with the title of nurse, too.

[MiteMsispe]

Great history lessons on this site. I am a nurse who happens to be male. You could always call yourself a RN.I love it when a child refers to me as a nurse and not a male nurse. This gives me hope that possibly the gender bias and perception of nursing is changing. I also find it very funny when old ladies (generally) introduce me to others as their male nurse. There is too much stress already associated with nursing to give a rats a** about semantics. We need nurses at our side and I think more male nurses would definitely benefit us all. I have found over the last 17 years of nursing that women can be so catty and petty.

[TomB]

When people ask me what I do for a living I usually tell them I'm an RN. When I introduce myself to patients I tell them that I'm their nurse.

I never cared for the term male nurse. If they can't tell I'm a male by looking at me I have bigger problems than a title.

Maybe because I work in a big city the fact that I'm male and a nurse really isn't an issue. I work in a trauma center and there's a lot of guys there: flight staff, EMTs, paramedics, docs and nurses. The only time on my job when gender seems to be an issue is when dealing with witnessing pelvic exams, female caths and LOLs. If it's a female doc I can be in on a pelvic (usually at HOB) there has to be an RN in the room. LOLs you just deal with.

"Nurse" is a dated term - reminds me of lactating. Like "nursing" someone. But I think we're stuck with it. I think as more and more males go into nursing and as the population ages the term will be less gender-specific.

As for females being catty... I'm not going there!! LOL

[badphish]

As a paramedic in the great field of EMS, one in the process of starting a new career as an RN. (im trying to figure out how take my pre-reqs; attend nursing school; and still try to do a 24/48 shift.) i would rather be called nurse/male nurse or even sweetie than the things im called in this field. some of which are:

"oh you're an ambulance driver"
security guard ( we wear an awful white polyester shirt)
officer as in police officer
stretcher jockey
band-aid
and on the radio by fire dept. "commercial" as in "cancel commercial" we are not a private company our fellow EMS service on the other side of the county is.

btw the british army calls their medics/male nurses "skirts"

sincerely yours

brett the skirt

[Cammer]

As a paramedic in the great field of EMS, one in the process of starting a new career as an RN. (im trying to figure out how take my pre-reqs; attend nursing school; and still try to do a 24/48 shift.) i would rather be called nurse/male nurse or even sweetie than the things im called in this field. some of which are:

"oh you're an ambulance driver"
security guard ( we wear an awful white polyester shirt)
officer as in police officer
stretcher jockey
band-aid
and on the radio by fire dept. "commercial" as in "cancel commercial" we are not a private company our fellow EMS service on the other side of the county is.

btw the british army calls their medics/male nurses "skirts"

sincerely yours

brett the skirt

I spent several years in EMS before going into nursing. To facilitate schooling I found that I really had to completely quit the fire dept and take a part time job in a local ER as a paramedic. It just didn't work out with the 24/48 shift schedule. I found the school work was too intense at times to manage working full time with school and hours of clinicals,YMMV.

Like you, I had to put up with "stretcher jockey," etc. but it was all in good fun. No one in EMS likes the term "Ambulance driver" though. There haven't been ambulance drivers in the USA in many years and it really does a disservice to an EMT or EMT-P to use that term. Calling a paramedic an ambulance driver is akin to calling a nurse a diaper changer. There's a lot more to the profession than just the basics. But being called a security guard was sometimes kinda funny. After all, we did wear a uniform similar to a "rent-a-cop."

There are euphemistic names for just about every profession I guess.

[SoldierNurse]

As a paramedic in the great field of EMS, one in the process of starting a new career as an RN. (im trying to figure out how take my pre-reqs; attend nursing school; and still try to do a 24/48 shift.) i would rather be called nurse/male nurse or even sweetie than the things im called in this field. some of which are:

"oh you're an ambulance driver"
security guard ( we wear an awful white polyester shirt)
officer as in police officer
stretcher jockey
band-aid
and on the radio by fire dept. "commercial" as in "cancel commercial" we are not a private company our fellow EMS service on the other side of the county is.

btw the british army calls their medics/male nurses "skirts"

sincerely yours

brett the skirt

LOL, I ain't in the British Army. I'm in the United States Army.

[orionseal]

Has there ever been any talk of changing to title of male nurses to something else?
The word "nurse" is has so much gender baggage. It instantly conjures up images of Florence Nightengale and ladies in square heeled shoes and little white caps. And of course, it's women who NURSE babies.
I'm thinking that a gender neutral term might help alleviate the gender bias associated with men in this profession. Alas, I can't think of a good one

Dealing with the rustic small town attitude of northern michigan the only obvious title for men who happen to be nurses should stick out like a sore thumb. the local populous of this area has always assumed that nurses of the same gender as myself have almost always been seen as "TARGETS" for any and all slurs inuendoes and sundry of whatyoucallits:frustrated: