Survival & Sadness
Med Surg (part I) has ended and I am happy to report I survived. This has been by far the most challenging course I have ever taken (considering previous degree as well). It wasn't with the grade I was hoping (B) but I'll take it considering we have had to leave several students behind due to failing grades.
One student in particular has been a good friend and I will miss seeing her progress through the program with the rest of us.
I guess this is the bitterness that follows the sweet.
[Update 8/17/06: We lost one third of our class due to failing grades this summer. Man, am I bummed.]
Wait One Cotton Pickin' Minute Bucko!
Thats what I feel like someone said to me (not really) when it dawned on me that I STILL have one more OB clinical left. Yep. That's right. My celebration earlier (previous post) was a bit premature.
Tomorrow I report to a women's clinic to finish my LAST few required hours of OB. One of my fellow student nurses has made me apprehensive by telling me about his experience at said clinic a few weeks back.
"They don't like male nurses so I suggest you bring a book to fill your time. I pretty much just sat around reading all day."
Great. Nothing like a bunch of unprofessionals trying to act professional.
Thoughts on Nursing as a Profession
In my brief few semesters as a student nurse I have averaged one nurse at a clinical site per semester that has made her feelings known about men in the nursing profession.
It is really sad. Not for women. Not for men. But for nursing. It is no secret that nursing struggles to be viewed as a profession. And I am not suggesting that this is a unique problem with nursing (as other professions have had to "grow up" by accepting other genders, races, etc into their ranks).
Nursing should not be any different. Yes. Florence Nightingale did make the distinction that nursing should be considered a female profession BUT like all historical figures she was influenced by the era in which she lived. Medicine was considered a male profession during the same era... by the way.
Nursing should not be characterized as a female profession just as Medicine should not be thought of as a male profession. When nursing as a whole becomes more inclusive then nursing will be taken more seriously as a profession.
Preaching over. I have now stepped off my soap box.
The Deal About Nothing
6 years ago
Posts
Preach on! More of our collegues need to hear it. I am always shocked at how my male nursing students are treated and I haven't even started OB rotation yet (it starts in two weeks).
ReplyDeleteYou summed it up when you said unprofessionals acting professional. There is a HUGE diff between pts expressing a preference not to be attended to by a male nurse and nurses discriminating against male nurses all together.
Keep your chin up and know that your blogs about it are being read and are thought provoking.
I have had wonderful male nurses to work with. I don't understand the "female profession" attitude. When I am ill or in an emergency situation and need care I couldn't care less what the gender is (or race, or political affiliation for that matter)of my caregiver. I am more concerned that whomever is taking care of me is competent and caring.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have said it better, because it had to be said!!!!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe this is STILL happening! Maybe because I live in CA and there are many, many male nurses in ER AND up on the units and floors that I don't see the disconnect.
But I will never understand this: women will allow themselves to be poked and prodded and examined and pap-smeared by male OB-GYNs, but recoil in horror when a male nurse needs to check dilation?
What is going on here?
Now I'm REALLY going to write my books for boys on nursing.
I had a wonderful male nurse in the mother-baby unit after I had my third child. I have to admit I was surprised to see a male nurse in that particular unit. He was awesome - he was obviously perfectly comfortable so I was too. I later asked a friend who is a collegue of his if they ever have patients refuse his care and she said that there it seems to be a culteral thing when they do get requests for a female nurse after he goes in. Apparently he was in the army and they assigned him to L&D and mother-baby so it because his specialty.
ReplyDeletePlease keep sticking up for yourself - there are too few male nurses. My son is a cancer patient and he still remembers the names of the male nurses he has had - they made a big impression on him.
Hmm, I am going to ask the male nurses that I know what they think. I don't see this as a problem here in the Northeast, and based on Kim in CA's comments, I wonder if this is regional at all?
ReplyDeleteLaurie
I'm starting to think that this is regional. Tennessee is VERY conservative.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that outward expressions of anti-male nurses are regional. However, no matter where you are, if you look closely enough, you will still see male nurses treated differently.
ReplyDelete