I'm not a male nurse, but, after 25 years in the nursing profession, it's been my observation that male nurses tend to have an easier time getting promoted into leadership positions than female nurses. So, while the general public may perceive male nurses negatively, when it come to the dealing with the historically male leadership of healthcare, it's more comfortable to put men in charge . . .

First off I want to say that I don't care for the term 'male nurse'. I treat female patients too. But I am a guy, 26, and a registered nurse. And I love my job. I couldn't see myself doing anything else. I have friends who might make more money than I do, but none of them can go home at the end of the day with the same feeling of satisfaction that I do. No matter what happens on my shift I can always say that I helped someone through a difficult time. As for the questions, well, I'm glad you asked.
1. I work in the ED and I think I get as much respect as anyone else. There is always the occasional person but that happens to every nurse. I don't think we get the respect we deserve in society because of the images sent out by Hollywood. Did you ever notice the guys on the show ER wore pink too?
2. There have been a few instances where I have felt discriminated against, maybe not on purpose, but it happens nonetheless. I went in to give an IM shot to a 16 yr old girl one night when one of my female coworkers stopped me and told me I was not allowed to do that. But it is acceptable for females to do the same to male patients without having to have a witness. But 99% of the time, it is not an issue.
3. I do get called to do things that female coworkers don't get called for. There is always some guy with a knife, or CT needs help with an overweight patient, or somebody needs to be moved, or something. I don't mind helping when I am available, but I feel like I am taken away from my own patients to do things for somebody else.
4. The worst part of the job is when you have been helping somebody for 30 minutes and they want to know who their nurse is and where is she.
5. Its hard to explain my job to my grandfather and people of his generation.
Nursing is not a good job, its a great job. I wouldn't trade it for anything. My advice to any body who might be considering nursing would be not to get discouraged by stereotypes. I don't know a single nurse who wears the white hats and skirts. I don't think I've ever had to give a sponge bath. I make decisions that affect peoples lives just like the doctors do. I order things too. And more than one doctor will come and ask me what I think.

Finally, I would like to respond to Ginger Snap's comment. My theory is this: 90% of the women I work with are married and their income is a second income. Nursing is a job to a lot of women and a career to a lot of men. I know there are exceptions. I'm saying that in my experiences, the women want to be called off and the men want to be called in. When you are the primary breadwinner in your house, you are more motivated to work harder to be able to move up and increase your income. BTW, all of the dept heads in my hospital (with exceptions of pharmacy and maintenance) are women.

First off I agree with Jeremy almost 100%. I too am a male RN who also works in the ER.

A couple of things I would like to add. In terms of discrimination I felt it more in school than in the workplace. I felt the instructors at times went out of their way to make the male students uncomfortable. Other male colleagues who graduated from different institutions expressed similar sentiments.

The workplace is an odd mix. Often times when I'm in the room with a female physician I find patients will look at me when the answer questions. Conversely, you get Good ol' boys with names like Bubba who make assumptions of your sexual orientation based on the word "nurse".

I've rarely encountered situations such as giving an IM injection to a female. I'm sensitive to the issue and I'm carefully whenever possible to avoid putting myself in positions where my actions could be misconstrued. For instance, on urinary catheter placements I will often as a female co-worker to perform one, and return the favor when they have a male pt. There are many cases in which a pt. will respond better to one sex or another. Teamwork is essential. if I'm pulled away to help with a 250 pound drunk, I hope that the other nurses will cover me.

Every male nurse I've ever dealt with, thru personal experiences, work, and the nursing program has been great. I think alot of them have to work harder tho, to get past the stereotyping. The few males in my class ran into a lot of "oh, he's not smart enough to be a doctor, so he settled for nursing" -type stuff. I think it makes some male patients feel better to have a male nurse anyways, especially when being cathed, ect.