Becoming a male nurse

[Fishwhenican]

I think there are a lot worse choices a person could make than being a nurse. There is a shortage now and will be even more of a shortage in the coming years. The pay is really good and the demand is great so Job Security is good.

There was an article in the paper a month or so ago about the nursing shortage and it had a part in it where it was talking about a guy who was a nurse and he loved it. I believe he was a traveling nurse and he pretty much set when and where he was going to work. Left plenty of time for hunting, fishing, camping and all kinds of stuff. Made at least one trip a year to Africa. Stuff like that.

As far as other people's opinions on "Male Nurses", Screw Em'. It shouldn't matter.

I am trying to convince my daughter that she should go into nursing and she just doesn't see it.

[tuq]

My brother is a nurse. He's been at it for maybe seven years now. He gets plenty of ass of the female variety. He likes his gig and recently left Iowa City to take a contract/roving nurse job in Albuquerque (ugh, but he likes it because of all the mountain biking to be had) and he apparently has the option to extend the contract or move on to somewhere else. That speaks to the lack of supply of qualified people that he can basically call his shots as to when and where.

His lone major complaint is that he feels more qualified in certain areas than a lot of the doctors that come along and is considering going into med school but doesn't want to rack up a ton of debt. It just frustrates him to make a fraction of someone else less competent that he works alongside.

[Blarg]

Nurses with valuable specialties can make a ton of money. Well, what I would consider a ton, anyway. Those are as valuable in their way as doctors. Like, cardiac nurses, etc.

Nurses are always on strike somewhere. Often they are underpaid and get a raw deal, crazy shifts, and abusive hours, and doctors often walk around thinking they're gods, completely spoiled and arrogant. (According to med student, dentistry, and nursing students I've known.) They are modern society's secular priests, after all, and some of them play it up to the hilt.

Many hospitals are terribly understaffed and expect to make their money running on the nerve of their employees. However, the flip side is that some nurses who enjoy working a lot and making a bunch of money can dig up situations that allow them to do it, and pack away cash pretty fast. Plus, it's a profession that will never be dispensed with, even if undervalued and underpaid in some markets. And some really love that they can get in their full work week in just a few very long days, and have the rest of their lives for themselves.

It seems like a career that varies drastically in how you wind up, from what I hear and occasionally read.

Oh yeah, watch out for the hepatitis. All it takes is sticking yourself once with a needle ...

[brashbrother]

[ QUOTE ]

His lone major complaint is that he feels more qualified in certain areas than a lot of the doctors

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean areas like changing the foley catheter out? I bet he does that better than any doctor...