Anyone A Male Nurse?

DFG 5OH

Active Member
Aug 28, 2004
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Louisville, KY
Well I will be graduating high school come may...and i need to figure out what i'm going to do with my life. I'm 95% set on Electrical Engineering, but i have thought of the idea of being a male nurse. I know it sounds funny, but there is good money, and high demand in the male nursing field. Its just a thought, and i was wondering if anyone was a nurse, and could let me in on how hard college was, and how your day-to-day job goes.
 
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Matt, do yourself a favor and contact the hospital, ask your guidance counselor, etc. and try to setup a day where you can go and spend aday or even a half a day "shadowing" a nurse and see if you like it or not. It takes a special person to be a nurse, and I give them all the respect in the world as I could not do it. My cousin is a nurse at a local state prison and he loves it. He only has to tend to a specifc number of guys, from what he tells me he has it pretty easy. He was at a local hospital for a little over a year and didn't like it.


I made the mistake of choosing my majors in college based on how much money I'd make when I got out, but by the time I was senior I had a different prospective on life and decided that what I thought I wanted to do at 17-18 was NOT what I wnated to do when I was 22 and I changed my major my senior year. I spent a lot of time studying things I never ever use anymore. Do yourself a favor and try to really understand what options each kind of degree will hold for you in the future, and don't base it on money alone. I mean we all would love to make 6 figures or more, but I can honestly tell you that enjoying what you do is more important than how many zeros are in your paycheck. I hope that helps somewhat.
 
Paul is correct. I've spent several years taking a class here and a class there at college cause im unsure of what i would like to do for the rest of my life. Now i have to wait till after i get married next year to go back full time. So, I've narrowed my choices to computer programmer or physical therapist.
 
Guero said:
sorry dude but according to 95cobraguy this is a Mustang site.


Sorry just a little mad.


You're Funny Guero. Dont let that guy, or any of the haters in your thread get you down. You like guns buy them whatever. Not my buisness or any other's on this site. I'm sure that the numbers will show that more people are killed each year due to car accidents than civilian gunfire. :hail2:
 
Matt, I say go for it. I'm a CNA now, and just started back to school today to finish up a few more pre-requisites for the nursing program at my local community college. There is an exceptionally high demand for nurses period, and male nurses tend to advance faster. I'm getting my associate degree, and may follow it with my BSN at a later date. I don't know how the pay averages are down in Ky, but up here in the Chicagoland area, it's not uncommon for nurses to make close to $60k after working a year or two with just an associate degree, and if you do agency nursing, you have the potential to reach into the six-figure range. I'm planning on focusing my nursing skills in critical care (cardiac intensive care) or emergency/trauma nursing. Those two areas are especially critical of needing men, because there is a lot of heavy lifting, chest compressions during CPR, etc. that need to be done. I've read, and also share the personal opinion that men sometimes make better nurses than women in certain circumstances as well, because we tend to let less emotion come into play in emergency situations, and react differently under pressure. Just some ideas to give ya, but I suppose I'm somewhat biased, since that's what I'm doing already :D
 
Go for it, if that is what you want. I have been a Registered nurse now for 1 year and i love it. I work in the ER of the second busiest er in california. I would not change if for the world. Don't do it for the money. The school is hard but if you want it, it will be fun. I was actually hired before i graduated thats how bad they need nurses. My first year i made over $60k. Agency nurses can get around $45/hr give or take.
In the ER there is no nurse to patient ratio. So at times i have had 16-18 patients by myself. They weren't all terribly sick so that helps.Its not unsual for usto have 120 people in our er at one time. Its only a 56 bed er so that puts things into perspective. It chaos unless you are part of it. I work three 12 hr shifts/wk. A fourth night is double time. Some nights i come home exhasuted some a kick in the bucket.
As an RN you have to asses the patients, start IV's , hang medications, report directly to the doctors, help with an procedures, puch drugs, etc...

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I don't mind at all.
 
matthiasj said:
Well I will be graduating high school come may...and i need to figure out what i'm going to do with my life. I'm 95% set on Electrical Engineering, but i have thought of the idea of being a male nurse. I know it sounds funny, but there is good money, and high demand in the male nursing field. Its just a thought, and i was wondering if anyone was a nurse, and could let me in on how hard college was, and how your day-to-day job goes.

This is kinda funny, because I had the same dilemna. I wanted to be a RN/nurse anastheisiologist (sp?), or go into computer programming. Went to engineering college, looking at a Bio Medical Engineering degree. Its a mix of both worlds and is very much in demand right now.

I ended up loving the electrical side of it and just "getting through" the bio parts of it. Then I tried out a straight CompSci major, then I went to Civil Engineering, then I finally went back and realized my favorite classes were about iron-in-the-ground big time generation so I ended up as an Electrical and Computer Engineer. Got my BSECE last May and work at a power plant, loving it.

Don't be afraid to try different stuff out and change majors. I still made it in 4 years, its possible. I suggest doing mostly core classes and 1 major specific class, that way if you don't like it you're not far behind when you switch!

Adam
 
Without reading what most people have said...

One of the guys I live with in my house at school is taking nursing as his major. He likes it and it's what he wants to do....NBD.

I can tell you this....

Chicks LOVE male nurses...:D

Joe