Being a Male Nurse

If you've seen the movie, Meet the Parents, you very early on painfully realize the torture than Ben Stiller goes through as his character Greg Focker is a male nurse. Of course, there is parody and good ribbing from Robert De Niro but what's it really like to be a male nurse.

No, this is not my co-worker.

Evidently, being a male nurse is becoming a little less rare. Male nurses have tripled in the work force since the 1970s and 1 in 10 nurses are male. You can read more about male nursing statistics here. 

I wouldn't know personally but I do work with one-- yes, just one right now. He really is a great nurse and pretty quirky so I thought I'd ask him-- "What's it really like to be a male in this profession?"

And his first response was, "It's f***ing hell. If I would have known working with this many women would have caused me this much anxiety I would have chosen another profession. Oddly enough, it only took me three years to start menstruating."

As you can tell-- he's somewhat of a jokester. And no, he doesn't use that kind of language around his pediatric patients. They love him . . . seriously-- tattoos and all.

So what is unique about being a male nurse? What does he face that the rest of us estrogen laced cohorts don't?

Here's his list.

1. I'm either a brother or a therapist. I now have two-hundred sisters.

2. I'm asked more often to deal with difficult people-- those that are under the influence or intoxicated. Difficult family situations.

3. I don't know who can handle my antics and who can't.

4. It's the first time I was a minority as a white male. I got tons of money for grad school.

5. If it wasn't for my tattoos it would probably be assumed more often that I was a doctor.

6. I'm not disrespected by doctors like my female co-workers are.


What's it like working with women all the time?

1. Taxing. Because I have to watch what I say. For instance, I got pinched in the butt by a horny old lady in front of supervisors from five different units one time in the elevator. Exactly what do you say?

2. I've got to be careful what I share and I can't be on Facebook. All Facebook did was cause me problems because co-workers would look at my pictures and ask me who I was in relationship with.

3. I want a lot of alone time after I work three twelve hour sifts in a row because I also live with two women. I need to hang out with guys or just have alone time.

4. I receive a lot of unwanted and unwarranted advice.

Any other male nurses out there? What's your experience like?

Seven Medical Must-Do's For Fall

If you are like me-- you sent kids back to school this past week and celebrated cried as they walked their book-filled laden backpacks through the school doors.

The start of school generally increases the pace of the pediatric ER. Kids are in closer contact and therefore-- sharing all those wonderful germs with one another.

There's usually an increase in illnesses when school starts-- strep throat and meningitis are a couple. And, if your child starts daycare-- you can expect quite a few illnesses as they adjust to their new germ-filled environment.

I like to do a few things to get ready for the coming viral onslaught that fall and winter bring and I thought I'd do a little public service by sharing these things with you. It's better to do these things now than have to fight weather to go get them when you really need them.

The snow senses when you're not stocked up and will dump three feet of frosty flakes on your house just to prove it.

1. Make sure you have a back-up for your child's medications. Things like rescue inhalers, epi-pens and insulin.

2. Have fever reducers/pain medication that are appropriate for your child. Make sure what you have on hand is not expired. Tylenol for infants under six months. Ibuprofen and Tylenol for infants/children six months and over. No aspirin for any kids unless prescribed by a physician.

3. Stock up on replacement fluids. This would be Pedialyte (or equivalent) for kids two and under Gatorade/Powerade for kids two and up to adult. Don't forget yourself. Usually if one person comes down with something in the household-- everyone else is bound to get it.

4. Kleenex and hand gel. Good hand washing is always the best prevention for illness.

5. Hats and mittens. Snow Pants for those that live in cold climates. Buy a few pairs. It never fails that you won't be able to find any mittens for your six-year-old when the first blizzard hits. I buy a few cheap pairs as extra.

6. Don't forget-- kids playing in the snow should be wearing sunglasses-- particularly at higher altitudes (like when skiing.) 

7. Get your flu shot!

What else do you do to prepare for fall/winter?

Up and Coming

Hello Redwood's Fans!

Are you like me and maybe celebrating a little too joyously the children going back to school?!? I do love my children but it is nice to have some quiet in the days as well to get back to writing.

I DO love fall and am excited for all things pumpkin to come out over the next several weeks. Autumn is really my favorite time of year. Plus, it's the beginning of the holiday CANDY season-- yep, trainer dude is going to be ecstatic about that, too.

This week is also birthday week-- me and my oldest daughter will celebrate. I think we'll focus more on hers than mine. 

For you this week:

Tuesday: I thought I'd do a little public service and help get you all ready for the fall/winter viral season. This post will be seven things I do to make sure I'm ready.

Thursday: What's it like being a male nurse? My one and only male nursing colleague steps onto the edge to let me know his deepest darkest thoughts-- and it is pretty hilarious, too.

Hope you all have a great week.

Jordyn

How People Die

Are you curious to know what people die of where you live?

There are tons and tons of websites that can help you get a feel for the leading causes of death in a particular area, a particular age group, a particular race and gender.

I have to give a shout out to my agent's wife, Becky Johnson, for posting this to her Facebook page and I thought it would be an excellent resource for all you medical nerds to bookmark in your research folder.

It's a website called World Life Expectancy. I know-- right? I just got chills.

I've linked you to one particular page that looks at the top 15 causes of death in the US and ranks each state and where they fall.

The state leading in death by heart disease: Mississippi.

How about cancer? That would be Kentucky.

How about something more mundane like accidents? You get the gold West Virginia.

It's like Becky said-- "If you want to live a long, disease free life-- Hawaii seems to be your best bet."

There is literally a plethora of information on this website. Life expectancy-- down to your particular county. It also has lots of data for the WORLD. 

How does your state fair? Does it give you any plot ideas? I think cancer clusters always serve for interesting medical plots.