Nursing needs muscle to handle patients who cannot transfer themselves from bed to chair, and many women are just not up to the strength needed. I’ve learned this from a loved one in assisted living. They need 3 female nursing aids to move my loved one when I can do it alone.
Don’t they have a Hoyer lift?
This is very true. My son worked as a robotics tech for Stryker and was always in the OR. He *frequently* assisted the teams with handling “large” patients. And there’s a lot of those in US healthcare ORs. My son is a strong former Marine. He has since moved into a very different profession.
Yes!
I was so thankful for the male nurses and therapists who helped us with my FIL when he had dementia and lived with us. It wasn’t just a matter of weight either, it was the physical strength needed to bathe or change him when he was combative.
At one point it took three of us (women) to do the same task
That’s the reason I’ve been glad to see that more men are becoming nurses. A loved one was very ill. He wasn’t larger than the average man, but most of the nurses were female. When he needed to be moved, he had to wait and wait in an uncomfortable position while the nurse looked for another nurse to help her. I always helped when I was there, but I couldn’t move him by myself, either. But, a male medical assistant worked there, and he could move a patient easily with no help. Whenever he was on duty, my loved one would call for him or tell me to go find him.
I’m female and about the size of your average NCAAF place kicker.
I once needed three nurses, all were female in the ward I was in, to help get me back to my bed after an unwise unaccompanied trip to the bathroom.
One big male nurse probably could have got it done unassisted.