Registered Orthopaedic Theatre Nurse Practitioner
Health and Social Care

I think it makes absolutely zero difference being a male if you want to qualify as a general nurse.

Chris is a nurse.

His full job title is Registered Orthopaedic Theatre Nurse Practitioner. His job involves looking after patients when they go into hospital for an operation involving their bones or muscles.

“When your patient comes into the anaesthetic room, you do safety checks including making sure they’re not allergic to anything that they might come into contact with while they’re asleep. You also make sure they have signed a consent form so you are doing the correct operation on the correct limb at the correct time!”

Chris qualified as a nurse six years ago. Because Chris has previously worked as a recovery nurse, he is able to care for the patients after their operation as well. Chris likes to be able to do this, because he says working in the theatres, patient contact can be quite minimal.

At the hospital where Chris works, only four out of twenty of his co-workers are men. But Chris says he has never felt discouraged from becoming a nurse because he was a male.

“On a couple of occasions on elderly wards, a couple of the older patients would say, ‘oh, are you a doctor?’ I’d say no, I’m a nurse and they’d say, ‘oh, did you fail medical school?’ ”

But this didn’t put Chris off nursing?

“Some of the older generation, I think, didn’t realise that males could be nurses. But it’s an excellent occupation to have. It’s very worthwhile and at times it can be very rewarding.”

There was an occasion though, when someone did try to discourage Chris from becoming a nurse.  But this wasn’t because he was a man.

“When I was at college thinking of doing my nurse training, I remember consulting a tutor about it, and she just laughed and said, ‘you can’t be a nurse, you’re not clever enough!’ So that spurred me on! I was pretty determined to prove people wrong.”

Although Chris enjoys being a nurse, when he was younger, he wanted to be a professional footballer and played for Sheffield United until he was sixteen. But when a professional contract fell through, and a career in cricket also didn’t work out, Chris decided he had to think of something else to do. 

“I knew I wanted to go to college but at my local college the only places they had available were on a Health and Social Science course which I didn’t know anything about and I wasn’t particularly interested in.”

But Chris went on the course and really enjoyed the practical placements which included working with the elderly, people with learning disabilities and with school children.

“Someone suggested I should try to do nurse training. So I applied and successfully passed after three and a half years.”

Chris still plays football outside work. He is also currently working towards a certificate in Medical Orthopaedic Technology – which he says, will give him points towards a degree programme.

Does Chris have any role models that he feels have inspired him?

“My first charge nurse – he is an excellent orthopaedic technician – he taught me the basics of orthopaedic surgery.”

One of the reasons that Chris enjoys nursing is that his nursing qualification enables him to go into different areas of nursing.

“I remember the day that I qualified, my dad actually said to me, ‘you’re doing yourself the biggest favour because you should never be out of work.’ ”

As a qualified nurse, Chris says it is important to be able to work as part of a team.

“The team will consist of people with varying qualifications and abilities. You have to support your other colleagues if there is a certain case they’re not experienced in.”

Chris says there is a shortage of nurses and so doesn’t think there would be any difficulty for someone getting a job once they are qualified whether they are male or female.

“I advise anybody to do their nurse training. I think it’s a worthwhile job. It’s a hard job! It’s difficult but if you do your training, the day that you pass, it opens up so many doors. It’s a very varied occupation with lots of patient contact if you like that.”

Does Chris have any particular advice for say a young man of sixteen who is thinking about becoming a nurse?

“I don’t think it makes any difference whether you are male or female. I think that’s an old stereotypical view of nursing - that all the males are doctors and all the females are nurses. So I’d say, go for it, definitely!”

What are Chris’s plans for the future?

“I enjoy being an Orthopaedic Nurse Practitioner and the feeling I get knowing that I’ve done a good solid case. Sometimes I do miss the patient contact and think of doing intensive care or accident and emergency where the work can be more varied. I could also go into teaching or medical sales.”

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