You could call them "medics", "medical specialists", "care givers", what have you, but until enough men join the ranks of this occupation, good old human cognition will conjure up the image of a woman, not a man, every time - and this would go for male nurses as well! We are both blessed and cursed that our brain does not have to start from scratch with every piece of information that comes to us and can build - for better or worse - upon past experience.

The term "NURSE" refers to one, of ANY gender, who provides care to those in need of medical attention. I work with many men who are wonderful caregivers and who are proud to call themselves nurses.

Medic, however, generally refers to anyone who has received a bare minimum of training. The two should never be confused.

Perhaps, instead of changing the term, we should focus more on changing the narrow-minded among us.

Anyone who bears the title R.N. worked awfully hard to obtain the right to call themselves a nurse. I haven't found anyone who wants to be called anything else.

I'm a paramedic who would never want to be catagorized with a gender confused male nurse. R.N.'s generally need permission to wipe there own asses; whereas paramedic's have an extensive scope of practice. I do not know of a paramedic who has a bare minimum of training. I have responded to many nursing facillities where R.N. incompetence has proven fatal. A paramedic should be viewed as a physician's right hand in the field. A R.N.'s right hand can often be found wrist deep in fecal matter while changing a patients undergarments. I haven't found a paramendic who desires any other title. If you want the title "Medic," earn it!

Doctors. Female or male, I call them doctors. I trust them with my life. I appreciate the care and attention that a nurse can provide. Man or woman. I would also accept a medic's help, though I often imagine needing them in situations I'd rather not be in, like bleeding to death, or crisply fried.

The health care system has greater priorities it should address than gender association issues. That way of thinking is becoming ancient. I'm more concerned about the major hospital that closed in my city because it wasn't making enough *profit*. Does money take that much precedence over human life? Also, why isn't my federal government looking after my well-being, despite its "superpower" status? We can blow terr'ists to high Hell and back with billion dollar bombs, but the homeless man on my corner is out of luck if his health takes a dive. Who will help him? Medics? Nurses?