In the first two parts of this series we discussed The History of Male Nurses (Part 1) and The Barriers (Part 2) to why only 7% of nurses are men.  This part will discuss what changes, a result of several studies, will be required to increase the number of men in nursing.

What can be done to change these barriers?

1. Eliminate workplace gender bias that nurses should be women and men should be in management.
2. Recruit high school students for male nursing careers.
3. Stop gender bias in nursing schools.  Over 89% of the respondents in a study reported hearing anti-male remarks made by faculty in the classroom.  Gender bias has been known to provide a different learning experience for men than for women which contributes to the lower number of male nurses.  Educators need to be sensitive to the different learning experiences between male & female students and that men may demonstrate caring in a different manner than females.  This also applies to different cultures.
4. Use male mentors and role models to inspire male nursing students.  A 2000 survey of Registered nurses showed that men leave nursing at a higher rate in the first 4 years of practice than women.
5. Train teachers not to discriminate against male nurses or create a biased environment.  Men feel they’re more closely scrutinized than their female colleagues and often feel as if they’re “under a microscope,” whether in the classroom or clinical setting.
6. Separate masculine from feminine stereotypes.  Men can be caring and nurturing.
7. Educate women not to (accidentally) nurture fellow men nurses into supervisor positions.  Men find they are expected to be assertive and take on leadership roles which can lead to a management job.
8. Utilize schools, professionals, or medical companies or organizations to encourage men in nursing.
9. Assist men in ways to express that they care.  Since caring is the essential element to nursing, show men, who have been raised to limit visible expressions of emotion and worry about sexual overtones, how to express their feelings.  One study showed men’s ability to express caring gradually does evolve.
10. Hire men to teach nursing classes.
11. Encourage men of all ages to become nurses and join together with all nurses in strengthening and humanizing health care (AAMN Objective).
12. Support men who are nurses to grow professionally and demonstrate to each other and to society the increasing contributions being made by men within the nursing profession (AAMN Objective).
13. Set expectations for students.  Men sometimes are surprised to find their initial courses are on therapeutic communication, listening and reflecting which may turn them off from this profession.

Unfortunately, the environment in nursing education remains inhospitable to men and little appears to be changing to promote retention.  As more men join the nursing profession, advances will be made. The best approach if you are a male wanting to become a nurse is to be open-minded, aware of the bias’ and seek out a mentor.

This series focus is on why there are so few male nurses (7%) in the United States.  In Part 1 of this series we discussed The History of Male Nurses.  This week we will discuss why more men are not choosing nursing for their career.

Barriers to more men choosing nursing as a profession:
According to the government the demand for registered nurses is expected to grow 23% by 2016. Shortages currently exist and are expected to increase so why haven’t men, in the age of high unemployment, rushed to the nursing field?

1. Gender bias:  male nurses are sometimes asked why they didn’t go to medical school, as if selecting a nursing career was inferior.  Men are frequently assumed to be physicians in hospitals or may wind up in a management position if they possess a nursing degree.
2. Lack of male role models and mentors in nursing schools and health care organizations.
3. Certain fields have experienced high obstacles such as obstetrics & gynecology.  Some patients have hesitation in being treated by male nurses.
4. Definitions of masculinity have been a powerful barrier for men in selecting nursing for their career. During war or severe nursing shortages gender boundaries are reduced.
5. The academic demands and clinical time required to obtaining a nursing degree/license.
6. Role change as male nurses may not be the primary earner.
7. Unexpected feelings of isolation in nursing school and on the job due to being the minority.

However, some schools are doing a better job in attracting male nursing students.  In October, 2011 The American Assembly for Men in Nursing (AAMN) has selected Excelsior College to receive the AAMN’s Best School award for a fourth time. “This award recognizes a nursing school or college that has provided significant efforts in recruiting and retaining men in nursing, in providing men a supportive educational environment, and in educating faculty, students and the community about the contributions men have and do make to the nursing profession. Excelsior has nearly 22%, or 2,955 men in nursing students in their associate degree program; 20%, or 270 men in nursing students in their bachelor’s program, and 16%, or 125 of their students are men in their master’s program.”

What is being done to increase male nurses to this profession?
With only 7% of all nurses being men, this disparity has not gone unnoticed and is being addressed by the American Assembly for Men in Nursing (AAMN).  They have launched a campaign called 20 X 20 whose ambitions are to obtain a 20% male student enrollment by the year 2020.  Ideas to improve the percentage of male nurses is covered in Part 3.

Part 3 will cover The Changes Needed To Recruit More Male Nurses

Most people have probably noticed there are more female than male nurses when they have been in a hospital or doctor’s offices.  What you might not know is that only 7% of nurses in the United States are men.  The 2010-2011 school year for nursing students include 11% men, so the numbers are increasing. Why are more men not choosing nursing as a career?  What can be done to improve enrollment in nursing schools?  Let’s start by reviewing the history of men in nursing.

History of men in nursing:
Europe
In the third century in Rome an organization of men called the Parabolani brotherhood provided care to the ill during the great plague.  Several knighthood orders later built and managed hospitals in Europe.  In 1431 the Alexian Brotherhood carried the wounded from the battlefield and attended the sick.  Over the next few centuries men worked in nursing and opened several hospitals.

In the mid-1800’s legendary nurse, Florence Nightingale, may have contributed to the bias since she advocated that nursing was the job for gentlewomen and opposed men in nursing stating their “horney hands” were detrimental to caring.  Since women were equated with mothering and nursing with caring, she felt nursing, caring and being a woman the perfect fit.  She created the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas Hospital in July, 1860 and saved lives by improving sanitary conditions for the sick.  Men were excluded from schools she advocated as she felt they didn’t posses mothering or caring capabilities.

United States
The first identified nurse, in what became the United States, landed off the South Texas coast in 1422.  Prior to the mid 1800’s men often served in nursing.   In 1808 a hospital in San Antonio, Texas only employed men as nurses.  In the mid-1800’s both the Confederate and Union army used male nurses to care for the wounded.  What later became the American Nurses Association (ANA) excluded men until 1930. Until the mid-19th century nursing was considered a lower status job.

The female nursing organizations were successful in prohibiting male nurses from serving in the military and it took until after the Korean War before males could be nurses in the military.  Men who were nurses could enlist but were not allowed to be nurses until 1955 when the first male nurse was commissioned to serve in the Army Nurse Corps.  Currently approximately one third of nurses in the three armed forces in the United States are men.

Look for Part 2 next week – Barriers for Male Nurses and the following week Part 3 – Changes Needed To Recruit More Men in Nursing