[brian]

Mike Barbour is a man in a woman's world, but he sees his world as a changing one.

Barbour graduated from nursing school in 1977 and has spent more than two decades in the field. Over the years, many patients have left their mark on his memory. One small boy often comes to mind. The patient was puzzled by Barbour.

"He finally said to me, 'What are you? Are you a doctor? You can't be a nurse because nurses are women,'" Barbour recalled.

When the boy wandered to the nurses station in the early morning hours, Barbour asked the restless kid to draw a picture of a nurse. He sketched a woman with a white hat and a syringe in hand. When Barbour asked the boy to draw a male nurse, the patient shook his head and skulked back to bed.

Full Story: http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pb.../APF/410040615

[Rep]

When I was in college, out of the 45 nursing students in our class, only 12 of us are males. Now I see more males entering in the profession. This is a Philippines setting.

[Thunderwolf]

As more men become nurses and more women become doctors, a most welcome paradigm shift will occur, equaling out the historical playing field...I believe, empowering both...once and for all. Interesting, nursing used to be more of male profession in history before the last 150 years, similar to the teaching profession. During those ancient times, it was seen as improper for a lady to take care of or nurse a man to health who was outside of her family. Then, the paradigm shifted. Men in nursing, having their turn, were viewed in a similar way in the past century (men are doctors, not nurses). Ah, paradigm shifts.

[Tweety]

It's seems to me that the econmy brings more men into nursing. There's been a nursing shortage for many years. It seems now that information technology, business, and engineering degrees aren't getting good jobs or layoffs, men are choosing nursing. That there's a nursing shortage makes it attractive to men, but right now I feel it's the econmy. (Especially the economic conditions in the Phillipines as men are going into to nursing to get out of the country).

Anything that gets me more help, I'm all for it.

Agree with the paradigm shift occurring. Men in nursing aren't the oddity we once were.

I couldn't get the article up btw.

[hal248]

One of the reasons for there not being a larger number of men in the Nurisng profession is the constant back stabbing by other nurses. The women in the profession forget to forget.
The Doctors back each other up the administratiors back each other up but the nurses throw each other to the wolves.

[autonursis]

When we think of nursing as an occupation or profession it results in gender confusion but if you think of nursing as a phenomenon it clarifies the issue. Interestingly, it was Ethel Bedford Fenwick (1857-1947) who systematically removed men from nursing not Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) who actually advocated men in nursing! The removal of men was done by not admitting them to the nursing register which was done to make it easier for medicine to subjugate nursing, since males tend to be less amenable to domination. For a full discussion of this issue visit my web site.