Do men and women go into nursing for different reasons?

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Specializes in ER,Surgical ICU,Neuro ICU, OR.

Just curious. When I speak with female nurses the main idea is that they are compassionate and want to be there for people blah blah blah and they seem to have the perfect story that they knew from childhood that nursing was for them and it was a calling....I am compassionate too but at the same time I enjoy the science and technology behind nursing and the critical thinking as well and become interested in this profession in my 30's...Please share your thoughts, thanks.

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I believe that most people go into nursing program for various reasons. Personally for me, I have been in many situations where I was unable to help someone due to my lack of knowledge and I would hate for that to happen again, and I in general really enjoy helping people. However, I am also interested in this field because i love how the human body works, the science behind it all and I just have a fascination with why people get sick and what steps are needed to make sure they recover. On a final note, the pay is nice, and its easy to find a job as long as you don't mind moving if needed, so you'll probably never have an issue finding a job!

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Specializes in ER,Surgical ICU,Neuro ICU, OR.

Thanks for sharing Andrew. I can relate very well with your reasons..

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I believe that most people go into nursing program for various reasons. Personally for me, I have been in many situations where I was unable to help someone due to my lack of knowledge and I would hate for that to happen again, and I in general really enjoy helping people. However, I am also interested in this field because i love how the human body works, the science behind it all and I just have a fascination with why people get sick and what steps are needed to make sure they recover. On a final note, the pay is nice, and its easy to find a job as long as you don't mind moving if needed, so you'll probably never have an issue finding a job!

I agree

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
just curious. when i speak with female nurses the main idea is that they are compassionate and want to be there for people blah blah blah and they seem to have the perfect story that they knew from childhood that nursing was for them and it was a calling....i am compassionate too but at the same time i enjoy the science and technology behind nursing and the critical thinking as well and become interested in this profession in my 30's...please share your thoughts, thanks.

ah yes, "the calling." personally, i think it's a load of hogwash. someone can have the calling and be totally incompetent, and personally i'd rather have competent coworkers and, when i'm sick, a competent nurse. enjoying science, technology and critical thinking are all good reasons to be interested in the profession. so is decent pay, flexible scheduling and indoor work. (dh was a towtruck driver and construction worker before nursing school.)

when talking to all those "calling" folks, bear in mind that some of them don't even believe what's coming out of their mouths . . . they say it because everyone else is.

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My girl is going in her third semester and its the same..calling..she gave me when ask the question. Im going for a backup career and the money and job security. Sure I'm compassionate and like to help people but its not my first or main reason.

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Specializes in EP/Cath Lab, E.R. I.C.U, and IVR.

I got into nursing because the owner of the farm I was working for was the director of critical services at our local hospital. She told me as a 20 year old male with no human health care experience that she thought I would be a good nurse. No real reason for money or job security, as a farmer you have neither.

She said that I was good with people and caring. I started out as a secretary, moved to an ED tech, then Nurse. Love what I do now and wouldn't change a thing. Still gives me the time to run a cattle farm and train horses.

Jonathan RN

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I got in it to meet hot female nurses. Kidding hahaha...anyways, I love science and I think the human body is awesome. The technology is pretty sweet too! I know most of you are probably older, so seeing the technology advance must be awesome. I'm only 22 and its cool. Kinda like going from original nintendo to PS3 lol.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

I wanted to work in healthcare. Enrolled for Medical Assisting. I always got the "why not nursing school" question, so I decided to go for it. The program was extremely competitive. I decided to give it one shot, apply and see what happened. I so happened to be accepted first try so that was that.

So, it was unintentional. Many nurses in my family but not something I had ever considered.

5 yrs later as a nurse and I am enjoying it very much. Of course, wouldn't do this for free and Florence was not in my class ;)

I happen to agree with Ruby above. Hogwash for the most part. Not everyone, but yea probably the vast majority lol.

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I'm not a guy but I got into nursing because I've always wanted to be a nurse. When I was 18 and living with my boyfriend his stepmother got in a terrible car accident and I nursed her back to health (as best I could having zero education). That pretty much cemented it for me.

I like to think I'm a pretty smart girl so it's the perfect mix of head and heart. Plus I don't have to sit at a desk. I think it's pretty exciting, too.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

you don't seem to see as many men who went into nursing as a "calling", and in my opinion that's a good thing! my husband became a nurse for the very sensible reason that, living in new orleans and working in highway construction, driving a tow truck or as an oil rigger, he became disenchanted with spending long hours in the hot sun. he wanted an indoor job with steady work, a dependable pay check and benefits. he's always been social, and he liked sciences so nursing sucked him in about thirty years ago. he was often the only male nurse around and yes, for the first 15 years or so, it was all about finding women. now it's about the dependable paycheck, indoor work, benefits and the chance to talk to people all day long. and the science.

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Specializes in ER,Surgical ICU,Neuro ICU, OR.

Thx guys for participating. Glad to see that the men's forum is frequented by women as well. What I am getting from the replies is men choose nursing for job security, like science and are intrigued by the human body and women seem to have this feeling that they somehow knew they wanted to do nursing or something happened in their lives which convinced them to go in this field. I think this is a good research topic ;)

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