Male by grace of God, Nurse by Education

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We all talk about being a "Male Nurse", as if that is different from being a non-used term "Female Nurse". I find it interesting that in the real world, I am not viewed as a male who is a nursing student, but a nursing student, period. In the walls of academics, there is a gender bias, but on the floor, who gets the job done. This semester I am in OBGyn. The staff has been more welcoming to me here than any other part of the hospital. Interesting.

We watched a 1988 video called "History of Nursing; Sentimental Women Need Not Apply". According to this, men did not appear in nursing until one did in the mid 80's. We all know this is not true.

I am interested in hearing from men who are in nursing, or have been in nursing, and learning about your understanding of men in nursing, what was it like in the 50's, 60's, 70's as a man in nursing? Who were famous male nurses such as Walt Whitman? I am considering doing a paper on Nursing, the male perspective. Any thoughts?

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We don't all talk about "male nurses." I find there's v. rarely any reason to differentiate in conversation between male or female nurses -- as far as I'm concerned, we're all "nurses." Period. (I'm female, BTW, but have worked with plenty of nurses "of the male persuasion" over the years.)

My father was a psychiatric RN in the 1940s, before he went to medical school. As you point out, the video you mention had its history wrong ...

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Elkpark,

Thank you. I should not generalize with "all". Truely, not ALL nurses use the term male nurse.

That is fascinating your father was a nurse in the 40's. Did he share stories about what it was like to be in a predominantly female business? Did any of that lead to his decision to become a physician?

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Peds ICU.

Check out the book "Men in Nursing: History, Challenges, and Opportunities" by Chad E. O'Lynn, or the biography of Luther Christman.

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Mike,

Thank you so much. I will look into that book.

We got into a very interesting conversation yesterday in class regarding Nurses vs. Male Nurses. And how much of the literature discusses the difference between the two. Unfortunate.

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First male nurses in the 80s? Somebody is sleeping...

When I was a Vista Volunteer in 1975, one of our group

was going into nursing....and it started long before that...

The first man to be commissioned in the Army Nurse Corps was Edward Lyon, a nurse Anesthetist from Kings Park, NY. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on October 10, 1955.

John Ciudad (1495-1550) founded the order of the brothers of St. John of God or the Brothers of Mercy in (1538). He opened a hospital in Grenada and asked a group of friends to assist in providing care to the mentally ill, homeless, crippled, derelicts, and abandoned children. Men of this order also visited the sick in their homes.

source http://www.malenursemagazine.com/historyofmalenurses.html

just in first semester nursing at age 59....and I am overwhelmed...but I will NOT drop...if I can't cut it,

they will need to flunk me out...(it was a bad week...insertion of foley's on dummies and I am surfing the

web after consecutive 12 hour days with the books)...mental health is also important. I can't wait for this skills course to be over...

tomorrow is a new day...was that scarlett?

den

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Nursing was actually an all-male profession for many centuries. It's only fairly recently (late 1800's) that it started to become a female-dominated profession. I believe Florence Nightingale (1853 - Crimean War) is considered to be the first female modern nurse.

From what I understand there was a period where almost no nurses were men in the U.S. (1940s-1950s perhaps??) but I think that the pendulum is slowly swinging back.....

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