male in nursing

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · May 23, 2011

How to attract men to nursing? Very, very simple...
Pay a decent wage, provide decent benefits, offer up some job security, provide a respectful work environment in which the workers are valued, provide a means to participate in how the workplace functions, and perhaps even a bit of... *gasp*... real autonomy.
In other words, just the same way that you attract men to most vocations.
If you pay them, they will come.

I agree here. Most guys that I know who got into nursing did so because it pays well around here, the work isn't hard in comparison to getting a tech diploma and going to work at the refineries or chemical plants, you get a decent amount of time away from work because 12's are typical shifts, and you work in a medical setting which for whatever reason interests a lot of people.

Pay, working conditions, doing something and interesting and productive, and autonomy are key for men and workplace appeal.

All that would apply to the kids. Going from high school to college. The career changer males which is probably a little over half of the nurses that are males around here generally were cops (me), firemen, and paramedics (which I also did on the side.) Nursing pays somewhat better for less days in the workplace, its considerably safer thus easier on the family than the three public safety professions I mentioned, and cops and paramedics at least are used to peoples' B.S. and paperwork so in a way the job becomes easier because you're not rained on, frozen, or burned up in the summer.

middleager · May 24, 2011

KayRN910, I have not posted on a seperate thread, to be honest don't know how to, my daughter told me I am e-paired. Imthatguy, I think your response comes back to what I am getting at, you and many of the men that come into nursing did so after you had matured a little and got some life experience and I would say some confidence in who you were. If you look at who is going from high school to nursing it is overwhelmingly female, that is the group I am targeting HS, I mean really if you think about it, asking a 18 year old to decide what they want to do with the rest of their life is tough enough. Expecting them to ignore decades of people telling them nursing is for females and gay males is a tall order. You are looking at things like supporting a family, saftey for your family, benefits, these things aren't on most 18 year olds minds, male or female. When you were young and making that decision you chose to be a cop, I would bet your thoughts and priorities were a lot different then from now. I don't think a slogan will make the decision for them, if it does, they probably aren't smart enough to make the grades. What I am looking for is something to plant the seed of thought in young men's minds that nursing isn't a female profession, it is a profession, that they can or should consider nursing instead of automatically dismissing it. I fell into the thought process they need to know it's a man's profession as well, agree the billboard is a little cheezy, but I thought the are you man enough would resonate with young men, I evidently was off on that so am searching,,,do you think the pay, benefits, etc will resonate with a young male enough to over come the gender issue. I know when I was 18 I was a lot more concerned about who was going to buy me beer than I was a 401K. I still think for most 17-18 year old males, gender identification is a issue. After all, the pay and benefits of nursing are the same for male and females, but last I heard 85-90% of nursing students are still female.

ALHANOON · May 29, 2011

i'm a student nurse in bahrain, this topic (how to attract male to study nursing) for my project. in bahrain we suffer from lack of male nurse. but i did not see serious solution to solve this problem. the main things i want it, what is the motivations attract male to study nursing??

DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN · Jun 3, 2011

Strange but true. In my homeland, the UK, there is a very popular soap opera called "Coronation Street" which has been running since the early 1960s. Several years ago a male character called Martin Platt went off to be a student nurse - and the numbers of applications from men to nursing schools skyrocketted.

The show followed Martin's career for years right up to him being a Charge Nurse in an ER. It may only be a silly soap, but frankly it did give a very positive image of a man in nursing. Popular culture, even low culture like trash TV really DOES affect people's behaviour and choices. That's an extremely sad reflection in our society, but alas it's true.

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Jun 4, 2011

i'm a student nurse in bahrain, this topic (how to attract male to study nursing) for my project. in bahrain we suffer from lack of male nurse. but i did not see serious solution to solve this problem. the main things i want it, what is the motivations attract male to study nursing??

we can use the steps of the nursing process here. the first step we always undertake in problem solving is assessment. before we propose solutions, we have to thoroughly understand the problems we face. here are some things to think about.

- what are the barriers that prevent interested males from entering nursing in bahrain? are there potential students who do not have enough money for school? are there societal stereotypes that make men less willing to become nurses?

- what are the rewards or satisfying aspects of the job for most nurses? would those rewards typically appeal to men as well as women?

- will initiatives such as the qatar bahrain causeway allow bahrain to more easily utilize personnel from other nations? would this potentially impact the percentage of males in nursing?

the middle east is underrepresented on the forums here and i suspect that the solutions to your problem are very dependent on your unique culture. but hopefully you have a few things to stimulate your thinking for this project.

red2003xlt, LPN · Jun 9, 2011

The world runs on money, show me the money!