Men in nursing

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · May 9, 2014

Expect that there will be no difference in how you (all male students) are treated by instructors, female classmates, hospital staff, and most patients as compared to your female classmates. According to the 2013 Census, males make up 9% of registered nurses. According to the National League of Nursing, 14% of BSN students are male. Being a male in nursing is becoming commonplace.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · May 9, 2014

Moved to our Men in Nursing forum which we started about 2002...

SierraBravo · May 9, 2014

You can expect a job that will be extremely gratifying and, at times, extremely humbling.

OldDude · May 9, 2014

"Career change" leads me to believe you've already been out there hammering in the real world so your patience with school may not be what it would be if you were right out of high school. My advice is to not worry about being a guy (in fact, enjoy that aspect) but otherwise understand, whether male or female, that you'll often ask yourself what in the heck a lot of the classes you'll be forced to endure have to do with nursing or the medical field; to be patient and keep your eye on the ultimate prize......which is passing the state board and obtaining the paper that says you're a Registered Nurse and go to work in the field. That's when you really starting learing how to be a nurse. Good Luck. I started nursing school at age 38 and lived to tell the tale!!

ZacharyMoss · May 9, 2014

Awesome! I have a B.S. Degree in Exercise Science and worked as a personal trainer for several years I was also the aquatics coordinator for the same facility. I just turned 30 and have been a stay at home dad for the last 3 years. I run 2 small businesses from home. I miss working with people:) and my kids will be old enough that I won't need to work from home anymore! Time for a career change. I will hopefully be accepted into a 14 month accelerated program soon and I think this will be an extremely rewarding career change.

Mr. Murse · May 9, 2014

There may be a few isolated examples of true discrimination against male nurses here and there, but it's definitely not the rule. If anything, it's an advantage because we offer a few different assets to the field that many women don't have. I've only had a handful of incidences where my gender was an issue at all, but it was with patients and was completely understandable. For example, I've had a couple of elderly women prefer not to be bathed or helped with using the restroom or have a catheter inserted by males, a woman or two who didn't want male caregivers for religious reasons, and one or two rape victims that did not want any male caregivers. So yeah, if you consider that discrimination then I guess so, but those incidences don't bother me and aren't very common. Other than that I've been told many times by patients that they preferred male nurses. From an employment standpoint, I've never seen or heard of an issue with male nurses. I think that because it's such a woman-dominated field, men have to make a much more conscientious decision to go into it. Any male nurse that complains about being discriminated against most likely brought it on himself somehow, and then blamed it on his gender.

nurseEsteve · Jul 28, 2014

Dont be a **** load drama nurse. Do your job with the main priority in your head ...your patient.

nurse.Esteve

supaflyz · Jul 28, 2014

Go for it bro. I was in the same situation as you when I decided to become a nurse. The thing is most of the female nurses will come for your help to lift a patient or transferring though.

nlopez2518 · Aug 5, 2014

I am also switching career fields, but from a Police officer to a nurse. I always wanted to be in the medical field since I was younger but had children with my wife at a very young age. Now I want to become a nurse with hopes on becoming a CRNA.