Nursing lures men (article)

Published Feb 25, 2005

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Nursing lures men

By MARION CALLAHAN

Bucks County Courier Times

After high school, it took Michael McKenna nearly a decade to find his niche in the workplace. He pumped gas, filled vending machines, took on a welding job at an old Navy shipyard and sold Archway Cookies. However, the short-lived careers didn't give him the satisfaction or the money he was longing for.

In 1993, he ventured into the nursing profession at Abington Memorial Hospital. He expected the jokes and he got them. Some people mocked, "Where's your skirt?"

Today there is little to laugh about. Male nurses account for 6 percent of all nurses in the nation. The number of males entering the field is growing nearly 10 percent each year, according to Julie Sochalski, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

The surge comes at a time when the healthcare industry faces a critical nursing shortage that is only expected to worsen. One survey done in 2000 found the nation was in need of 111,000 nurses. That demand is expected to rise to 800,000 in 2020 if conditions in the industry don't improve, according to projections from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

National advertising efforts on billboards and in television commercials, picturing male nurses working, aim to erase decades-old stereotypes and attract more nurses - from both genders - into the field. Campaigns boast of flexible hours, stable incomes and exciting opportunities in a variety of settings ranging from the ambulance to the emergency room.

"It's more exciting and accessible than ever before," said Sochalski, who reports that men account for 25 percent of her students. In this uncertain economy, careers in nursing offer job stability, she said.

"Nurses today will not have to worry about having a job," she said. "Healthcare needs of the public are not diminishing. They're growing."

Interviews at Abington Memorial Hospital indicate that many male candidates are drawn to work in critical care and emergency departments, said hospital spokeswoman Beth Ann Neil. The hospital staffs 19 male nurses out of 123 employees in its emergency trauma center, which accounts for 15 percent of the department's staff.

Troubling to the industry, however, is Sochalski's research, which reveals that new male nurses are leaving the profession at twice the rate of young women. Her study analyzes data collected from 36,000 nurses by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1992, 1996 and 2000.

It shows that by 2000, nearly 8 percent of new male nurses left the profession within four years of graduating from nursing school, up from 2 percent in 1992. By contrast, 4.1 percent of young women in the field left the profession within four years of leaving nursing school. She said men are leaving for the same reasons women are fleeing the industry - long hours, heavy patient loads and more patients to handle who are critically ill.

DisplayAds ('Middle'); B1546449.3;sz=300x250;ord=[timestamp]? "Not only do we need to lure more people in, but we need to hold on to those who we have," Sochalski said.

McKenna, an emergency nurse and trainer at Abington, said some male nurses are choosing to leave because of salary. Others are choosing to use their skills in higher-paying healthcare professions. Staff nurses in the Philadelphia area make between $52,249 to $59,737 annually. Nationally, salaries range from $31,907 to $75,961.

"Salaries are great, but raises and pay increases are small compared to other professions," he said.

Despite the drawbacks, opportunities to join the field were hard to pass up for McKenna. Training time was quick. Money was good. Plus, it was a job where he could directly help people. He said the job training, requiring between two to three years of school, is relatively short compared to four-year or graduate degrees required by other professions, he said.

Money for school is also more available.

"Anyone who wants to be a nurse and meets the admission criteria of a school can become a nurse without worrying about funding," said Linda Scholfield, vice president of patient services at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Scholfield said the surge of males in the field is encouraging. She said: "They are dedicated, talented individuals who bring a different perspective by virtue of their gender, and that's a good thing."

A few years ago, Abington Memorial launched its Nursing Initiative, an aggressive effort to attract students to nursing schools by offering flexible schooling hours and providing more money in scholarships.

"Money is no longer a barrier to becoming a nurse as a result of what we've done," she said.

Jim Trainer, a student in the hospital's Dixon School of Nursing, earned more than $6,000 in scholarship funds from the program. In return, he will commit to working at the hospital when he graduates next fall.

Trainer, 38, had been working at the hospital for 18 years as a supply supervisor and in various purchasing jobs. One day, he read a story in a newspaper about the nursing shortage, and then he thought about the people working around him.

"The toughest guy I know is a nurse," said Trainer, a father of four who works at the hospital while attending school. "And when I see him with patients, I'm overwhelmed. He's so compassionate and knowledgeable. That's my incentive."