daveFL

I hope it is successful. As a guy who intends to enter the profession next year I agree there are definitely feminine stereotypes associated with it, but that's only because nursing has traditionally been a profession dominated by women and that certainly has changed here in south Florida. Since I started nursing school I've seen more and more guys coming in. Quite a few of them are gay but they are a tiny minority and most are more like the men in the campaign ad (LOL). A lot of them are married with kids and in their early 30s, probably bored with their office jobs and looking for a new and interesting challenge like myself. The nursing shortage will probably continue well beyond the time they are projecting because far more people leave the profession than the number going in each year, and the hospitals are in a serious bind, especially down here in Florida where there are so many senior citizens in need on healthcare. The hospitals are now using some pretty aggressive tactics to recruit nurses here, including huge sign-on bonuses and above average salaries even for people fresh out of nursing school. Still, quite a few guys I started the program with dropped out during the prequisite courses because they thought it would be easy and that all they would have to learn is medical terminology and how to give injections. They didn't understand they had to do courses in chemistry, micro, and A&P before they begin the core practicum, and to some people that's just too much when you're juggling it with a full-time job and a family.