Why such a push to get more men into nursing?

One advantage for employers is that, by and large, men don't take the primary responsibility of taking care of kids as much as women do. Rightly or not, when a kid has to stay home or get picked up or whatever it's mom taking off to put out the fires, not dad.

One advantage for employers is that, by and large, men don't take the primary responsibility of taking care of kids as much as women do. Rightly or not, when a kid has to stay home or get picked up or whatever it's mom taking off to put out the fires, not dad.

Okay, I can rock with that. I guess it would depend upon the family, but in mine, it is true that my son prefers Mommy. Apparently that's common, and from my perspective it's perfectly fine because Mommy did 98% of the work bringing him into the world. (My 2% was handling nearly all of the house work and some of our performances by myself during that time because she was either sick, restricted to "light duty" lifting, or tired.)

So there's another advantage of men in nursing - their scheduling might be more reliable because they aren't as likely to call off, leave early, or need to be rescheduled on account of their kids.

I don't think that the point of the article was to "push" men into nursing. I don't understand why you are trying to think of advantages of men in nursing vs women. Nursing is still primarily thought of as a female profession. By having campaigns such as the one in Oregon (that was mentioned in the article) is a way showing that nursing can be a possible career choice for men.

I don't think that the point of the article was to "push" men into nursing. I don't understand why you are trying to think of advantages of men in nursing vs women. Nursing is still primarily thought of as a female profession. By having campaigns such as the one in Oregon (that was mentioned in the article) is a way showing that nursing can be a possible career choice for men.

Maybe there isn't as much of a "push" as I am thinking, but I have two cousins (one male, one female) who are nurses and they say, "We need more men in nursing!". My mom... "They need more male nurses!". Where there's that much smoke, there's bound to be at least some fire.

Interestingly enough, my wife told me that there was a time when she, as a patient, suffered a bit due to the lack of an available male nurse. Three years ago she had a hiatal hernia repaired and she had to transfer herself from the gurney to the hospital bed because, as she said, "I overheard someone say that they couldn't move me because they didn't have a male nurse around". She's a BIG woman (hey, we all have our tastes)... that could have something to do with it. Anyway, I guess it really is a "thing". If I wind up working as a floor nurse at some point, all those years of weight lifting will finally prove to have been useful. (Maybe I'll have to get back into it... ugh...)

I think the point is that there is still a stigma attached to nursing as a" female profession", like teaching, secretarial work, cooks, etc. You mention that you've "never been a fan of any push to get any people of any gender, ethnicity, or race into any specific field", but the fact is that there are stigmas that prevent certain demographics from being encouraged to join certain fields. These campaigns are an effort to remove such stigmas and encourage people to join fields based on "each person's merits and desires as they relate to the field"...not on demographics.

If a nurse gets the job done well, I don't care what gender the nurse is. Worked with many male or female nurses, seen good ones and bad ones from both.

Just my humble opinion here, but as a woman in Nursing.... most (although not all) male Nurses help to bring down the drama and 'secure the hen house'. Now there are male Nurses who do the exact opposite, but not in general. I've really appreciated having a male Nurses to work beside for the above reason. I hope you are one of those men.

Just my humble opinion here, but as a woman in Nursing.... most (although not all) male Nurses help to bring down the drama and 'secure the hen house'. Now there are male Nurses who do the exact opposite, but not in general. I've really appreciated having a male Nurses to work beside for the above reason. I hope you are one of those men.

Agreed. Balances everything out and we work together well...just like in other jobs in all sort of industries...just like its nice to have a woman's touch and/or perspective, it goes both ways.

I don't understand why there's a "push". It seems that it's happening already...

More men=better working conditions. more money, more respect from administration, patients, doctors, and family members. More power, less abuse and bullying.

The push is really a matter of representation, "X group is a minority in Y profession".

Not based on "X group" is better or isn't better at any aspect of the job.

In many areas and professions many groups are underrepresented based on local demographics. Thus you will see a push for more members of that group to join that area or profession. You won't see a push for more male CRNAs or male managers or other areas where the male representation is closer to the female.

At one point in my career I was the only male nurse in a department that covered five specialty areas.