Men in nursing

Assistant Editor-In-Chief: Michelle Lew

Overview
Of the 2.1 million registered nurses in the United States, only 5.4% of them are male. Men also make up only 13% of all new nursing students.

Historical perspective
Contrary to the perceptions of some, nursing has been a male dominated field for most of human history. When the world's first nursing school was opened in India in 250 B.C.E., only men were considered "pure" enough to be nurses.

Nursing was mainly done by males during the Byzantine Empire.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus mentions a male inn keeper being paid to nurse an injured man (Luke 10:35-36).

During plagues that swept through Europe, nurses that were male were primary caregivers, and in 300 C.E. men in the Parabolani created a hospital and provided nursing care. .

There were numerous other nurses that were male throughout the Middle Ages. St. Benedict started the Benedictine nursing order. The Alexian Brothers, in the 1300s, provided nursing care for the victims of the Black Death. These two organizations are still in existence today.

Military, religious, and lay orders of men continued to provide nursing care throughout the Middle Ages. Some of the most famous of these were the Knights Hospitalers, the Teutonic Knights, the Tertiaries, the Order of Saint Lazarus, the Order of the Holy Spirit, and the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony.

St. John of God and St. Camillus de Lellis were both nurses who are now considered saints. St Camillus invented the symbol of the red cross and created the first ambulance service.

In 1783 James Derham, a slave from New Orleans, earned his freedom by working as a nurse. He went on to become the first black doctor in the United States.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892), a poet and a writer, volunteered as a hospital nurse in Washington, DC during the Civil War.

Nurses that are male and nursing schools for men were common in the United States until the early 1900s.

"Before the 20th century, more than half of those offering nursing services to the ill and injured were men. Yet by 1930, men constituted fewer than 1% of RNs in the United States".

"In the early 1900s, female nursing organizations such as the Nurses Associated Alumnae started to discriminate against male nurses. Male nurses were banned from joining the organization until 1930. Traditionally, military nurses had been male. However, starting in the early 1900s these powerful organizations started to ban male nurses from the military. This ban remained in effect until the Korean War of 1950's. Men were banned from studying at some state-supported nursing schools until 1982 "

"Why did these figures dwindle? Because, despite their interest in nursing, men have historically been discouraged and frequently denied access to nursing education and organizations. Schools of nursing patterned on the Nightingale model originally refused to accept men. The American Nurses Association and many state nurses associations once denied membership to men. The Army Nurse Corps refused to admit male RNs until 1957. Artificial barriers, not a lack of interest by men, have kept men out of nursing".

The American Assembly For Men in Nursing was founded in 1971. The purpose of AAMN is to provide a framework for nurses as a group to meet, discuss, and influence factors which affect men as nurses.

In the 1980-1990’s, "inflation, a shortage of nurses with the accompanying rise in nurses’ wage, as well as a change in gender attitude, brought many men into the profession".

In modern times in the US Armed Forces and in VA medical facilities, nurses that are male are now commonplace.

Increasing numbers
"Study after study demonstrates that men come to the nursing profession for the same reasons women do. They want to care for sick and injured people, they want a challenging profession, and they want reasonable job security with good wages".

They tend to balance out the normally female dominated work force. Overall, the reality is that nurses in general are greatly valued by other health care professionals, who they work with collaboratively, no matter if the nurse is a male or female, either brings its own unique talents to the nursing profession.

As many Western nations are facing a shortage of nurses, many governments and nursing schools are actively recruiting more nurses that are male.

More men are entering nursing as they discover that it is a competitive and challenging career. For example, when the University of Pittsburgh increased its admission requirements for its nursing program, the number of male applicants spiked significantly.

Many men are also attracted to the profession after learning how important mathematics and science (fields traditionally dominated by males) are in nursing.

Nurses that are male on average earn more money than nurses that are female. This is because males are more likely to work in intensive care units, because nurses that are male generally have more education, and because they are more likely to be supervisors.

Spokesman Thomas "The Son of GOD" Holly stated on behalf of all male nurses in University of Limerick that they are currently celebrated in all hospitals throughout the Mid-West of Ireland and female nurses continually look forward to seeing male nurses arrive on wards.

Nurses that are male, are useful to an institution, when male patients might be modest about the thought of female medical personnel when it comes to being examined or treated in private areas and might feel more comfortable with a male nurse (or doctor) in that respect. Similar to when a female patient, may feel more comfortable with a nurse that is female.

In psychiatric units of hospitals, nurses that are male are very prevalent, as they sometimes are the only ones who can safely work with the patients.

Prejudice and discrimination
Today, while overt discrimination against male nurses is rare, many nurses that are male still feel that they are not treated as equals. Some say they need to prove themselves more than their female counterparts, and that promotions are more likely to be given to female nurses.

Some men have struggled being allowed to work in maternity and gynecology sections of some hospitals, although nurses (and doctors) that are male work in these sections of hospitals.

Some men feel that their families are unsupportive of their career ambitions, which leads them to suffer more isolation and financial hardship than their female counterparts. Isolation is a major reason why men quit nursing school.