Nursing As An Attractive Career Option For Men

Nursing, in modern times, has not been perceived as a profession to be pursued by men; as a vocation, perhaps, through a religious order. You may find it surprising, though, that until the late 1800s nursing was a service primarily rendered by men.

It wasn’t until Florence Nightingale started advocating professional nursing care at the frontline, during the Crimean War (1853 – 1856), did women nurses start making their presence felt on battlefields, in Europe. In the USA, men were still performing a majority of the nursing duties during the American Civil War (1862 – 1865). It was during World War I (1914 – 1918), and the demand for able-bodied men, that governments started mandating “only women” for nursing services.

This mandate became so well entrenched that, even as late as 1980 men were not allowed admission into a majority of the nursing colleges in the USA. Today, although there aren’t any restrictions to men entering the nursing profession, the percentage of men in nursing is still very small (9 – 10%); thanks to the historical legacy, and to (Western) societal perceptions formed during this period when most of nursing was out of bounds to men.

With the projected acute shortage of nurses in the developed world, nursing is now, more than ever, an extremely attractive career option for men; coming at a time when traditional sources of blue-collar male employment, such as manufacturing and construction, are drying up on account of increased productivity or greater mechanization. Overcoming this shortage will require potential employers to increase wages significantly higher than the inflation rate, as mentioned in a previous blog.

So, the demand and the wages render nursing an attractive career for men (and women too), but what are the issues to keep in mind while opting for a career in nursing?

• The first is, of course, the perception that nursing is a woman’s job. Going against this stereotype will require a good deal of character and resolution, especially when explaining the choice to one’s near and dear, and to friends. Overcoming this perceptual obstacle is half the battle won.
• There are few male role models in nursing, for men choosing to join the profession, given the near-historical absence of men from this profession. So, advice, from a male perspective, on handling academic and professional pressure, specializations to opt for, etc. is hard to come by.
• Choosing the right specialization is important. Women-specific specializations, e.g. Obstetrics & Gynecology, can be avoided, and during one’s career there may be situations when female patients may be more comfortable being taken care of by a female nurse. That said, male nurses tend to like specializations such as Anesthesia, Emergency & Trauma, Critical Care, Flight nursing, Oncology, Orthopedics, Psychiatry, Education, and Nursing management, to name a few.
• Discrimination against male nurses, in the workplace, may be gradually fading but a male nurse should be prepared for it. Such discrimination may manifest itself solely on account of gender, or on account of relationship with the physician, or even on account of communication issues with female counterparts. In many cases discrimination is perceived and not practised, because the male nurse is operating in an unfamiliar situation where he is a (gender) minority.

It’s not all caution and taking care, though. There are a few advantages to being a male nurse: especially around patients who are violent or aggressive, or when physical strength is required (to lift or support a patient). And, strangely enough, at least in the USA, although men represent less than a tenth of the nursing population, they earn more their women counterparts in the same roles. This anomaly has been explained through the fact that male nurses tend to be better qualified than their female counterparts, for the same roles.

When it comes down to making a decision, it should be noted that nursing is a professional vocation, and any man opting for it as a career will first need to decide on whether he is going to find satisfaction and contentment in caring for an unwell fellow human being. If the answer is yes, then the issues outlined above will easily be resolved. If not, the career may not turn out to be as attractive as the salary promises.