So you guys, it tis Robo Robbie once again and today’s mission, he has attempted to look for a Nursing Scholarship to pay for his next four years. Well, as I was lookin’ for a Nursing Scholarship, I ran into this article that this man BILL had wrote. It really intrigued meeh, so I just had to post. All credit is given to this man named BILL. I got it from this website. I wanted to give credit to this man, or else, you know, those damn FBI and things, they’ll come after meeh. I hope the man does not mind meeh showing it precious work of art. I’m soo motivated now.
Nurse Like A Man
My name is Bill and I’m a nurse.
I realize that sentence probably sounds a little strange to you. You were expecting my name to be Kathy or Sue. Being a man in the nursing profession truly makes me one of the few and the proud, and no, I’m not talking about the kind of pride you associate with Richard Simmons or the Village People. The Department of Health says there are currently 146,902 male registered nurses (RNs) in this country, or just under 6% of RNs as a whole. This percentage is twice what it was 20 years ago, but nursing still remains one of the most sexually segregated of all professions.
This makes no sense to me from an economic standpoint. Wages for nursed have risen substantially in the last decade. While it is still not a path to easy wealth (sorry, no stock options), the average salary for an RN is over $45,000 a year, with entry-level salaries averaging $39,000. It would be a mistake to let money be the main reason for becoming a nurse. The job is not worth it if you don’t truly care about and enjoy working with people. Still, when you look at the relatively modest educational investment required to get into the profession (an Associates Degree in Nursing will allow you to take the licensing exam), it seems like more guys would at least consider the idea of becoming a nurse.
Nursing has additional advantages that go beyond the paycheck. In the 10 years I’ve spent working as an RN, I’ve been able to switch from medical rehabilitation to home health, and then move onto oncology, work with renal patients, then switch to cardiac nursing, pediatrics, the emergency room, and the ICU. When my wife, who is also a nurse, wanted to take a full-time spot in labor and delivery, I was able to scale back my hours and spend more time at home with the kids. Try finding that kind of flexibility working at a bank or as a network administrator. Nursing also offers great opportunities for advancement. Most hospitals actively encourage nurses to continue their education, and there is enough out there in the way of in-house training, tuition reimbursement, scholarships, and grants for a man to go as far as he wants professionally.
Then why aren’t there more male nurses?
The answer to this question could also be the answer to the nursing shortage in general. It is estimated that there are currently 126,000 unfilled positions in hospitals across the U.S. and by the year 2020 that figure could balloon to 400,000. While the reasons for this shortage are many, one of the most important is that a woman’s role in society—and her expectations of that role—has changed. Since 1987, female college freshman have declared medicine over nursing as their intended major. As Michael Brown states in his book Nurses—The Human Touch,
At a time when women have far greater options in career selection—doctor, astronaut, and Supreme Court justice—the “female profession” of nursing has fallen into disfavor. Its image as a passive, peripheral vocation, a support to the “important work” of physicians, holds little allure for women who wish to exercise mastery over their careers.
While nursing may be way down on the list as a first choice career for women, the profession doesn’t even show up on the radar for men. In 1999, 5% of female college freshmen identified nursing as being among their top career choices, while among male college freshmen the figure was .05%.
I have to admit that, even for myself, nursing was not an obvious first choice. I sort of backed into the job while training for what I thought would be a more glamorous and meaningful career in journalism. While reporting on healthcare issues I took a job as a nurse’s aide to get a better sense of what really goes on at the frontlines of healthcare. What I found was that nurses did a lot more than empty bedpans and fetch coffee for doctors. The phrases I found myself using to describe RNs were not terms that I had previously thought of as typically feminine: courageous, cool under pressure, patient advocate, and constructive trouble-maker. Once I realized that nursing required sharp problem solving skills, strong nerves, and a Kipling-esque ability to “…keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…”, that it left you feeling like you had done something important with your time even if the whole day had gone to hell, then the switch over to a career in nursing was an easy one for me.
Many other male nurses I have talked with tell similar stories of their round about entrance into nursing. David Long, an RN at the Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott, Arizona tells a typical tale:
I had been working with the local fire department as an emergency medical technician (EMT) and was considering going to school to become a paramedic. When I looked into it, I realized that I could make a lot more money as an RN than as a paramedic and I wouldn’t have to go out of town for my schooling. Nobody at the fire department gave me a hard time about my decision. In fact, the only one who had anything negative to say was my mom, who was a nurse? She said, “You don’t want to do that” but I haven’t had many problems. If anything, I think female nurses appreciate someone on the floor who can help out with some of the heavy lifting.
James Farris, another RN at YRMC agrees that salary was a factor. “I made more as a nurse’s aide than I did as an EMT. Besides, as a nurse I can work indoors where it’s warm instead of freezing on the back of a fire truck.” Adrenaline junkies can still get their fix as a nurse in areas like the ER, the ICU, the cardiac cath lab, flight nursing, etc.—and many men do gravitate to these areas. There is no question, though; that the image nursing conjures up for the general public is far from macho. We are all known or suspected quiche-eaters and I am sure every male nurse out there has heard the question “Are you gay?” at least once. This has led to defensive behavior by some would be he-nurses. I have actually seen men who wear camouflage scrub tops to work, and I have heard of single men who wear wedding bands to work in order to minimize the ‘stupid question’ dimension of their job. Hopefully, it will never come to the point where we have to carry a bowie knife instead of tape scissors and display a copy of Field and Stream in our back pockets before people realize that being masculine and caring for the sick and injured are not mutually exclusive concepts.
The term ‘nurse’ does not help this image problem, of course. When your job title can also mean to breastfeed, it’s hard to convince people that the profession is not for females only. A more manly, or at least gender neutral, term might help, but so far no one has been able to come up with one that is not either too vague or too awkward. Healthcare Provider (HP) makes you sound like an HMO or a PC, while Health Services Technician (HST) does not acknowledge the nurse’s professional status, plus it makes you sound like a time zone. Like it or not, we are probably stuck with the term ‘nurse’ for the time being unless some sort of media whiz kid finds a way to sell a label like ‘care commando’ or ‘health ninja’ to the general public.
Despite these problems with the label, it is vital that more be done to encourage men to get involved in bedside care. Recent studies have shown a direct connection between the nursing shortage and increased hospital fatalities. However, bringing more men into nursing would have benefits that go beyond simply addressing the ‘warm body’ needs that the current shortage has created. The oft-cited advantages of more muscle on the unit—for heavy lifting or dealing with a combative patient—are real, but they do not really speak to why the profession is made stronger by the presence of men.
When I was in the submarine service in the 1980’s, the all-male culture I worked in had an unhealthy, otherworldly feel to it. With all the unchecked testosterone flying about, guys behave in ways that would have embarrassed them in the civilian world. My wife, who works in the exclusively female world of obstetrics and gynecology, tells me similar tales of unbalanced behavior that would never be tolerated on a mixed unit. The effect of a more equal representation of the sexes can be seen in the behavior of some physicians as well. Those M.D.s who are inclined to bellow and rage at nursed are much less likely to do so when they see that the audience includes several men.
Men still do occasionally run into attitudes on the job that are, unconsciously or not, prejudicial. In a class held by our Human Resources Department on the topic of customer relations, another male nurse and I were given a hypothetical situation by our instructor, Fran. The scenario involved a confrontation by an irate patient who tells us his nurse had promised him a pain pill over 30 minutes ago and has not yet returned to his room. The solution we offered was to apologize for the delay, promise to find out who his nurse was, and to either return with his pain pill or an explanation for the delay. After hearing our answer, Fran informed the class that this was a typical male response to situations involving intense emotion. She asserted that, instead of trying to ‘fix’ the problem, we should have spent more time validating the man’s feelings of frustration.
I was too stunned to come up with a response at the time, but I kept wondering, was my ‘typical male response’ really a problem at all? Men and women do handle things differently and much has been made of these differences (men are from Mars, women are from Venus—right?). Our patients, however, are not Martians or Venusians but human beings of both sexes who come to the hospital with nothing more in common than the fact that they are sick. Because we care for patients of varied backgrounds, different ages, and both sexes, the more we can do to make the nursing staff look like the general community, the better we will be able to relate to them and assist in their recovery to health.
I am a man, and this fact is sure to affect the form that the nurse-patient relationship takes with any given individual. I am unlikely to sit and cry with you at your bedside or speak to you in soft, maternal tones. This does not mean I am incapable of empathy, encouraging you through tough times, or providing emotional support. I do all of these things, but in a way that fits with my personality: calmly, competently, and with a liberal use of humor. When I deal with physicians, I do so with respect but not reverence, and I make it plain that I expect the show of respect to be mutual. I do what a nurse (man or women) is supposed to do: stick up for the patient and make sure their needs and wishes are not lost in the healthcare maze. In short, I do everything you would expect a nurse to do without having to conform to any stereotype that paints a caregiver as feminine, subservient, or passive. I nurse—but I nurse like a man.
P.S. I’m so glad that I am not the only alone fulfilling my aspirations.
current entry // past entries // profile // notes // host