Stereotypes Of Male Nursing

Nursing is one of the most needed careers in the United States, but each year the number of graduating nursing students’ decreases. Out of all nursing students in the United States, only a small portion is male and graduating, but even if the numbers are small the numbers are slowly starting to increase. Peter Beurhaus, who works as a nursing professor at Vanderbilt University, tells us “We saw the nation lose hundreds of jobs during the recession, but health care grew in the number of jobs it produced, and nursing played a huge part. People notice that when they come out of high school, there’s no longer a negative stigma” With so few male graduates, it’s no wonder that only about 9.6 percent of all nurses are male. Why is it that nursing

With nursing being a female dominant field, male nurses are often viewed as unmanly and weak because of the type of work it is. Nursing requires a lot of care, patience and devotion. Without these qualities your career as a nurse will be short lived. Being a male is often seen as being unmoved or uncaring, with little patience and concern. When you picture a nurse you will often think of a caring woman, but why? Since we were little every time we saw a nurse on T.V. it was often the stereotypical nurse: young, female, and caring. When we were little and went to the doctor or dentist it was usually a female nurse who did work in the room, while the only male we saw was either a doctor or other patients. Since we saw this during our childhood and even now, that was the image of a nurse that was engrained into us, making it hard to picture a male nurse. The more male nurses we have, the more used to the idea we’ll become and eventually it will become

Having male nurses can contribute to the workplace with a little friendly competition. Most people don’t like to be out done by others, especially if they are new to the field or the opposite gender. If female nurses see that more men are entering the work force it is likely that they would want to outdo them, a little friendly competition in the work force tends to give the facility a brighter atmosphere, as well as get more done at a faster pace. After talking to a few nurses all of them agreed that a little competition makes the work place more enjoyable. If friendly competition is taking place, so is encouragement to try harder and strive for more. With more male nurses in the facility, there would be less gossip. It may seem stereotypical, but men tend to gossip less than women in the work place. It is statistically proven that men actually gossip more when with their friend or when they’re out and about, but when they are in the work place it shows that women are more likely to gossip at work as much as they do with their friends. A Social Issues Research Center results showed that in the workplace women’s conversations consists of 67% of gossip, while a men’s consist of 55%. This might not always be the case, but the less gossip going around the facility there are less conflicts and more work is being done. Most male nurses