What issues are involved in being a male nurse and what barriers are preventing males from choosing it as a career?
Currently in the nursing industry males make up as little as 10% of the nursing population in places like the UK (Whittock & Leonard, 2003a) even though many male nurses state that nursing is a rewarding and meaningful career (Rajacich, Kane, Williston, & Cameron, 2013). Nursing is still seen as female dominated industry (Hoffnung, 2013) and as stated by Sherrod, Sherrod & Rasch, nursing has yet to break the gender roles that other professions have managed to (Rajacich et al., 2013) even though women have to reach a higher standard to progress in male dominated professions (Hoffnung, 2013).
Male registered nurses are faced with quite a large variety of challenge and as stated by Burnett 44% of male nurses experienced discrimination, 31% suffered with social isolation (Rajacich et al., 2013) and many felt concerned that they were to be excluded from gender specific areas or procedures because of their gender (Whittock & Leonard, 2003a). As stated by Ollyn, male nurses also felt that there were barriers which made them feel unwelcome as they feared that other nurses would think they were displaying sexual misconduct with female patients and with regards to their education felt they were unprepared to work with women and felt that they had a lack of teaching regarding the difference between communicating with a female to a male. There are also gender based stereotypes towards male nurses from colleagues and patients with some colleagues believing that they should not even be a nurse and only call upon a male nurses for jobs that require strength (Rajacich et al., 2013). What these nurses do not realise is that in som...
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...alities questioned until the current stereotype is broken and nursing for men becomes an option from a young age. Hopefully in time a male nurse will one day be called “Nurse” like every other female rather than “Male Nurse” and feel like they are able to achieve the same as any of their nursing colleagues.
Works Cited
Hoffnung, M. (2013). Lifespan development: a chronological approach John Wiley and Sons Australia.
Rajacich, D., Kane, D., Williston, C., & Cameron, S. (2013). If They Do Call You a Nurse, It Is Always a “Male Nurse”: Experiences of Men in the Nursing Profession. Nursing Forum, 48(1), 71-80. doi:10.1111/nuf.12008
Whittock, M., & Leonard, L. (2003a). Stepping outside the stereotype. A pilot study of the motivations and experiences of males in the nursing profession. Journal of Nursing Management, 11(4), 242-249. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2834.2003.00379.x
The author explores some stereotypes based on what types of jobs are more women’s type of jobs or more manly jobs. Careers such as carpenters and truck drivers are all almost exclusively male jobs, whereas careers in nursing or secretary work are all almost exclusively a woman’s type of work. Since the 1970’s, women have made head way into male dominated jobs. However, the author states that even though women have made it into male dominated jobs, this is not true for the reverse situation. The woman type jobs are still almost exclusively women’s jobs with men making little entry into them.
In today’s society the male nursing profession is sometimes portrayed negatively in the media. Male nurses are often viewed as more aggressive, incompetent and working in a predominantly female profession. The media source chosen was a movie called “Meet The Parents” (2000) The film was based on the idea that a male nurse would go and meet his future wife’s family, and upon meeting the family, things took a turn for the worse. reinforced the common male nursing stereotypes portrayed in the media.
Harris, Sara, and Laura E. Berk. Instructor's Resource Manual for Berk Exploring Lifespan Development, Second Edition. 2nd ed. Illinois: Allyn & Bacon, 2011. Print.
Exploring Lifespan Development (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Levy-Hinte, J. & Sons, J. London, M. (Producer), & Hardwicke, C. (Director). (2003). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary'.
Its 1:30 am and you are have just experienced a major car wreck. You are in the ambulance where the paramedics are telling you it will be ok just hold still big. You arrive at the emergency room and everything is a blurred. You don’t care if the nurse is a female or a male. You don’t stop the male nurse from caring for you. But what happens when you go to the doctor for a follow up visit and see a male nurse? Do you still see a powerful male that saved your life or a powerless manweak feminine failure ? When providing care for a patient, a male nurse faces challenges such as gender bias and judgement .
The biggest stereotype about nurses is that they are all women. According to the website Esquire.Com, people believe that men should be doctors, algal field monitors, independent
Healthcare is a continuous emerging industry across the world. With our ever changing life styles and the increased levels of pollution across the world more and more people are suffering from various health issues. Nursing is an extremely diverse profession and among the highest educated with several levels ranging from a licensed practical nurse (LPN) to a registered nurse (RN) on up to a Doctorate in Nursing. Diane Viens (2003) states that ‘The NP is a critical member of the workforce to assume the leadership roles within practice, education, research, health systems, and health policy’.
There was seldom a mention of male and male students choosing to become nurses. Along with the belief of nursing being a career choice more female-directed, there was also the repeated mention of the career being for middle-class women (Price, 2008). Historically, women have been the dominant face of nursing and it has always been considered a suitable career for women, whereas most careers in the past would never be acceptable for a female. For some of the female students who were interviewed, this stereotype was part of a deferent to choosing nursing. They did not want to be thought of as a stereotypical women, and be casted into a mould of what most women choose (Price, Hall, Angus, & Peter, 2013). In a modern society, more and more women are wishing to push the boundaries on what use to be referred to as a male dominated territory. This is true in careers as well. Many females second guess their decision in choosing nursing due to
The history of nursing dates back to the medieval times to today. It started off with nuns, in addition to their religious practices, attended the sick and dying. Nurses were usually females back then. When the Crimean War went on, an English nurse, Florence Nightingale, started the foundation for nursing. Florence Nightingale wrote the first book of nursing, saying the requirements, and details of nursing. In 1901, New Zealand founded the first registration of nurses with the Nurses Registration Act. One of the first Registered nurses was Ellen Dougherty. Over the years nursing developed to what it is today. Even today nursing is still evolving, innovating, and expanding. Today instead of only having female nurses, there are many male nurses in the field. Although, nursing has stayed somewhat the same over the years, technology has had a big impact on it. This impact has mostly been positive. Technology makes nurses jobs easier, it facilitates communication on the go, and allows remote care/monitoring. With technology, nurses don’t have to be with the patient 24/7. Technology does things nurses used to do, so that nurses can attend other things. With more technology coming into the medical field, this will only help the nurses more in the future.
However, “male nurses have constructed a gender-based identity that accords with what is acceptable to the society…this allows a male nurse to retain masculine qualities while fitting in with the society’s expectations of what is primarily perceived as a woman’s role” (Loughrey, 2008).
RNs are on the top of the list of jobs open in health care, and are also in the top ten to have open jobs (Damp). In the US there are approximately 3.1 million RNs; they make up about seventy percent of a hospital staff. Nurses aren’t only women now; statistics have shown that the amount of men in the nursing field is growing (Cardillo). Nursing is expected to be in a higher demand in cities, and small areas. It is expected for it to grow twenty-six percent in the next few years ("Degree Programs for Registered Nurses”). Facilities are never over staffed; nursing jobs will always be
Worldwide, nurses have developed themselves into professionals with a great deal of knowledge. Despite these developments towards professionalism, nurses are still portrayed in a misleading and inaccurate way and are not given the recognition for the skills they have acquired. The essence of nursing is not always clear and nurses still suffer from stereotypes (Hoeve,2014). A stereotype can be defined as “a cognitive representation or impression of a social group that people form by associating particular characteristics and emotions with a group” (Smith and Mackie, 2007). Of the many types of nursing, a very popular stereotype that is depicted of nurses is being doctor’s handmaiden and only performing repetitive and simple tasks (Hoeve,2014.) This public image of nursing does not match their professional images, in fact, it is quite the opposite. Nurses are strong independent individuals that play just as big a role in the hospital as due the doctors or surgeons. The problem is nurses are not depicted as professionals and the public is not aware that nursing today is very theory-based oriented and a scholarly profession. Over the last few decades, nursing gone through extensive and important
Furthermore, the lack of male teachers and male role models in nursing education programs enhance the discrimination issues. In the absence of male teachers, male students remain exposed to a female dominated teaching faculty, in addition to feminine orientated interpretations of the nursing profession (Mohamed, Mohamed, 2015). It was perceive male and female student’s encounter different learning experiences, however this was based on the sexist fact men lack maternal instinct. Also observed in practical classroom settings teachers generally selected males for gender role-play activities and rarely selected males for the nurse role. Evidently, nurse educators frequently refer to a nurse in a female context during teaching situations, furthermore nursing textbooks project a strong feminine tone. The exclusion of male nursing students from certain practical and clinical training programs can negativity impact a students future career decisions (Kouta, Kaite, 2011). Improvements to teacher training and the updating of nursing resources, acknowledging nurses of both gender, can facilitate positive male student nurse outcomes to future career pathways (Mohamed, Mohamed,
Today, most people perceive nursing as a women profession. Men who enter this field have been looked at as outcasts. Many individuals feel that a man does not belong in a "feminine? profession. I believe that statement to be untrue and unfair. The issue of gender discrimination in nursing is the same as other professions. The only difference is nursing is dominated by women, and men are the minority fighting for equality.
In the operation of the healthcare system, gender plays a central role. Gender discrimination in the healthcare exists either in the field of education, workplace or while attending to the patients. Interestingly, as opposed to other areas where discrimination lies heavily to a particular gender; gender inequality in health happens to both women and men. Gender inequality in the health care service negatively affects the quality of care given and perpetuates patient biases to a gender. Also, the gender disparities in the field of health assists researchers and practitioners to study conditions and their probable manifestations within both sexes.