Oh, Florence, What Did You Do? Where Did the Male Nurses Go, and Where are They Headed? (Part 2)
February 28, 2013
Dawn Horvath
The Solutions
To get a first-hand look of what it’s like to be a man in a nursing world, Partners in Nursing interviewed educators who have risen through the ranks.
Stephen Hadwiger, PhD, RN, got into nursing having come from the military. He remembers being the only male student in his undergraduate class, but noted that the women in his class were mostly non-traditional students—“women who had already progressed into adult development in that they had already raised children or been in the career world,” so he didn’t encounter the prejudice that male students in other programs may encounter.
Michael Evans, MSN, MSEd, RN, ACNS, CMSRN, CNE, agrees. “There were only three men in my nursing class of 60 when I attended nursing school in the early 2000’s,” he says. “I wasn’t discriminated against, but on the clinical floor, people would ask why I wasn’t going to med school to become a doctor which they saw as a man’s profession.” Evans’ motivation for becoming a nurse was based on his being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in his freshman year of college. “I went from being a carefree 18 year- old to someone who needed daily insulin injections. I received excellent care from the nurses, and to this day, I remember each of my nurses, but I don’t really remember the doctors. I was in an undecided major, so the move to nursing made perfect sense,” he says.
“When I earned my degree I had no male instructors,” Evans points out. The issue of role models and mentors is one that resonates with him, and was a motivator for him to move into nursing education. “Male students do tend to stop in my office regularly,” he says, “and I’m proud to say that at our school, we have a higher proportion of males in our classes than in many other programs.” Penn State Worthington/Scranton generally has 8 – 10 students per 55-60 overall students which represents approximately 16% of the class.
Not only does his campus have a higher percentage of students, but with two male professors, and one male adjunct just hired, the campus is providing more male role models for students. While Evans is not a member of The American Assembly for Men in Nursing, he does serve as a mentor in the mentoring program run by the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses12, and he points out that programs like Johnson & Johnson’s Discover Nursing program13 are working hard to increase diversity and recruitment efforts in nursing.
“Scholarships are key,” says Evans. Men are considered a minority so there are many scholarships available from schools and institutions. A little research can provide big financial rewards.
When it comes to teaching to male and female students, our experts all indicated that they taught students equally. Hadwiger does not alter his teaching style according to gender, because he does not believe “that men and women are inherently different in learning styles,” but he does try “to vary the teaching style for different modes of learning.”
He does point out though that, in nursing, “male students might be aware of being in the minority.” He had heard female faculty “speak about male students as if they had a different learning curve to overcome in order to be caring or sensitive at the bedside. It’s like the old stereotype that girls cannot do math. There was a study in which girls and boys were informed that the math course would work from a perspective that favored girls. The students lived up to the stereotype even though the math was no different.”
Hands-on learning is the one area where instructors may exercise extra caution. Pam Gardner, MSN, RN, says, “I wanted to be careful about partners and touch rules. Imagine checking femoral pulses on a partner? Do you do male-to-male or male-to-female? It takes a lot of talking and discussion about patient discomfort. It’s important that students are aware of patient perception, and can speak with them to counteract any discomfort.”
Evans agrees, “I teach students the same way, but I will be cautious in clinical. I won’t give a male student a young female post-op patient, but I do assign them female patients. We don’t do as much hands-on teaching in the classroom; we mostly use simulations, but if there is an instance when touching is required I make sure both students are comfortable.”
In the hospital, Evans reminds nurses to exercise good judgment. “If a male nurse needs to put a catheter into a female patient, it’s good practice to have a female nurse in the room…the same way a male doctor will have a female nurse in the room for examination of a female patient,” he says.
While faculty practice equality in the classroom, the real world doesn’t always do the same. “I’ve had male students report back to me that they didn’t get to see a live birth during the Ob/Gyn rotation,” says Evans, and he won’t argue that men are still considered the “muscle.” “I’ve had two back surgeries,” he says with a laugh. “Male ego and chivalry can be at fault,” he confesses, and goes on to point out that with hospitals implementing “no-lift” policies, men may finally be on more equal footing with their female counterparts.
Evans offers great advice for male students (and students in general–he’s a big advocate of eliminating gender and referring to all in the profession as nurses). “Go into nursing because you want to care for people. Caring must come before the career concerns of salary and flexibility. Work hard, be ready to work long hours, and be willing to give your all to your patients. Be willing to cry some days, both in joy and sadness, and above all be a good listener. Patients need someone to listen to them.”
He encourages nursing students to explore all avenues in nursing. Men do tend to gravitate towards critical care, but nursing provides a chance to move into many different opportunities, and students should test the waters in a variety of areas.
A sense of humor helps as well. “Patients will think that male nurses are doctors or transporters. I tell them that I’m the best transporter, because I can give morphine,” he jokes, but behind the joke is a seriousness which lets the patients know he’s taking care of them. “I teach my students to excel. Patients ultimately want the best person for the job, and in the end, won’t care what gender the nurse is as long as the nurse does an excellent job,” he says.
The Discussion Continues
Hadwiger brings up an interesting point when discussing the IOM Report on Nursing.14 “I think that the discipline of nursing needs to ask itself why nursing continues to be a predominantly female profession when many traditionally male professions have demonstrated much greater gender diversity. Do nurses communicate that nursing or caring are uniquely feminine characteristics? Is our profession not receptive to gender diversity?”
Traditions can be hard to change, and nursing is steeped in tradition. “We need to start reaching students earlier,” says Evans indicating that nursing programs can increase representation at high school career fairs, and should make sure to have male students and nurses getting face time with students. “Young people still don’t realize that nursing is a career field open to men,” he says.
One challenge that has come up in recent years centers on HIPAA regulations, because tudents can no longer shadow nurses as part of career exploration. “If a person isn’t directly administering a patient’s care, that person can’t know the patient exists,” Evans reminds us.
“We definitely need more male nurses, but we also need more nurses and nurse educators overall,” says Evans. Nurses need to advocate for each other, and institutions need to provide effective education opportunities, mentoring and orientation. Funding continues to be an issue. “Budgets and recruitment needs can sometimes be at odds,” admits Evans.
In a slight reversal of gender roles, Hadwiger brought up a comment a nurse leader made. “If only more men would go into nursing, then nurses would be paid what they’re worth,” he recalls. “It should not matter what the gender is when reimbursement is established. A nurse should be paid according to a professional salary or wage—not the gender of the nurse,” he says.
Healthcare continues to be a prominent concern in the United Sates as the population ages and a nursing shortage looms. If your school or facility has launched successful recruitment initiatives or if you’d like to connect with our experts, Partners in Nursing invites you to share at https://www.formstack.com/forms/?1286261-aSt9ijnQM9.
The Issues
“I’m just grateful to see that there is room for everyone in nursing. With the growing demand for great nurses, it is exciting to see the opportunities available to men AND women in the field. I guess I’m even more of a minority since I am going into Women’s Health, but I don’t feel like I am treated any differently, and many of my female colleagues in OB are excited to hear of my interest!”
-Randall Faiva, Arizona State University, 2012 December Grad
Sources
1http://www.malenursemagazine.com/historyofmalenurses.html
2http://scrubsmag.com/a-tribute-to-men-in-nursing/
3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale
4http://www.nursingworld.org/FunctionalMenuCategories/AboutANA/History/BasicHistoricalReview.pdf
5Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, 2009..
7http://aamn.org/docs/meninnursing2005survey.pdf
8http://www.aacn.nche.edu/news/articles/2012/enrollment-data
9http://ijahsp.nova.edu/articles/Vol9Num2/pdf/Wolfenden.pdf
12http://www.amsn.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/AMSNMain.woa/wa/viewSection?s_id=1073744077
13http://www.discovernursing.com/
14http://thefutureofnursing.org/IOM-Report
Contributors
Michael M. Evans, MSN, MSEd, RN, ACNS, CMSRN, CNE is an instructor of Nursing at Penn State Worthington-Scranton, where he primarily teaches in the RN to BSN program. He also maintains his clinical skills through his per diem work at Moses Taylor Hospital in the Pediatric Unit. He earned his undergraduate degree from Penn State Worthington Scranton, his MSN in Adult Health with a sub-specialization in nursing education from Misericordia University, and his MSEd with a focus in Professional Studies from Capella University. His research interests include nursing interventions to improve glycemic control in adults with diabetes mellitus and innovative teaching strategies to improve student outcomes.
Pamela Gardner, MSN, RN, graduated from Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts with a BSN and began her career in the Neonatal ICU at Johns Hopkins. She and her husband then moved to Missouri where she worked in Iowa as director of a community OB department. She received her MSN (maternal/child and education) from the University of Missouri in 2000. She taught at Missouri’s only public liberal arts and sciences institution, Truman State University, from 2000 – 2011. In 2008 she received the school’s Educator of the Year Award and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Higher Education. She joined Kaplan full time in 2010 as a Nursing School Consultant.
Stephen Hadwiger, PhD, RN, is a Professor of Nursing at Truman State University in Missouri where he teaches nursing research and critical care nursing. He also instructs an interdisciplinary course on race and ethnicity. He earned his BSN at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, his MS(N) in nursing education at University of Oklahoma, and his PhD at Sinclair School of Nursing, University of Missouri.
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