Making the Case for More Men in Nursing!
My Opinion on Men in Nursing
I posted my opinion about how having more male nurses could benefit the nursing profession on my Facebook page to solicit a contemporary reaction, and my friends had a lot to say.
* Stacey Davis, BSN, RN, CCRN, Kennedy Health System in New Jersey: “Women feel men bring a professionalism to the profession, less estrogen and emotion.”
* Diane Lofredo, MSN, RN-BC, Florida: “The public and our profession needs more smart, caring, dedicated nurses – male or female, it makes no difference.”
* Nancy C. Sharts-Hopko, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor and PhD program director, Villanova University College of Nursing PhD, RN, professor, College of Nursing, Villanova University (and married to a man in nursing): “Well, the influx of men into K-12 education after the Korean War and the GI bill professionalized it. I hate to say that as a feminist, but that reformed salaries, benefits and governance.”
* Susan Swinehart, OTD, MS, OTR, FAOTA, clinical editor, occupational therapy, OnCourse Learning: “I think that most professions would benefit from a more diverse representation of gender, age and beliefs within the workforce. Diversity provides the basis for creativity.”
* Lauren Hess, PhD, former assistant professor of child and adolescent development, Purdue University, Indiana: “It is a sad state of affairs when a female-dominated career needs men to lend it legitimacy … Much like teaching. Perhaps the logic is that introducing more men would raise the pay scale? That in and of itself is a sad, but true, fact in male-dominated professions (women make 72 cents on the dollar that men make for equal work).”
“The public and our profession needs more smart, caring, dedicated nurses – male or female, it makes no difference.”
No one on social media thought nursing wouldn’t benefit in some way from more men. Here’s a common bottom line: More men means more money, something about which I thought I had expertise.
Author: Robert G. Hess Jr., PhD, RN, FAAN
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