Abstract
This essay analyzes the cause of the rising population of male nurses, synthesizing a few sources to argue that the increase is because of the benefits and sense of fulfillment in relation to the career as well as the declining social stigma, gender stereotypes, and bias against them. The current paper investigates the key constraining factors keeping males from involving in the healthcare industry as nurses as well as specifies the advantages to join the nursing profession.
Historical Background
For ages, nursing has been considered by many to be a job for women. Feminization of the profession is rooted in the history of nursing with Florence Nightingale as a figurehead for modern nursing. In the middle of the 19th century, Florence Nightingale officially established the first nursing institution. Originally, nursing education was introduced predominantly to women. From the very beginning of this humanitarian profession, males were deprived of special education and even enrollment, despite men acting as nurses, during both war and peace, throughout post-classical history.
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Dating back to the third century, in ancient Rome men mastered the nursing profession for the first time in human history. During that period, the outbreak of the great plague raged in Alexandria, and a group of men were ought to establish an organization providing medical care for sick and dying people. The association of male doctors called themselves “Parabolani Brotherhood”. Later, as the number of plague sufferers had been continuously growing, the medical men also established a special hospital to provide uninterrupted medical help and nursing care.
Within the years of the civil war in the USA, lots of males mastered to serve as battlefield nurses in the Union army as well as in the Confederate. Moreover, “The Confederate Army assigned 30 men in each regiment to take care of the injured soldiers” (Gadget, 2019). Therefore, the burst of plague in Alexandria and the US civil war is believed to be the key turning point in the history of male nursing. Providing medical treatment and nursing care for both plague sufferers and injured soldiers significantly influenced the social stereotype of female nursing.
Historically, the nursing profession has always been female, whereas male nursing statistics show a significant increase in recent years. Considering the changing public stigma about males in this humanitarian profession, lots of men have joined the number of nurses throughout the world. The decay of social stigma and gender stereotypes against males in the nursing profession, the benefits of the career, and personal fulfillment are causing the population of male nurses to rise (Buerhaus, 2013). Due to their infinite commitment to their job, St. Camillus de Lellis, Luther Christman, Edward Lyon, Joe Hogan, and James Derham have gained fame as the most memorable people in the history of male nursing. Though the profession is heavily dominated by women, the belief that nursing is a job solely for women is diminishing as men provide their own diverse skill-sets and value to hospitals.
Addressing a male nurse
Nowadays, males throughout the world are widely introduced in the healthcare industry. However, providing medical care by a male nurse might confuse the patients and hospital visitors with how exactly to call such a masculine nurse. As a rule, people in any civilized society address males of this profession as just a ‘Nurse’ beyond the gender gap. However, there are some exceptions like sometimes ‘Murse’ in the USA or ‘Brother’ in India (Gadget, 2019).
On the other hand, whereas the social stereotype of femininity in nursing still remains, some male nurses may face uncomfortable moments at work: “I love being a male nurse. I have nothing wrong with that. I hate when people say, murse, or male nurse.” (YouTube, 2019).
The key constraining factors
There’s no denying the fact that the healthcare sector is by far the most inevitable and fast-growing industry nowadays. Despite the financial and social benefits of this profession, the nursing career still remains for many males not so promising. According to multiple research, the number of males in nursing keeps growing since the 1970th. Nevertheless, recent statistics highlight the key factors still keeping males from involving in medicare.
Surprisingly, the majority of men still find the nursing profession to be awkward for a virile man. Indeed, when it comes to caregiving, most people draw a scratch of a gentlewoman in their mind. And in case patients need a nurse to be provided with medical treatment and looked after, most sufferers expect a woman nurse. Being based on taking care and predominantly on touch, most men stay ashamed of joining the nursing profession. Since men still constitute the minority of the nursing staff, male nurses might feel social isolation and an essential lack of peer support in the workplace (Sherrod, 2005). Not willing to face such kinds of confusing situations, men are not eager to involve in the nursing profession. From this perspective, traditional society is not yet ready for a male nurse.
Though the social benefits of a nursing career are rather obvious, the question of financial advantages remains controversial. Originally, a male is the main caretaker and cash-earner of the family. Thus, he is being put under more expectations, and the main breadwinner in the family is considered to earn more, respectively. Despite the that nursing wages are rather competitive, males tend to consider this money insufficient to earn a living. According to the U.S. Census Bureau data, surprisingly, male nurses earn more than females.
Reasons to join the nursing profession
Since the nursing profession is still female-dominated, young males shy away from involving in the nursing sector of medicine. Despite this reason remains relevant, the male nurse population is continuously increasing from year to year (Harding, 2009).
Undoubtedly, gender biasedness is among the common misunderstandings between patients and hospital staff. Sometimes misunderstandings occur since male nurses as well as female ones might be rejected by patients due to cultural considerations or personal requests. For instance, someone might be confused to discuss health problems or being taken care of by a nurse of the opposite gender. In contrast, most male patients are eager to discuss injuries and medical conditions personally with male nurses who will understand them from the same perspective. As a rule, patients accept male nurses with all due respect, in spite of mistaking them for doctors sometimes. A male nurse should be wise enough not to take it personally.
It’s not a secret that sufferers throughout the world tend to be rather complaint and nagging, whereas some of them are constant yammers. In this case, male nurses are invaluable assistants as they are more patient and confident compared to female nurses. Besides, a male nurse is physically stronger to lift heavy patients, for instance.
Anyway, awkward moments in the nursing profession are inevitable. In turn, the primary objective in healthcare is to overcome such difficulties as a highly qualified specialist. Dealing with different people and helping them to feel better with due professionalism is nursing's top priority.
Attractive advantages for male nurses
Since healthcare services is an emerging industry and the demand for qualified nurses keeps growing, job prospects, as well as payment benefits, are rather promising. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May 2018 a registered nurse’s median annual wage comprised $71,730 with a fee of $34,48 per hour. Taking into consideration the BLS forecasts, “employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 12 percent from 2018 to 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019).
According to the recruitment research of 2016, the nursing pay gap comprised 14% in favor of men. Not only do male nurses earn more than females, but also manage to be promoted much quicker in the workplace (Dean, 2018). As mentioned above, male nurses tend to earn more than females since they are more eager to work at inpatient facilities as well as in urban healthcare institutions with significantly higher wages, as a rule. Moreover, being more resilient, male nurses tend to take more on-call, night, and high-differential shifts for wage bonuses and premium rates. Thus, with more overtime hours worked out, male nurses gain quicker promotion and more money paid, respectively. Nevertheless, the majority of male nurses claim that social stigma and personal stereotypes still comprise the greatest challenge in engaging in the nursing career.
Concluding remarks
Private organizations pursue the expansion of the male nurse population by uprooting stereotypes against men and nurses, working with governmental bodies to address the lack of men in nursing, and breaking the barriers that cause men to discount becoming registered nurses. The benefits of being a male nurse allow for a well-payed job with job security, travel opportunities, and a statistically faster growth rate for men which may also contribute to the increase of male nurses. Working together as a team with the doctor and the whole medical staff for the sake of saving lives is the key point a male nurse should be proud of. The final reasons one may pursue a nursing career are the desire to help others and a sense of personal fulfillment that comes from the achievements of accomplishing this goal.
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