Over at the Nurse2Nurse Daily main blog, I posted a short video about the small number of male nurses. In the video, NurseMendoza spends about five minutes providing suggestions to explain why only 5.8% of registered nurses are male.
His top two reasons why men don't go into nursing? One, many men don't like taking orders from women. He shares some anecdotal evidence about a male nursing student who left the clinical portion of training over shoes.
The second reason is that nursing is completely dominated by women. When nursing statistics show that there are 2.9 million registered nurses, of whom only 163,000 are men, I can see his point. It is easy to drown in that vast ocean of femininity. Even worse, a male nurse sticks out like a sore thumb.
Whatever you make of the reasons that he provides, NurseMendoza makes a valiant effort to offer solutions that will draw men into the nursing field.
He talks up the increasing number of men who in school to become registered nurses. He has formed a community of male nurses around his Youtube channel. This provides a forum for current male nurses and men who are thinking about going into the profession to identify issues and solve them.
The video closes on a positive note. NurseMendoza polled his subscribers on the reasons why they became male nurses. Some wanted stability. Others wanted the adventures of traveling as a nurse. One was in it, ironically, for the women. There are a few more that you are going to have to watch the video to see.
The video is here. Check it out and discuss.
