1. I am not a murse

2. Objectives 1. Provide a background of men in nursing
2. Identify some modern issues facing men in nursing.
3. How are some of these issues affecting and effected by nurse educators.
4. What are some of the strategies we as educators can employ to help.

3. History of Men in Nursing
Men have had a tradition of nursing.
Monastic orders-Saint Antonines and Knights of Lazarus
Mostly monastic
Men performed most nursing tasks until Nightingales reformation (McMurray, 2011).
Florence Nightingale-the demise of men in nursing
Men are not caring
Are not suited for the nursing role
Monastic orders-Saint Antonines founded in 1095 to care for the mentally ill; Knights of Lazarus founded in 1490 to care for lepers (McMurry, 2011)

4. A comparison
TITLE IX-of the education amendments-1972 MEN as nurse 2.7%-1980 Woman Doctors 7% % % (Stokowski, 2012)

5. Percent change by gender

6. The Effect Men’s niche is small About 7%-8% of the workforce
15% of enrollment in nursing school
Men choose nursing during recessions
Why?
The American Assembly of Men in Nursing (2011). 20 x 20: Choose-nursing.
AAMN website.I
During a recession men see nursing as a fallback career.
Why men choose nursing is varied but there are common themes
1) Opportunity for advancement
2) Want to help people
3) Were influenced by a family member who was a nurse.

7. Attrition and Retention
Men are more likely to flunk out and drop out of nursing school. (O’lynn, 2006)
Men are more likely to leave nursing.
Societal stereotypes have negative affects
Feelings of isolation
Discrimination
Providing intimate care
Communication deficits
Workplace relationships
Lateral violence

8. Are educators partly to blame?
Stuck in time
Do we as educators expect male nursing students to be the same as females?
Should they be treated the same?
Are we resistant to change?
Example: One educator interviewed stated that she paired men with other men during nursing lab because she thought it would make the men more comfortable.
Example: Another educator paired men with other men in nursing lab so the females would not be uncomfortable.

9. WHO IS ACTUALLY UNCOMFORTABLE?
What are you attitudes?
Have you ever actually examined where your beliefs come from?
The NLN deems it an imperative in many core competencies to make the classroom a culturally sensitive environment (NLN, 2005).
Cultural sensitivity includes gender. Men encompass 49% of the United States population but under 10% of Registered Nurses.

10. Caring-the core of nursing.
What does it mean to be caring?
Are the ideals we hold with being caring feminine in nature?
Can men actually be as caring?
Do they demonstrate it differently?
Are you too rigid in your beliefs as to what makes a good nurse?

11. 31% stated caring was demonstrated as feminine style
50% stated no masculine style of caring was demonstrated at all (

12. Touch How to you address the issue of touch with students?
Do you address it differently with males and females?
Should it be addressed differently?

13. O’lynn’s suggestions
1. Assume that students are ethical, professional, and pursue nursing because they want to help people.
2. Make no requirements for automatic chaperones (except in unusual cases)
3. Touch with confidence. Be gentle, but not weak or hesitant.
4. Accompany touch with verbal communication – notify the patient when and where touch will occur, and distract him or her with conversation.
Nowhere in here are there different directions for male versus females

14. Perception Vs. Reality What is the perception of men in nursing?
Is machismo used to mask perceptions of homophobia?
Are men as capable of caring as their female counterparts?
One student interviewed state unequivocally he feels he was not adequately instructed on how to make females feel comfortable while performing intimate care.
Another student noted that he was always paired with male patients in every clinical.

15. Another student stated his preceptors introduced him as a male nursing student and the females as just students.