Gender Diversity

In the Nursing Workforce

 Men and the Nursing Shortage
• According to the Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), the United
States is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs)
that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for health
care grows (American Associate of Colleges of Nursing, 2020).
• Men make up approximately 50% of the American workforce, but average
less than 15% of all practicing nurses (Sullivan, 2000)
 Careers in Nursing offer:
• High demand {with projections to be even more needed as Baby Boomers
retire}
• Above average salary
• Health Benefits
• Schedule Flexibility
… So why aren’t more men choosing this career
path?
This Photo by Unknown Author
is license under CC
 Because of….

*STIGMA*
Historically looking back, nursing has not always been a predominately
female based profession.
 History of Men in Nursing
• St. Camillus de Lellis was one of the first male nurses. Following his
service as a soldier, he provided care for the sick and dying, particularly
for those who struggled with alcoholism. He was named, and remains the
patron saint for hospitals, nurses, and the sick (Saint Camillus De Lellis,
2020).
• He had a unique symbol that identified his role as male caregiver; the red
cross, which still remains the universal symbol for healthcare today

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

 History of Men in Nursing
• In ancient Rome, nursing care was provided to wounded soldiers in military
hospitals by male nurses

• In ancient Greece, men were also the predominant care providers when
Hippocrates founded the modern era of medicine in the fourth century B.C.

• The early Christian church named the male deacons responsible for caring for the
ill
 Is our beloved Florence to blame??

Many view Florence Nightingale as the mother

of nursing. Although, her views on gender
diversity in the profession may be largely to
blame for the stereotypes that continue to haunt
nursing today.

This Photo by Unknown Author is

licensed under CC BY-SA
 History of Men in Nursing
• Florence Nightingale was quoted saying:
“Every woman is a nurse… men have no place in nursing, except where
physical strength is needed.” (American Nursing History, 2019)
• Florence opened schools of nursing and did not allow men to enroll, and
only allowed men when their physical strength was needed.
• This often left the men to care for the mentally ill and violent.
 History of Men in Nursing

• The history of nursing is almost exclusively compiled of female

accomplishments, despite the fact that men have worked as nurses and, in some
cases, made an incredible impact.

• Failure to recognize men’s participation in nursing leaves male nurses with

little information about their professional background and historical
perspective.
 Barriers to Men in Nursing

Negative stereotypes
 
• Perceptions that men who pursue nursing are not intelligent
enough to be physicians.
• Perceived to be homosexual (Huston, 2020).
• Men also face challenges with the lack of masculinity in the
image of nursing, as well as the term “nurse”.
• Perception that men lack compassion and empathy.
 Barriers to Men in Nursing
Still today, nurses are mostly always portrayed as women!

Sometimes patients
prefer a nurse of a
There needs to be a
certain sex,
more contemporary
particularly for
image of nursing to
procedures like
attract the next
 inserting a
generation of nurses
catheter, serving a
bedpan, or
administering EKG
So how do we fix this?

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

 Resolving the Issue

• The American Association for Men in Nursing (AAMN) states its mission is “to shape the
practice, education, research, and leadership for men in nursing and advance men’s health” (The
American Association for Men in Nursing, n.d.)

• The AAMN is a voice in support and encouragement of men in nursing. Their strategy for
recruiting men into nursing focuses on an advertising campaign to showcase a variety of male
nurses that epitomize the male gender; mountain climbers, bike riders, marathon runners, and a
baseball coach. They have successfully deigned a campaign that depicts the nursing field as
“masculine”.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed
under CC BY-NC-ND
 Male Nurses & the Media

• Lastly, and most importantly, we must change the way Hollywood

portrays male nurses, which, would in turn, help resolve the looming
stereotype issue. Feature films predominantly portray male nurses
negatively. Given the popularity of feature films, there may be negative
effects on recruitment and on the public’s perception of male nurses
 Male Nurses & the Media
• A study was done using 13 feature films, with 12 being made in the USA.
Most films portrayed male nurses negatively and in ways opposed to
hegemonic masculinity, as effeminate, homosexual, homicidal, corrupt or
incompetent (Stanley, 2012).

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP1yFNc4alw

(click or copy/paste link into your browser to see media stigma at its finest)
 Enter: Truth about Nursing

A non-profit organizations such as The Truth About Nursing seeks to

“increase public understanding of the central, front-line role nurses play in
modern health care. Their focus is to promote more accurate, balanced and
frequent media portrayals of nurses and increase the media's use of nurses as
expert sources” (The Truth About Nursing, 2008).
 Bring on the Men!
• With organizations such as The Truth About Nursing monitoring the media, and
advocating for a fair and accurate representation of nurses, stereotypical barriers
will hopefully be dissolved. In addition, AAMN continues to focus on recruiting
men into the field as well as purposefully portray nursing as masculine.
• The increase of men into the field benefits everyone; it would provide better
diversity for our patient population, as well as balance the work environment.
Most importantly, an influx of men into the field would help curb the impending
nursing shortage and the current pandemic staffing issues.
 • Based on history, it seems likely that brave, caring men will continue to
enter into the field of nursing. It is my hope that continued research, active
recruitment and less media bias will add a new dimension to the
discussions between the genders in nursing.

This concludes my presentation on gender diversity in the nursing workforce

Thank you for watching!