At a time when women are flocking to once male-dominated fields like law and medicine, men are slowly discovering the female-dominated field of nursing.

What do men like about nursing? Overwhelmingly it is the ability to help people and make a meaningful contribution to society. In addition, career mobility, geographic mobility, financial security, job flexibility, and many opportunities for advancement were ranked in a survey among male nurses as some of the highest benefits of being a nurse.
Men have played a vital role in the history of the nursing profession, from attending the world’s first nursing school in India in 250 B.C. to starting a hospital during the Black Plague epidemic, and tending to the sick, injured, wounded and impoverished throughout the centuries.
In 1980, there were 45,060 male nurses, according to an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report called The Future of Nursing: Leading Health, Advancing Change. By 2004, that number jumped to 168,181. Today, men comprise over 11 percent of all RNs and that number is projected to grow.
The report recommends that the nursing profession must place a greater emphasis on recruiting more men to the field to meet a larger goal of a more diverse nursing workforce and to meet the overall demand for nurses. “The shortage of nurses in the future will likely not be solved unless men are part of the equation,” says William T. Lecher, president of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing. “We really have to figure out how to provide more gender inclusion and balance in the nursing workforce.”
Ryan McFarland, a registered nurse at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin, Tenn., talks about his choice of nursing as a career saying, “I guess my friends thought that since I played sports in high school I would take on a more stereotypically ‘male’ job. But, I’ve found nursing to be one of the most mentally and physically challenging jobs that exists. There are so many things in this field that aren’t easy — most people don’t have the stomach for it. Bandages, bedpans, moving patients from bed to bed — all require fortitude.”
Like all professions, nursing is not without its challenges. McFarland said several of his former patients have doubted his ability to care for them, a perspective that changed only after they had a positive experience. He went on to say that a change in the way male nurses are viewed could potentially change health care. Many men have overcome prejudices, bias, misconceptions, and outright criticism for choosing nursing as a profession. In fact, many say that adding the qualifying word “male,” before “nurse,” believing is unnecessary and only serves to promote negative stereotypes.  They are nurses, and they happen to be men.
Nursing is a profession that requires extensive training, education, skill and devotion, and one that continues to be in great demand. At Barco’s Nightingales Foundation, we are committed to encouraging all individuals to consider nursing as a career choice, and to supporting and elevating the image of nursing and nurses throughout the world.
~Michael and Frida Donner