Do Men really Belong in Nursing?

Whenever you walk into a hospital or Doctors office it’s no secret that most of the nursing staff is made up of woman. However, having a man in a female dominated industry has come with many benefits, both for the patient and other nurses. Male nurses bring a comforting feeling to some patients, give the female nurses a friendly competition because males think differently than females, and males are generally physically stronger than females.

Many female patients have a great appreciation of male nurses and have a comforting feeling, as a woman, to know a male is caring for them. Both in tv shows and in real life you can hear stories about how a female patient admired their male nurses. For example, a female patient might not lift a finger but once nurse Tyler comes into the room and asks the patient to do something, they do it. Another example of how female patients admire male nurses is how some older patients are completely smitten by the male nurses taking care of them. We have all heard in one way or another the story of an older female patient taking her medication only for the male nurse that is on the night shift. As a female myself, I wouldn’t mind having a male nurse because I know they are trained to take care of people and that they are trained to be professional. Although some female patients like male nurses, some male patients would also rather have a male taking care for them because they may feel vulnerable and awkward with a female nurse. Male patients might not want a female touching them or running tests on them, so a male nurse might make the male patient feel more comfortable.

In a female dominated field, male nurses offer different perspectives and new ideas about information because their brains are wired differently than females. Males might be able to offer different views on certain situations because they see, and process information differently than females do. This is an advantage in the nursing field because all of the work that nurses do is so crucial to the patient and it is good to have different perspectives toward the situation because it could offer a different health plan for the patient that a female nurse would have never thought of.  Nurses work together when putting together a patient’s healthcare plan, so when a male nurse is able to incorporate their different views it offers a bit of a friendly competition between the female nurses and therefore helps piece together the perfect healthcare plan for the patient.  When talking to my mom that is a nurse, she says it is very helpful to have a male nurse give a different opinion on a situation because it makes you look at the situation in a different way and help with seeing things or coming up with ideas to benefit the patient that she might not have seen before.

Male nurses offer a physical strength that most females don’t because they have more muscle mass and can lift things more easily then woman. It is true that some woman are strong and some are even stronger than men, but it most cases men are stronger than woman because they have a larger muscle mass than females do. It is no secret that men can lift patients easier than woman can and that can be very beneficial in an emergency situation. As someone that is an aspiring nurse and hoping to get my license I would love to have a male nurse helping me lift patients or even do it for me throughout shifts. When I talked to female nurses about some of the benefits of having male nurses around, a lot of them said that it was really helpful when the male nurses helped them lift their patients when needed.

Nursing staff work together in hospitals and doctor’s office no matter if they are female or male. Many female nurses say that it is wonderful seeing more males becoming interested in nursing because males bring a healthy and friendly competition to them because of the different ways males process information and situations. Besides just bringing competition, male nurses bring comfort to some patients when they are in a vulnerable state. Also, as a male they are able to use their strength on the job which is very helpful to many of the female nurses. Overall having males in the nursing field benefits the patients and female nurses both.