Career | Male Nurse

The Evolution of Nursing Uniforms

About the author: John Smith works for NursingUniforms.net, the largest online selection of nursing scrubs, lab coats and medical uniforms.

Uniforms are the most essential part for any profession, may it be a lawyer, doctor, police or even the nurses. It is through these uniforms that people are recognized for their professions. This was the main motive behind the creation of nursing uniforms. The first nursing uniform was worn by renowned Florence Nightingale who also went on to become one of the most influential nurses in the entire profession. In the 1800’s Nightingale took up nursing as a profession and treated the underprivileged and poor people along with the wounded soldiers in the wars. Her work and achievements gave the profession a completely new elevation and also made it count amongst the highly respected professions.

The advancements made by the profession slowly brought in several changes that crept in the nursing uniforms which were previously designed similar to the dresses worn by the nuns in the missionaries. Nuns in the earlier times served the wounded and other people suffering from several diseases. As a result of this the first nurse uniform designed was the identical to the uniform of the nuns. Later on, somewhere during the First World War, the nursing uniform changed slightly. The nurses working in the wars wore an additional arm band from the Red Cross on their left arm. An additional cloak was also included in the uniform apart from its previous full length gown.

With the passing time, the nursing uniforms evolved further giving way to several other patterns. The newer uniforms were more practical and designed according to the varied functions performed by the nurses in the hospitals. The uniforms were also made available in different colors which were used as a major source of identification for the nurses belonging to the different departments and ranks. Nurses of different ranks were assigned a different colored uniform which thus became an easy way for the patients to recognize the nurses. These nurse uniforms also had a little touch of style in them which thus gave the nurses a smart and stylish look. Uniforms with pockets were also introduced which became a very feasible addition to the nurse uniforms. The pockets allowed the nurses to carry their essential things such as pens, reports, etc. However, new styles were also introduced in the later phase of the nurse uniform history.

Nurses wearing their newly designed nursing uniforms based on the requirements of the profession look highly authoritative. This look impressed the patients and gave them great comfort and mental satisfaction. Also, new designs have been designed especially with the growing popularity of the profession amongst the male nurses. Different colored nursing scrubs are assigned to the nurses performing different tasks in the hospitals. The scrubs are usually the shirts, trousers, tunic tops, etc. which are worn in combination by the nurses in the hospitals. The scrubs are also worn by the doctors in the operating theaters and are extremely comfortable to wear.

Nursing career: Role and responsibilities of a Public Health Nurse

Becoming a Public Health Nurse would be one of the most satisfying career options in Nursing Profession for the service-minded nurse who has a little extra patriotism and extra motivation to help the community or the State have a healthy population.

Who can become a Public Health Nurse?

As is the case with any other options in nursing profession, the basic qualification required to become a public health nurse is the normal 4-year degree course in nursing through any one of the affiliated nursing colleges, followed with license and recognition as a Registered Nurse. The number of years put in to the profession also plays an important in taking up the career as Public Health Nurse.

The role of a Public Health Nurse is to ensure that the health of the community at large is in good shape. It is the responsibility of the Public Health Nurse to monitor the health of the community, foresee threats for diseases of mass communication, plan accordingly for prevention of such diseases and also educate the community at large about the benefits of leading a healthy life.

The real challenge for a Public Health Nurse lies in promoting health of the children, adolescents and pregnant women. Educating the people about nutrition, adequate care in hygiene and precautions to be taken at times of calamities such as flash floods or spread of any disease is one of the very essential or prime responsibilities of a Public Health Nurse. He or She has to co-ordinate with other agencies, doctors and community services in maintaining the health of the community at large and the inhabitants of the community.

The role and responsibilities of a Public Health Nurse goes beyond healthcare assistance to a patient in a hospital setting. The responsibilities can be broadly classified into three broad categories – primary prevention, secondary prevention and tertiary prevention.

As a public health nurse, it is essential that adequate steps are taken by the community at large before the threat of any disease affecting the community at large. A flash flood or thunderstorm might be the ideal cause for outbreak of diseases like cholera or other diseases. It need not be just a calamity. Possibility of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS/HIV are ever present in a community. Teaching the population about the importance of precautions, organizing promotional activities to create awareness among the people and educating the importance of prevention are the activities that come under the purview of primary prevention.

The responsibilities of a Public Health Nurse does not rest with primary prevention. A public health nurse should take all possible precautions and organize for carrying out tests to ensure that the diseases are discovered at an early stage, and the spread of diseases is nipped in the bud. For example, a screening test for colonoscopy will help in discovering whether the patient is suffering from or likely to be affected by colon cancer.

Tertiary prevention is another important thing that a public health nurse should be responsible for. He or she, on discovery of a disease, should provide scope for rehabilitation of the patient and also developing ways and means for management of chronic diseases that include preventive interventions.

CNABoard has more information on cna training and cna programs for nurses seeking cna career.

Nursing ad campaigns take on the male stereotype

By Marisa Ramiccio
Source: The Orlando Sentinel

When young boys are asked what they want to be when they grow up, they're supposed to answer "doctor," not "nurse," because nursing is for women--at least that's how the stereotype goes.

But national ad campaigns are trying to eliminate that stereotype by asking men "Are You Man Enough to Be a Nurse?" The ads depict a variety of men some in nurse scrubs, some in sports uniforms or business suits--and provide a brief description of a hobby each man enjoys.

"I love [these ads]," said Christopher Blackwell, an assistant professor for UCF's College of Nursing. "When we get positive ads and positive characters on shows like 'Nurse Jackie' and 'House,' they break some of the stereotypes down," said Blackwell.

A study conducted by the Bernard Hodes Group in 2004 found the most common misperceptions about male nurses are that they are homosexual, that nursing is viewed as a more feminine profession, and that men aren't seen as caring enough to be nurses.

"When you look at stereotypes, you have two different kinds: public and professional," Blackwell said. "Because nurses work together, they know the gay stereotype isn't true."

However, Blackwell said that some female nurses may feel that men should be better at the technical side of nursing and that men can be seen as "muscle" for the female nurses who can't lift patients.

According to the Hodes study, 50 percent of the male nurses polled said they have encountered these kinds of stereotypes in the workplace, and 56 percent of the men polled said they encountered stereotypes in school.

Are the men in UCF's nursing school facing these stereotypes?

"I don't really know how much of a presence stereotypes have concerning male nurses anymore," said Joe Eichorn, a nursing major in the accelerated nursing program. "We have fun in class joking with each other about them. Other than that, it has never really come up."

Dominic Pham, who is also in the accelerated nursing program, says that the stereotyping he has faced has mostly concerned his Asian descent. "I've never really minded the stereotyping I've faced since none were ever truly malicious in my eyes," said Pham.

Stacey Grant, a first-year nursing student, says she used to believe some of the stereotypes herself. "I must admit, when I first entered the program, I did have a few stereotypes about male nurses stuck in my head. Some people may still think that 'murses' [male nurses] must be feminine or pre-med drop outs," Grant said.

"However, all of the guys I know in the nursing program are the 'typical' college student just trying to get an education," Grant said. "If anything, they get more attention than all of the girls."

Although there are many males who have not encountered stereotyping, the Hodes study cites stereotypes as a factor in the low number of males who have entered the nursing profession.

Of the 2 million registered nurses in the U.S., only about 5 percent of them are male. At UCF, about 2,250 students are nursing majors, but only 246 of them are male.

According to Blackwell, this is why using ads to recruit men into the profession is crucial.

"I think it's important [to advertise to men]. Having a strong male presence [in health care] is important," Blackwell said.

Pham also thinks this type of advertising is a positive step.

"I think there are very few situations where publicity is bad," Pham said. "Like other advertisements, even if it is annoying or controversial, attention is brought to it, which may trigger inspiration in those that have never considered [male nursing]."

However, many of the men polled in the Hodes study did not view the ads as positive.

"Many commented that in pushing the macho image, the ads were underscoring the stereotype that men in nursing are overwhelmingly gay or that nursing is not a masculine career choice," the study reports.

Masculine career choice or not, Blackwell said that if you work in a good team environment, the stereotypes won't matter.

"We did not care if you were male, female, white, black or Puerto Rican," Blackwell said. "What we cared about was that you were a good, productive member of the team."

Marisa Ramiccio is a UCF journalism student.
Copyright © 2010, Orlando Sentinel

The Top 5 Areas of Nursing for Men

The following guest post was contributed by Wendy Graham who frequently writes about college related topics for Online College Guru. She invites readers to checkout online nursing degrees if they are interested in pursuing a career in nursing.

Nursing is one area that is currently not overly affected by the economy. The American Hospital Association estimates that 75% of all medical job vacancies in the U.S. are in the field of nursing and the Department of Labor lists Registered Nurses as the top occupation for job growth through the next decade.

According to the American Nurses Association, between 5 and 6% of all nurses in the United States are male. While men are still currently in the minority, nursing schools are seeing an increase in the number of males who are entering the nursing profession, particularly in specialty areas. Studies have shown that men enter into nursing because they want a challenging position caring for sick and injured patients that also has reasonable job security and good wages.

Unlike other nursing careers, Certified Registered Nurse Anaesthetists are approximately 40-45% male, according to the American Association of Nurse Anaesthetists. A CRNA collaborates with surgeons, anaesthesiologists, and other procedural healthcare providers to safely administer anaesthesia medications. CRNA’s must first achieve a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and hold a Registered Nursing license before being accepted into a CRNA program, which lasts about 24 to 26 months.

Military nursing is another field that has a strong following among men. Military nurses perform all of the duties of a traditional nurse, but may also be entrusted with a wider range of responsibilities. Careers in the military also have the added benefits of financial assistance, low-cost housing, specialized training, and world-wide travel opportunities. Nurses can enter into the field as Licensed Practical Nurses, but those with a BSN and RN can enter the service as officers. Military nurses also have the opportunity to continue their education with tuition paid.

Forensics is another appealing nursing career for many men, combining science with the caring atmosphere of traditional nursing. Forensic nurses document injuries and collect evidence for law enforcement agencies. They also counsel assault victims and testify against defendants in criminal trials. Most forensic nurses work in hospitals, primarily in the emergency department, or in the Medical Examiner’s office.

Surgical nursing is another nursing career that is drawing more men into the field. Surgical nurses prepare the patient before surgery, assists the surgeon during both major and minor surgical operations, and charts progress in the recovery room. Different positions within surgical nursing include scrub nurses, circulating nurses, and RN first assistants.

For men interested in entering into a nursing career, Male Nurse Magazine lists the University of Pennsylvania as the top male-friendly nursing school in the U.S. Rounding out the top.

Changing the stereotype: Men in nursing

By Alyssa Rossomme (arossomme@wsbt.com)
WSBT.com

Two or three decades ago, nursing was a popular career choice for women. In time, it became a female-dominated field. These days, however, the number of men in the profession is increasing.
Wayne Dockery has been a nurse at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center for about 17 years. He works in the surgical intensive care unit. Some patients are surprised when they meet him.

“A lot of them think I’m a doctor when I walk in the room, because I’m a male. Then I have to tell them, ‘No, I’m your nurse for the day,’” Dockery said.

In the last ten years, St. Joseph Regional Medical Center has seen more men make nursing a career.

“The true component of being a nurse, “ explained Marsha King, system chief nursing officer, “is caring about patients and caring about treating people with dignity and respect, and be able to have that hands on approach, so it really doesn't matter if you're male or female.”

Patients do not seem to think the gender of a nurse matters either.

“It's nice to see they [male nurses] can be just as attentive as the female nurses,” said Jill Molen, the wife of one of Dockery’s patients. “Sometimes, when it’s a male patient, it’s kind of nice to have another male taking care of them. It can be a little more comfortable,” she added.

Some male nurses, like Dockery, have chosen nursing as a second career later in life. Perhaps their first career was not fulfilling, or they may have lost their job. Dockery worked in a warehouse for 15 years, and started nursing school when the plant closed.

“My day [at the warehouse] was routine. I did the same thing day in and day out. Here it's a different challenge every day,” said Dockery.

He finds his current job rewarding.

“When I go home at night, I have a good feeling knowing I helped someone out, and the decision I made had a positive impact on their life.”

A growing trend is young men studying nursing. Five years ago, men in IUSB's School of Nursing accounted for about 8 percent of the students. Today, about 15 percent of the nursing students there are men.

Marta Makielski, IUSB undergraduate nursing program director, said there are a number of reasons men choose the nursing field. “A lot of men really work well with people. Sometimes they're attracted to the technology that's available. And, of course, the job opportunities are endless,” she said.

Additionally, nurses often work flexible hours, and the position pays well. King said the starting wage for a nurse in the Midwest is $20 to $23 an hour. She said nurses also have the ability to continue their education while on the job.

“Nursing is such a dynamic career. It is a great opportunity for men, and they’re recognizing that,” King said.

She said male nurses are welcome at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, and bring a different dimension to the dynamics of a nursing unit.

Michael Carroll is one of the men in IUSB’s nursing program. “I like working with people and I like helping people,” he said.

Carroll said he knows some still hold stereotypes, but he thinks fewer people see nursing as a female-only career. He looks forward to his future job.

“I don't see myself as a male nurse, I just see myself as a nurse,” Carroll said.

Healthcare workers hope everyone will begin to see things that way.

Women are still doing jobs men don't want

By George Pitcher
Source: telegraph.co.uk

Sexism has returned – but not in the way the martinets of new feminism say it has, argues George Pitcher.

Today is International Women's Day. I know, your heart sinks, doesn't it? But this isn't one of those faddish lobbying festivals, like Bruce Forsyth's Artificial Hip-joint Day or the Andrew Rawnsley Stop Bullying Week. IWD has been going since 1911 and has its roots in the Suffragette movement, so today seems as good a day as any to review the progress of feminism.

I'm not, admittedly, first into the ring on this one. Heavyweight women's-issue wrestlers have been weighing in on the subject for weeks. In the red (in tooth and claw) corner, we have the likes of Charlotte Raven and Natasha Walter, whose new book, Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism, serves as the current seminal tract, if she'll pardon that expression, of how former visionary sisterhoods have been let down by the ladette culture, Wags and pole-dancers.

Meanwhile, in the blue (stocking) corner, we have Fiona Millar, "Mrs" Alastair Campbell as she isn't known, who writes in that Spare Rib of contemporary journalism, Radio Times, that men like hers are hopeless around the house, simple domestic vacuums who can't do the Hoovering. So women like her have to do all the domestic chores as well as holding down top-line executive jobs, like telling Cherie Blair what to wear and slagging off private schools.

There is some truth in all of this. Nearly a hundred years after truly fearless fighters for gender freedom, such as Millicent Fawcett and Emily Pankhurst, won universal suffrage and 40 years after Germaine Greer published The Female Eunuch, women are in a disappointing place. A majority of schoolgirls in a recent study said that the form of prostitution known as "glamour modelling" is a serious career choice. There are just four female CEOs of FTSE companies today and Katie "Jordan" Price sells more books than Martin Amis.

Admittedly, that last point is good news for a women's movement trying to counter oppressive and misogynistic male attitudes, but where the Walters and Millars have a point is that, in short, women are still doing the jobs that men don't want to do. Partly, that has its primal cause in biology: women bear the children and, unable to offer any role- reversal in that regard, men stand back or pretend to be hunter-gatherers while the women go on to feed the children, choose their schools and listen to their boring stories. I mean, empathise with their development, obviously. Beyond families, this tendency is reflected in the wider world
of work.

Alpha males do the competitive, dragon-slaying and lucrative stuff, while women do what needs to be done. There has been a spike recently in the numbers of men going into primary school teaching, which is nice, until you realise that they've all lost their jobs being masters of the universe in the City and have just noticed that children go to school.

Then there's nursing, still overwhelmingly dominated by women. I may have expressed the odd view against euthanasia here in the past, but guess who will have to do the killing as and when a predominantly male Parliament legalises "assisted dying". Yes, that's right. Jobs for the boys also means getting the girls to do the ones we don't like.

But the prophetesses of doom seem to miss one major point. And it's the economic one. Firstly, it's no good for moaning, middle-class minnies like Ms Millar to complain that they are shackled to domesticity, while loveable but useless Campbell potters about, hoping to be played by Neil Morrissey in the movie. I have it on good authority, as they say, that the Millar-Campbells have been as well served by domestic staff as the rest of us.

During the boom years, we subcontracted domesticity. Now the markets have turned, couples are jostling for position over who does the chores. And there may be the teensiest bit of control-freakery: I don't do the house either, but let's pretend it's just Alastair that's hopeless, shall we?

Secondly, one of the supposed triumphs of Seventies feminism was liberating women into the world of work. Never mind if most young women were going into second-line servicing, such as public relations, rather than the mainstream economy. They were getting out of the home. But that meant dual incomes for bigger mortgages, which in turn hugely inflated pushed property prices. So we're now in a place where both partners have to work just to service their mortgages, especially in London, whether they want to or not. Some liberation.

I have to be careful here, but if a martinet of the new feminism tells me it's Cheryl Cole or Jordan, or even Fiona Millar with her Hoover, who have betrayed the sisterhood, I have to tell her she's talking rubbish. It's the economy, stupid.

Breaking down stereotypes the key for male nurses

Written by Dave Mabell
Source: Lethbridge Herald

Women as bishops? Jamaicans as bobsledders?

Neither group seems to be facing as many stereotypes as men becoming nurses.

That’s the report from Peter Kellett, a health sciences instructor at the University of Lethbridge. He’s working to encourage more men to consider a career in nursing, and says he’s finding some success.

“More men applied to the nursing program over the last year,” although not all followed through. And health science’s new baccalaureate nursing program, for students who’ve already earned a first degree, attracted considerable male interest as well.

But still, Kellett says, less than six per cent of the nation’s registered nurses are male. In contrast, more than half the enrolment in many of Canada’s medical schools is female.

Women have also proven successful as ministers and bishops in churches in Alberta and across Canada. As for those bobsledders . . .

Some people still find difficulty seeing men as professional caregivers, however.

“A lot of people are still tying themselves to certain roles,” Kellett says. “Part of the issue is society’s views about gender.”

As Canadians increasingly value diversity in their communities, some of these stereotypes are fading.

“We’re a far more diverse population today.”

And now more men are training for a career in nursing, Kellett points out. In psychiatry, about one nurse in seven is male, and male RNs are making their mark in intensive or critical care situations as well.

“I think one of the misconceptions is that nursing is somehow a lower profession,” he suggests — but it’s not.

“It’s very much a dynamic and challenging career and very worthwhile to be a part of.

“You make a difference every day.”

A nurse for 14 years, before becoming an instructor, Kellett is the son of an RN. Like others, he considered other roles in health care.

“What attracted me to nursing is that nurses are the people who have a long-term relationship with the patients,” he says. “I think the bond between nurse and patient is like no other in the health-care field.”

As part of his determination to see more men enter the profession, Kellett organized a recruitment event at U of L recently and plans another in the fall. But he encourages anyone to contact him — at peter.kellett@uleth.caThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it — for more information any time.