Story by Brittny Goodsell - Photos by Eli Lucero
A nursing student at Utah State University said he doesn’t get too much harassment for being in the nursing program - except when his brothers come around.
“One is wanting to be a doctor and he says I could come work for him and be his nurse,” said Barry Boyce, first-year nursing student. “I said, ‘You won’t be able to pay me enough.’”
Boyce said he believes male nurses from 40 years ago were more hounded for choosing such a female dominated field. But that’s changing.
“Nursing isn’t just for women anymore,” Boyce said.
About 5 percent of nurses in the nation - as well as in the USU program coordinated through Weber State University - are male. Jon Kelly, who has been in the nursing career for about 15 years, said the old Hollywood stereotype of female-only nurses doesn’t represent what’s really out there. Kelly, assistant professor at USU for WSU, said a Johnson & Johnson poster put it well by stating, “Are you man enough to be a nurse?”
Believing nursing is only a field for women limits opportunities to patients and to anyone in the nursing field, said Brenda Cooper, director of women and gender studies at USU. This limiting crosses over into professions such as nurses or elementary teachers, which are traditionally female-dominated careers.
On the other hand, women struggle to get into traditionally male-dominated fields like coal mining and construction.
“I don’t want to be a coal miner,” Cooper said. “But if someone wants to, they should be able to.”
Other stereotypes reinforce the idea that it’s unusual to see stay-at-home-dads, Cooper said. The traditional expectation is for men to have careers instead of taking care of kids.
“There is not a shred of scientific evidence that women are born with a nurturing gene and men are not,” Cooper said.
Instead, it’s just the way culture has cultivated us to think. So, when a male college student wants to become a nurse, Cooper said mainstream culture needs to step out of traditional stereotyping and accept males into female-dominated fields.
During the 1990s, Cooper said she knew a male nurse who said his job was tough because women nurses ostracized him. Other patients didn’t want him to take care of them. At times, women expressed they didn’t like having him for a nurse, Cooper said, and male patients would outright refuse to be helped by the male nursing student - something Cooper contributes to homophobia.
“He loved his career but he felt it was tough,” she said. “There are still pockets of areas where people say, ‘This job is for men, this job is for women.’’’
One stereotype of male nurses is the “not enough ambition” stereotype.
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“If a woman’s a nurse there’s not that expectation of, ‘Well, why didn’t you go further’’’? Cooper said.
With a guy, there is that expecation.
Quinn Lish, second-year male nursing student, said his reaction from family and friends were positive and affirming while reactions from random acquaintances were different.
“They were engineers or constructions workers, just with different mindsets,” Lish said. “A few were like, ‘Really, nursing? Why?’”
With a baby-boom generation of nurses retiring, a demand for nurses is even higher and Lish thinks male nurses will continue to be highly accepted in this field.
“Yes, it’s predominately women but it’s becoming more acceptable to be a male nurse,” Lish said. “I think we need more male nurses because we have a lot to offer. We add diversity to the field.”
Tyler Crookston, first-year nursing student, said his family was impressed when he chose nursing as a career. They knew it’s a difficult line of work since Crookston has an aunt who is a nurse.
“It’s a stressful program,” Crookston said. “It’s not a walk in the the park.”
When Crookston received his nursing school letter of acceptance, a list of books to buy was included. The list stated Crookston should bring a friend to carry all the books out since one person couldn’t do it alone.
“I thought they were joking but they weren’t,” he said.
It’s just one way to show the intensity of the nursing program through WSU - and that it’s a challenging field for women and men.
Kelly said many nursing students go on to receive a bachelor of science in nursing.
Crookston, who hasn’t decided on a specific nursing area yet, feels awkward when people call him a male nurse.
“They’re not pointing out if there are female nurses as well,” the first-year student said. “Whether you are a guy or a woman you are there to help patients.”
Jody Reese, assistant professor at USU’s nursing program, has been in the nursing field for 15 years and has seen a change in public thinking.
“I think one of the biggest differences really has been that in the past it’s been harder for people to accept that men could or would be interested in learning how to care for people,” Reese said. “But today I think there is far greater acceptance or recognition that men can be compassionate, can be understanding and are interested in the welfare of others.”
Reese said nursing is holistic in nature; nursing is looking at the whole person rather than looking at one aspect. He teaches his students to be nurses, not male or female nurses.
“When people tell me, ‘Oh, you’re the male nurse,’ I respond and say, ‘No, I am the nurse,” Reese said.
Gender should not even be associated with nursing, Reese said. Old stereotypes are breaking down and go both ways. Fields such as politics and law enforcement that have been traditionally male dominated are seeing more women entering the profession.
Boyce understands if patients are uncomfortable with having a nurse who is male. While working as a CNA, Boyce ran into this. Needs come up, however, where Boyce can lift and semi-carry a patient better than some women can. Still, he doesn’t take it personally when patients don’t want him around.
“I was warned beforehand not to get offended and I respect people’s wishes,” Boyce said.
Lish said gaining the trust of a patient is all in the way he presents himself. Patients open up more when nurses are professional.
“I was working in a women’s center and, initially, they felt uncomfortable,” Lish said. “But once they saw me working and saw that I was no different than the female nurse, and that I was there to provide the same care, they got over it. Present yourself well.”
Reese has seen this increase of acceptance from patients who make statements saying they thought the male nurse was more compassionate and attentive to them than the female nurse. Although Reese said that’s not always the case, he said patients are surprised that male nurses can be just as compassionate.
“Anyone that has ever thought about it, I encourage them to be nurses,” Reese said. “It takes a lot of dedication to people in providing nursing care but it’s very satisfying and rewarding. There’s peace of mind knowing I am making a difference in someone’s life.”
Article Source: http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2009/02/03/news/news04-02-03-09.txt
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