Recruiting more males into the nursing profession: A Positive, Proactive Position Statement

The aging population has caused a crisis in the healthcare profession. The population needs more nurses, that fact is clear even to individuals outside of the field of health. One way to increase recruitment numbers of any profession is to expand the targeted populations that are traditionally attracted to the profession. Traditionally, men have been underrepresented in 20th century nursing, although monks used to perform such functions before the evolution of modern medicine. (Whittock & Leonard, 2003, p. 243) Thus one way to increase the population of nurses is to increase the number of men in the profession.

Nursing is a vocation as well as a profession, and it would be tragic if men who felt the 'calling' eschewed entering nursing as a profession because it was perceived as a female-only employment. Also, as nurses often present the...
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