Male nurses are becoming more common - USA

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 24 Nov 2003 - 0:00 PDT

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Women in crisp white uniforms giving shots, taking temperatures and passing out pills. That's the traditional image of nurses and, like many traditions, it's changing.

Thanks to a tight job market and a nationwide shortage of nurses, more men than ever are entering the profession. And Utah is no exception.

Of the 260 students in the University of Utah nursing program, 26 are men. But that number surely would grow if the U. had the financial resources to provide more nursing instructors, according to Thomas Mansen, an associate professor in the university's College of Nursing.

'We are seeing insurance men, salesmen, teachers, coaches . . . just a variety of individuals from various backgrounds wanting to enter nursing,' he said.

Mansen notes that some female nurses still feel that men do not belong in the profession. But that sentiment is disappearing. Fact is, nursing is a stable profession with multiple career opportunities.

At the front end, many area hospitals -- among them University Hospital, St. Mark's and Intermountain Health Care facilities -- offer a tuition-reimbursement program for qualifying employees to pursue training and degrees in nursing.

The stipend can be as low as 50 percent of the total cost or as much as 100 percent if, after completing nursing school, the employees agree to stay and work at the hospital for at least two years.

Although no special preferences are given to males in the U. nursing program, men are helping one another succeed, says Brett Rush, a senior who will pick up his four-year nursing degree next month.

Rush points to Bart Chournos, a 20-year nursing veteran who supervises other nurses in the University Hospital's Newborn Critical Care Unit and is seen as a role model.

After completing the requirements in newborn critical care training, the 26-year-old Rush plans to specialize in infant care, too.

'In the newborn intensive care unit, mothers get all of the attention and sometimes fathers get pushed into the background,' Chournos said. 'What [men in nursing] try to do is let fathers know they have a part in what is going on with their baby.

'Often dads are standing back with the 'deer-in-the-headlight' look. They don't know what to do because no one has told them it's OK to hold these very teeny babies and it's OK to cry,' Chournos said. 'Men and male patients find they have an ally in male nurses.'

Like Chournos, Rush had planned to study medicine and become a doctor. But he found nursing a better fit.

'Nursing offered what I like about the medical field . . . and that is working with people and the interaction with patients and their families,' said Rush, the father of three children. 'I don't have to worry about billing and all the business components that come with being a doctor.'

Chournos says he went into the profession at a time when there was a stigma about men entering a female-dominated profession.

'My grandfather came to Utah from Greece and he felt strongly that men are doctors, not nurses,' Chournos said. 'Every year, he would offer to pay for me to go to medical school.'

It was not until his grandfather was age 96 and in need of nursing care that he began to appreciate his grandson's profession.

Today's national nursing shortage involves two components: a shortage of hospital-based nurses and too few nursing instructors.

Utah, unlike many states with too few nurses, has a waiting list of wannabe nurses hoping to get into nursing programs. Utah suffers primarily from a shortage of instructors and, therefore, nursing programs.

That's why a coalition of nursing and education officials plans to lobby the 2004 Legislature for $6.5 million to boost nursing education in Utah.

A graduate of a four-year nursing program can find a starting salary in the neighborhood of $18 to $22 an hour. But some nurses become disillusioned when the salary fails to increase with their experience.

After 20 years in nursing, Chournos makes about $10 an hour more than the base salary now paid to nurses. He supplements his salary as an Air-Med nurse, making an additional $14 an hour in what is called 'hazardous pay.'

Still, he never would consider another career.

'More men are going into nursing because of job security,' Chournos said. 'We may complain about the pay and hours, but I have watched people lose their homes after losing high-paying computer jobs. If you are supporting a family, job security is very important.'