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NEWS
Program Sees Increase
in Male Nurses
 It
may not be the first profession that comes to the mind of most
men, but for five West Kentucky Community and Technical College
male students being a nurse is no longer a woman’s job.
“At
six foot, 280 (lbs), you get some funny looks when people ask
you what’re going to be and you say you’re going to
be a nurse,” said student Louie Armstrong, 34, of Paducah.
“There are not a lot of male nurses and we tend to be the
minority in most health care facilities.”
The
nursing program is an essential program at WKCTC. In the 2001
and 2002 school years, about 40 students graduated from the
associate degree nursing program. In 2003, thanks to the support
of area hospitals, 60 students graduated and the college expects
as many as 76 to graduate in 2004. Having five males in the
class at one time is unusual, but is a growing trend, school
officials said.
According
to the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, approximately
5.4% of American RNs are men. The number of male students in
nursing schools is on the rise, however, which should encourage
greater numbers of men to enter the nursing profession in the
future.
Student
Gary Harper, 34, of Murray, saw becoming a nurse as a step up
from his position as an orderly at Murray-Calloway County Hospital.
“I’ve worked there for a few years and all the nurses
thought I’d make a good nurse and I thought so too, so
here I am,” Harper said. “There are more males getting
into this kind of work, so it’s really in the flux.”
Raymond
Skibinski, 38, of Paducah, said he was looking for a career
that had more options when he chose nursing. A firefighter,
Skibiniski said nursing will only enhance his current career
options. “There’s a wide range of opportunities for
RNs today and it’s a very flexible field,” he said.
Nurses
can work with any social group in countless settings, from county
general hospitals to private family practices.
Interests
by males in nursing has even prompted the birth of an online
magazine, Male Nursing Magazine, dedicated to discussion of
men in nursing.
Experts
say the chances of having an all-male team of registered nurses
is more than five times as likely to occur in the military than
in the civilian healthcare world. In fact there is an extraordinarily
high percentage of men nurses in all three services. In the
Army, 35.5% of its 3,381 nurses are men; in the Air Force, 30%
of 3,790 nurses are men; and in the Navy, 36% of 3,125 nurses
are men. The numbers make the mix of 6% of men in civilian nursing
look anemic.
For
the men who chose nursing as their profession, it all comes
down to a job market that continues to need nurses. Men are
a welcome addition to the profession.
Student Steve Williams , 52, of Paducah, said he was looking
for job security and a career that offered a decent salary when
he returned to college. “I think times are changing and
there’s going to be a lot more males in nursing,”
he said.
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