Jason Garcia, fifth semester student, practices simulating how to do an IV. (Jorge Castanon/Borderzine.com)
EL PASO – When it comes to nursing, many people will automatically think of a woman doing the job, but if a man feels that his calling is in nursing he will also find a secure position in that field.
“Traditionally throughout the ages nursing has been a profession dominated by females. So there’s that preconceived notion that nursing is still a profession that is mainly dominated by that female aspect,” said Jason Garcia, a fifth semester nursing student.
At the University of Texas at El Paso approximately 22 percent of the students enrolled in undergraduate nursing programs and 21 percent enrolled in the graduate nursing programs are men. These numbers may seem low, but they are actually twice the average at most nursing schools in the United States.
According to the 2011 Annual Report from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing the national percentages of males in a bachelors and master’s nursing program are 11.4 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively.
“I’m glad to see more and more males coming to the profession. Males can provide just as good level of care and treatment as females,”
Garcia said. Other male nursing students here share Garcia’s perspective and feel that more male nurses will only benefit everyone in the end. “Females can give more of nurturing type of care while males can give more of a fatherly type of care. It’s always good to have different gender perspectives,” said Vincent Monreal, a sixth semester nursing student.
Aldo Nuñez, also a sixth semester nursing student at UTEP, said that there really isn’t any difference in the way male nurses administer treatment. He could only remember one incident during his clinicals where he wasn’t allowed in the Obstetric Care room because a female patient felt uncomfortable with his presence. He said that it didn’t bother him and it may not be the last time that something like that happens.
“It’s good for me to see other male nursing students, I mean for me being a guy, it makes me less uncomfortable about the whole situation,” Nuñez said.
The overall reaction from male and female students is that anyone can be nurse as long as they put the time and effort into their studies and are compassionate and caring towards their patients.
“It’s always been ‘oh the woman is the nurse the man is the doctor,’ and we’re starting to break out of those gender roles,” Anais Garcia, a fifth semester nursing student, said. “From what I have learned there is nothing that I can do that a men cannot do or wouldn’t do.”
According to instructor Jose Blanco the first nurses were actually males. Blanco, who was once in the U.S. Navy as a medic, said that back then it was the males who took care of the injured during wars. It wasn’t until the entrance of Florence Nightingale that roles switch from male nurses to female nurses. Even so, Blanco feels that no matter the gender, a diverse group of people is needed in the medical field.
“In order for us to be able to provide a more culturally sensitive care, we have to be able to appreciate the cultural sensitivities like language, culture, religion and gender. So we need a diverse group of people to nurse a diverse group of patients,” Blanco said.
Every male nurse that I have ever had was a complete jerk, uncompassionate and seemed to enjoy causing pain. On top of that they were creepy as well.