Recruiting men to nursing

I was checking out a few university websites yesterday looking for information on programs in dentistry, wondering what kind of entry requirements there were and whether my BA would give me the necessary background to get into one of them. Simply out of curiosity, of course; I’m not thinking of leaving the Health Sector Council.

Not surprisingly, the courses I took on Maritime Archaic Prehistory, Old English and Medieval Art and Architecture may not have prepared me for a doctorate in dental surgery. Apparently dentists need some sort of science background...go figure. So I was chatting to James about this (again, this is all hypothetical) and he said, “What about becoming a dental hygienist?”

I hadn’t considered a dental hygienist program, and that made me wonder why? Did it have something to do with dental hygienist being a primarily female profession? Was I conditioned to omit dental hygiene as a consideration for this reason? Dental hygienists are in-demand after all, work regular hours as far as I know, and get paid well. It sounds like a great profession with great opportunity.

James sent me a CBC article on the challenges of recruiting men into nursing professions, another field represented primarily by women. Here is a link to that article. The article points out that although men make up about 10-13% of students in nursing programs, only 5% of practicing nurses are men. Additionally, male students are more likely to drop out of nursing programs than female students. Why is that?

The article also points out that there is no shortage of people applying to nursing programs. In that light, should we be concerned with recruiting men into nursing programs (or other traditionally female occupations)? While I’m not sure that recruiting men into occupations traditionally practiced by women is important just for the sake of creating gender balance, I do think it is important to encourage people to pursue the career path of their choice.

It’s a tricky subject, and one that is difficult to discuss wearing my PEIHSC cap and trying to stay on the path of political correctness. So, as usual, I will turn the question back on you and get your take. Why aren’t more men becoming dental hygienists, RNs, LPNs, etc.? Is it important to recruit more men into traditionally female occupations? Click on the comments link below this entry to let us know.

Cheers,
Mark