An Examination on Men in Nursing - Essay Example

?An Examination on Men in Nursing The purpose of this study is to find out as to why men join nursing, a profession that is not traditionally associated with men, the experiences that men go through while being in nursing and the problems they tend to encounter, including discrimination. The other aim and objective of this study is to identify the advantages that men have in nursing like preferential treatment and promotions and varied other reasons that make men stay in the nursing profession for long. The paper id divided into three parts that is the introduction which focuses mainly on the background information regarding the subject of men in nursing services and the general historical information associated with this topic. The other critical part in the paper is the literature review that focuses mainly on the studies and research conducted by varied scholars and researchers pertaining to the men serving in the nursing profession. Methodology happens to be the last part of this paper and it focuses mainly on the selected methods of data collection, methods of data analysis, the sample description and the limitations associated with the proposed research. Introduction The government, health care employers, professional nursing organizations and the academic institutions have a pivotal role to play in assuring that there is a continued supply of adequate and sufficient number of nurses in the health care system serving an ever aging population and an enhanced demand for health care services in the United States of America and other developed economies like Canada (LaRocco 2007:259). Currently the United States of America is facing a dire shortage of the nurses irrespective of the fact that the profession is critical for the society. This shortage of nurses has led to many men joining the nursing profession. The other phenomenon that has accompanied the ever surging demand for nursing professionals is an enhanced enrolment of men and women in the nursing schools, with men opting for a profession that is traditionally not associated with them. Women have constituted a majority segment in the nursing profession and have been playing an important role in the society as nurses. However, this trend is expected to change in the times to come as more and more men are expected to take the role of caregivers and nurses. Irrespective of being a minority in the nursing profession, men have been noticed to bring a higher degree of comfort in varied aspects of patient care. Stereotyping is one of the major factors that have led to men being a minority in the nursing profession. Stereotyping has hitherto greatly influenced the number of men joining the nursing services (Hess-Biber and carter 2005). However, the reality is that men nurses have been there since the ancient times (Tranberger 2007). Yet, in the last two centuries, the ever growing demand for nurses has made it impossible for the traditionally white, female nurses to cater to this change. This has encouraged a rapid entry of men in the nursing services. History testifies to the fact that men can serve well as nurses, when given the opportunity and can in fact serve with distinction if given a chance to do so. This has also encouraged women to pursue medical courses in the medical schools. However, it has not been so in the past when the men were known to dominate the medical schools. Recent researches have shown that in future the shortage of nurses will exceed three times the current shortage maximum point (Auerbach et al 2007). Another research related with the same issue has shown that the projected shortage of nurses could be dealt with by allowing more men to enter the nursing profession. This could be achieved by encouraging more men to enter the nursing schools and to join the nursing profession. Women who constitute a majority in this profession ought to be encouraged to keep what has always been theirs, and should be expected to motivate their male counterparts to enter the nursing profession, and compete in this field that is increasingly getting very competitive. Some of the salient questions that this project hopes to answer are the reason why men enter this non-traditional profession, what are the experiences of men serving as nurses, the challenges and issues that men face in nursing, some of the advantages enjoyed by men in the nursing services and the factors that keep men in the nursing profession for a prolonged period of time? Insights into these issues will help understand how more men could be made to join nursing and the possible solutions to the challenges and problems being faced by men in the nursing profession. Some of the challenges faced by men in nursing are of human origins and could be dealt with by facilitating a right frame of mind in the major stakeholders associated with nursing services and the society. Literature Review Before the Florence Nightingale era, when men were excluded from the nursing profession, men did use to serve as nurses (LaRocco 2007). However, in the 19th century, women happened to be the only individuals who received training in nursing, as it was considered natural for them to be part of nursing services. Men on the contrary were expected to serve as doctors while women dominated the area of patient care. Because of their natural capacity to be caring and compassionate, it was assumed that the care giving roles befitted the women, thereby leading to the exclusion of men from the nursing services even in the United States military nursing services until the mid 50s (LaRocco 2007). The popular perceptions regarding the innate differences between the men and the women led to a gendering of the medical profession during the last century (Zimmerman and Hill, 1999). Women were not extended the opportunity to join medical schools while on the contrary; men were denied access to nursing schools. Such a mindset prevailed until the recent past with men being considered the befitting candidates to become doctors in the US. Men who opted for nursing schools faced immense discrimination from both the teachers and the classmates. The same thing happened to the women who joined the medical schools as they were tremendously discriminated against by both their male counterparts and the teachers. Gender has therefore been the essential ingredient that dominated the division of labor in the health care services (Zimmerman and Hill 1999). Medical profession has however been changing in the last five decades with more women entering the medical schools and more men entering the nursing schools. This has led to an increase in the number of female doctors and a rise in the number of male nurses. As men and women crossover to the nontraditional gender occupations and roles, it is expected to encourage more men and women to crossover by following the example of their predecessors. This trend has resulted in a reduction in the shortage of doctors and nurses in the health care sector. This literature review intends to focus on varied researches that have been carried till now regarding why men enter the non-traditional professions, the various problems faced by them and the various ways men cope up with these problems and the salient factors behind their retention. Why do Men Enter Non-Traditional Occupations? Several researches have been carried out on why men enter nontraditional occupations like nursing, elementary education teaching, secretarial jobs and being a librarian, where women have all along been known to dominate. Several of the men are stereotypically referred to as seekers, finders and settlers, as they have been seen to have the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation that drives them to enter the non-traditional professions. The most common stereotype held against men in the health care is the men who serve as nurses happen to be homosexual (Dodson and Borders 2006, Hayes 1989, Jome et al 2005, Simpson 2004, 2005, Williams 1992, 1993, Williams and Villemez 1993). This has forced many of the men who could have entered nursing services, not to do so because of the fear of being victimized. Hence, stigmatization and victimization happen to be the two main causes, which prevent men from joining the nursing profession, irrespective of it being considered a really prestigious and lucrative profession. An interview by Williams (1999) based on the snowball sampling technique and in-depth interviews showed that most of the women enter the nursing services not as a seeker like men, but rather as an occupation that has naturally known to be dominated by women. As per an examination carried out by Simpson (2005), there is a value placed on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, with men placing value on the intrinsic rewards like helping others and caring for the sick and varied other rewards that happen to be non-monetary in nature. This study showed that it is these intrinsic rewards that made men join the nursing profession. The extrinsic rewards like the pay rise and having a key position in the nursing services are known as not to excite the men to join nursing services. Other factors that could have contributed to men not joining the nursing services include a lack of money and time and poor grades. It is worth noting that men in the nursing services face many challenges. These challenges sometimes happen to be negative in their scope like stereotyping, discrimination, internal and external masculinity challenges and the negative assumptions regarding their masculinity that they are homosexual. However, some challenges happen to be positive like the scope for promotion and opportunities for advancement. Problems Encountered by Men in Nursing A challenge to their masculinity is one major problem that causes men not to join nursing. This is because the traditionally female dominated professions have been masculinity challenged. Sometimes this nudges men to desire and value feminine characteristics and traits and they are forced to do so to avoid the discomfort caused by portraying masculine characteristics in a feminine occupation (Sargent, 2000). The other big challenge is the sexuality assumption which damages and harms their self concept. This could lead to serious stigmatization with men serving as nurses being deemed to be homosexuals (Cross and Bagilhole 2002). For instance the men who love children are many a times seen as being pedophilic. When men express too much feminine characters, they are too often linked to homosexuality that is further linked to pedophilia. In nursing, touching others is an issue that men have to seriously contend with. Touching being an integral part of the nursing profession, female patients may not like being touched by male nurses and might even doubt their proficiency in conducting delicate procedures involving touching. Being a minority group is the other challenge that the male nurses have to contend with. They are seen as a seeker in this sector and are often treated as though they do not happen to be a part of the mainstream nursing profession. According to Porter-O Grady (2007), reverse discrimination is one big challenge faced by men in the nursing profession. In nursing, however, men have devised ways to cope with the above mentioned challenges. On coping strategy involves adjusting to the occupations demands so as to avoid being stressed up, frustrated and stigmatized. Still, those men who are not able to withstand the challenges posed to them by the nursing profession do prefer to quit the profession altogether ((Cross and Bagilhole 2002). Advantages/Benefits to Men in Nursing According to Williams (2002), it is the glass escalator theory that makes men stay in the nursing profession which is considered to be non-traditional for them. As per this theory, the men in such professions as are dominated by women tend to get promoted more easily and more frequently as compared to women. This means that the status of men in such professions is fast rising leading to higher pay and authority. Outside pressures also encourage men to rise in the female dominated professions. Family and friends encourage men to climb up the ladder and occupy powerful positions in the female dominated fields. With men occupying prestigious positions in the female dominated professions, these professions start to appear less feminine (Williams 2002). However, some men do not prefer to occupy powerful positions and being in charge of others. Factors Affecting the Retention of Men in Nursing There exist very few studies as to the extent to which the men are retained in the nursing profession. This is largely owing to the common problem of shortage of nurses. Therefore there is scant information as to the number of men and women in nursing and the factors impacting the number of nurses. Deliberate efforts are however being made by all the stakeholders in the nursing profession to attract and retain more and more people in this field. Being a minority in the nursing profession, the men are usually discriminated against, face challenges to their masculinity and very few efforts have been made to enhance the number of men in nursing. Retention of men in nursing is hence a topic, which has been scarcely exploited by the researchers. Methodology A comparative study design will be used involving men who have joined the nursing profession and who are already retained in nursing. A convenience sample that is non random will be used where the subjects will consist primarily of interviewees. Students enrolled in the general health sciences and medical laboratory technology will also be taken up as respondents in this research. The study will be required to have the approval of varied authorities involved in it. Informed consent in written will be obtained to assure that all the participants are cognizant of the legal and other ramifications of this research. Attitudes towards Men in Nursing Scale (ATMINS) will be used to measure the general attitudes and perceptions that the society holds towards the men in nursing. This scale will comprise of a liker-type scale consisting of 6 questions that the correspondents will be expected to answer. They will be expected to answer as agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree. This technique has been developed using the Delphi Technique where the male nursing experts will provide the inputs for the development of the scale and the output will also be provided by the very same experts. The feedback will subsequently be compiled by the experts and the comments on the same given. Test-retest reliability will also be done using the pilot project for ATMINS. An SPSS analysis tool will be used to carry out the analysis of the data using the descriptive statistics like the mean, percentages, range and standard deviation. ANOVA will be performed and the P-values and t-values will be analyzed. This ANOVA test will show the variance that exists between those men who plan to take up nursing as a career and those who are already in the nursing profession. The difference between the number of men joining the nursing profession and those of their female counterparts will also be identified. Sample The sample size will comprise of 200 men selected from 10 hospitals in the New York City, and 20 men from each respective hospital will take the survey. All the male nurses chosen will be expected to have a clear understanding of the nursing profession and it will be assured that they are either studying nursing or are practicing it. All the participants will be required to fill and return the questionnaires. Most of the men will be either full time working nurses or students in the final year of their studies. The average age for the sample will be 35 years while the range will be between 20 to 40 years. All the respondents will be so selected that they are either pursuing a degree in nursing or have a degree in nursing. It will also be assured those respondents who are practicing nurses have not been in this profession for more than 20 years. Besides, the participants will have performed in a variety of fields in nursing. Data Collection A quantitative survey method will be used in this project with data collection self-administered through mail surveys. The questions will be close ended with very few of them being open ended. This method is relatively inexpensive when compared to other types of surveys like the phone and in-person surveys. This method will also assure that the survey could reach the varied participants fairly and squarely without being influenced by the interviewer’s biases. This method can also accommodate longer response sets, complex questions, and will improve the sense of anonymity while allowing the scope for including sensitive questions (Wolfer 2007). The main reasons influencing the choice of this method for conducting the survey include a lack of funds, the sensitivity of most of the questions to be asked, and the economical accessibility to the respondents through their employers. Some of the disadvantages associated with this method are the slow speed with which the responses will be accrued, a lack of opportunity to solicit further clarification regarding the responses and the opportunity to interrogate the respondents for seeking some additional information. There exists a very little chance of getting an honest response to the open ended questions posed in the questionnaire (Wolfer 2007; Bernard 2000). The participants will also be allowed to skip questions that they find difficult to answer or that make them uncomfortable. Any information that could identify the participants will be prohibited from being included as a response to any question. A protection of Human Subjects in Research Certification will also be completed and the participants’ confidentiality will be highly protected. Limitations Some of the limitations associated with this research design, but are not limited to be: Finances (that is lack of resources, support from funders) Unwillingness on the part of respondents to give timely and accurate answers or their being unwilling to cooperate. This will hinder the process of data collection. A lack of background information regarding the issue being studied such as any previous literature or documentation. Inability to access online public or scientific libraries which could serve as a source of information for this project. The relevant authorities may not grant the permission to carry on a survey of this nature. The amount of time required by the researcher to collect the questionnaires from respective hospitals once they are completed. This study is limited to one city, so the data will be limited to the hospitals in this specific city in which the survey is being conducted. REFERENCES Atwater, Leanne E. and David D. Van Fleet. 1997. “Another Ceiling? Can Males Compete for Traditionally Female Jobs?” Journal of Management 23: 603-626(5). Auerbach, David I., Peter I. Buerhaus, and Douglas O. Staiger. 2007. “Better Late Than Never: Workforce Supply Implications of Later Entry into Nursing.” Health Affairs 26: 178-185. Babbie, Earl. 2004. The Practice of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/ Thomson Learning Inc. Bernard, H. Russell. 2000. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, Inc. Bernard Hodes Group. 2005. “Men in Nursing Study.” Hodes Research. Burton, Deborah A. and Terry R. Misener. 2007. “Are You Man Enough to Be a Nurse? Challenging Male Nurse Media Portrayals and Stereotypes.” Pp. 255-269 in Men in Nursing: History,Challenges, and Opportunities, edited by C.E. O’Lynn and R.E. Tranbarger. New York: Springer Publishing Company.Cross, Simon and Barbara Bagilhole. 2002. “Girls' Jobs for the Boys? Men, Masculinity and Non-Traditional Occupations. “Gender, Work, and Organization 9: 204- 226(2). Dodson, Thomas A. and L DiAnne Borders. 2006. “Men in Traditional and Nontraditional Careers: Gender Role Attitudes, Gender Role Conflict, and Job Satisfaction.” Career Development Quarterly 54: 283-296(4). England, Paula. 2005. “Gender Inequality in Labor Markets: The Role of Motherhood and Segregation.” Social Politics 264-288. Evans, Joan and Blye Frank. 2003. "Contradictions and Tensions: Exploring Relations of Masculinities in the Numerically Female-Dominated Nursing Profession." The Journal of Men's Studies 11: 277-292(3). Hesse-Biber, Sharlene and Gregg Lee Carter. 2005. Working Women in America. New York: Oxford University Press. Hultin, Mia. 2003. “Some Take the Glass Escalator, Some Hit the Glass Ceiling: Career Consequences of Occupational Sex Segregation.” Work and Occupations 30: 30-61. LaRocco, Susan A. 2007. “Recruitment and Retention of Men in Nursing.” Pp. 241-253 in Men in Nursing: History, Challenges, and Opportunities, edited by C.E. O’Lynn and R.E. Tranbarger. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Simpson, Ruth. 2004. “Masculinity at Work: the Experience of Men in Female Dominated Occupations.” Work, Employment, and Society 18: 349-368(2). 2005. “Men in Non-Traditional Occupations: Career Entry, Career Orientation and Experience of Role Strain.” Gender, Work and Organization 12: 363 380(4). Tranbarger, Russell E. 2007. “American Schools of Nursing for Men.” Pp. 43-63 in Men in Nursing: History, Challenges, and Opportunities, edited by C.E. O’Lynn and R.E. Tranbarger. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Williams, Christine L. 1992. “The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the "Female" Professions. “Social Problems 39: 253-267(3). 1993. Doing Women’s Work: Men in Non-Trade Read More