Male Nurses

Having typed into the search bar and gotten no results, I begin. The profession once dominated by females now has male nurses. I have never had a problem with male nurses as co-workers, but I have noticed an alarming rate at which the males have ascended to the top positions. I recently visited the VA Hospital ER and it was totally staffed by male nurses. I worked in an ER where the head of the Trauma Unit was a male nurse. The flight nurses tended to be predominately male. What is it that female nurses do not ascend to the top anymore? Is it lack of ambition? Why is it that so few male nurses are promoted above their numerous female co-workers? I am not trying to start a gender war, I just want to understand the trend I am witnessing.
Interesting observation there, BackFromRetirement. I wish I could fascinate you with facts, but all I can give you is my interpretation of an observation.First, my numbers are all from memory, so there's always a margin of error.When I became an LPN in 1983, the percentage of male nurses in the nursing field was 7%. By the time I graduated as an RN in 1990, the percentage had risen to 12%. I have no idea was the percentage is now. I assume it's higher. I figure, the more male nurses, the more in higher positions.It's sorta like like the old Elvis joke: When Elvis died in 1977, there were exactly 12 Professional Elvis Impersonators. By the year 2000, there were as many as 1200 Professional Elvis Impersonators. That means, if that trend continues, by the year 2023, one in evey four people will be a Professional Elvis Impersonator.Hope this helps. And doesn't hinder.

Thanks Davey. At this time of the day, my correlation abilities are a bit slow. Could you be more specific?

An uneducated guess--- those specialties you mention, ER, Trauma, and Flight Nursing, as well as Critical Care seem to have a higher percentage of men within the specialties than nursing as a whole. Many were EMTs, paramedics and/or trained in the military. Not sure how you are defining the "top positions", though-- do you mean most in-demand specialties, or as Nurse Managers supervising others within their units?

Yes, heads of the most exciting positions.

Quote from BackfromRetirementHaving typed into the search bar and gotten no results, I begin. The profession once dominated by females now has male nurses. I have never had a problem with male nurses as co-workers, but I have noticed an alarming rate at which the males have ascended to the top positions. I recently visited the VA Hospital ER and it was totally staffed by male nurses. I worked in an ER where the head of the Trauma Unit was a male nurse. The flight nurses tended to be predominately male. What is it that female nurses do not ascend to the top anymore? Is it lack of ambition? Why is it that so few male nurses are promoted above their numerous female co-workers? I am not trying to start a gender war, I just want to understand the trend I am witnessing.

"Exciting" is relative. You might also be talking about positions that an aging female nurse population might not feel capable (physically) of taking on.I think that Davey was quoting the statistics of the male nursing population in order to demonstrate just how many more male nurses you will encounter in any giving nursing role, not just at the top.

I agree with nursel56, I think men who get into nursing are generally drawn to those areas. Sometimes because they came from similar fields as EMT/paramedic/military and sometimes I think because it just seems more exciting.We do have some male nurse managers in my facility but not nearly as many as there are female of course. Maybe because fewer men are drawn to nursing management? Though I'd guess at my facility anyway, there are fewer male NMs simply because there are fewer male nurses.

Quote from BackfromRetirement What is it that female nurses do not ascend to the top anymore?

I work in hospice. I am the only male. It does my head in sometimes too. It is possible to be kind and compassionate without female bits and it is possible to be rough and aggressive without male bits. That's all I'll say about that...

Quote from BackfromRetirementYes, heads of the most exciting positions.

Maybe men are genetically wired to be more ambitious? I know in my household, dh does feel the need to "climb the corporate ladder", while sometimes I feel I'm just happy where I am, and not sure about doing more to enhance my career - although I probably WILL, I don't feel that drive that he does. But that maybe an isolated case. I know there are certainly some very ambitious females out there! It would take a lot of research to get the answer to what you're asking, and even whether it's true overall or specific to your employer.

I just wrote an article about this. While fewer than 6% of nurses are male, almost 50% of CRNAs are male. They tend to go to school at higher levels or pursue higher levels of education. They tend to put in more hours, be more available for extra shifts, don't take time off for childraising, etc. All this adds to more experience, which helps them climb the ladder.This is backed up by stats, as I found for the article.