The Men in Nursing forum was held recently in Sydney, and over 40 men attended. And no, they didn’t spend the day basking in the glory of having a male nurse action figure…. (yup…. personally as an optometrist I’m just jealous that I’ve never seen an optometrist action figure…) there were a lot more serious topics on the agenda….

So what were the presentations all about?

1. Nomenclature – men at the forum disliked the term ‘male nurse’ as they believe a nurse is a nurse, whatever the gender.
2. Stats on male nurses in Australia – In Tasmania, 13% or nurses are men, and in New South Wales it is 10%
3. The History of Men in Nursing – check out the link http://www.nurseuncut.com.au/men-in-nursing-a-brief-history/
4. An account of his journey into nursing – by Allan Ajami, who saw first hand the impact a nurse can have when he was 9 years old and his mother was being treated for breast cancer. He went through nursing training where three out of 66 students were male, and found it difficult as the lecturers seemed to think the male students weren’t serious about the profession. He said it was the positive feedback from patients on his prac placements that kept him going, and now that he is working in an emergency department where 15% of the staff are men, his female colleagues like having ‘the boys’ around to add a bit of humour in the workplace.

To read the full article about the Men in Nursing Forum: http://www.nurseuncut.com.au/men-in-nursing-the-forum/

Image: gcfairch – flickr

Amanda – founder My Health Career.