Nursing is becoming a popular career choice in the U.S., with the Labor Department predicting 189,000 job openings for registered nurses annually over the next decade. Despite this demand, only one in eight nurses are men. Efforts to change the perception of nursing as “women’s work” are ongoing, and the economy is playing a role by offering fewer opportunities in traditionally male-dominated fields like manufacturing and software engineering. At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, nursing students like Ethan Stinson and Hatim Nasser are finding job security and satisfaction in their chosen field. Stinson is set to work in a psychiatric unit, while Nasser will join a heart and lung transplant intensive care unit. Both students appreciate the demand for their skills and the chance to help others.
QUESTION: How might increasing the number of men in nursing change the perception of the profession?
Amid nurse shortage, a university rolls out the welcome mat for men
