NPR: "Male candidates sought to offset nursing shortage"

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NPR: "Male candidates sought to offset nursing shortage"

August 12, 2003 -- Today National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" ran an optimistic segment by Joyce Russell on the by-now-familiar topic of the potential for male nurse recruitment to offset the nursing shortage, with the focus of the story on Iowa nurses, hospitals and nursing schools.

The piece reported that gender stereotypes about nurses persist, but that recent recruiting campaigns stressed both the "masculine" and the more traditional "compassionate" elements of nursing to which men may now be more open. The story featured excerpts from interviews with a male nurse in Iowa City and a male nursing student at the University of Iowa. The Iowa City nurse noted that nurses are " independent thinkers" who don't just follow "orders" of those "above" them, but the story could have done a better job showing the autonomous, substantive nature of nursing. The nurse was heard reassuring a pre-operative patient that he would make him comfortable after the operation, but not heard doing any patient education about the operation or his recovery. One interesting point the segment made was that the University of Texas' nursing school had marketed materials at sporting events and in men's magazines, and had boosted its male enrollment to 29%.

Listen to NPR's story "Male candidates sought to offset nursing shortage."

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