Seeking Gender Balance in Nursing Lessons to be Learned as Nursing is Described by Practicing Registered Nurses who are Men

Transcription

1 Seeking Gender Balance in Nursing Lessons to be Learned as Nursing is Described by Practicing Registered Nurses who are Men Normajean Colby RN, PhD, CNE Widener University School of Nursing American Assembly for Men in Nursing 38 th Annual Conference Elizabeth, NJ October 25, 2013

2 Objectives Participants will be able to describe the essence of nursing as perceived by practicing registered nurses who are male. Participants will be able to state strategies that can be used in practice and in nursing education to promote gender neutrality.

3 The Research Question What is the Essence of Nursing as Perceived by Practicing Registered Nurses Who are Male?

4 Methodology Qualitative Descriptive Naturalistic Inquiry IRB approval human subjects consideration Data Collection: Semi Structured Interviews Data Analysis: Thematic Content Analysis

5 The Participants 11 male practicing Registered Nurses Employed Full Time > 1 year: range 3-29 years; M = 16 yrs Age: range yrs; M = 41 yrs Practice areas: critical care, emergency, perioperative, medical surgical, nursing education, home care, pediatrics Initial nursing degree: 6 BSN, 4 ADN, 1 Diploma Highest nursing degree: 5 BSN, 5 MSN, 1 PhD

6 The Findings Two Metathemes Nursing as Caring Being a Male in the Nursing Profession

7 The Essence of Nursing Practice Caring for People Caring about People

8 Caring for People Nursing is more than just caring, it s also the technical aspect that really intrigued me. I loved the biological and chemical aspects of nursing. Being able to use what I considered my head, not just my heart. Caring, I think, would be attributed to the heart, but yet using my head was using all that book knowledge. -Jason

9 Caring about People Letting the patient know we care about you -Joe It s nice to sit and talk to a patient and provide that kind of care rather than the physical hands on care. - George

10 Caring They are intertwined the technical and interactive or nurturing part -Henry That s the essence. Being able to be a competent caregiver, but at the same time look out for the patient on the psychological and that is something that is unique to nursing -Sam Taking care of the whole person -Jeremy

11 The Essence of the Nursing Profession Possessing a Certain Personality Valuing Patient Recognition Experiencing Inequities Based on Gender Facing a Double Standard from Others Contending With the Challenges of a Predominantly Female Profession

12 Possessing a Certain Personality Definitely it s the personality. Not everyone can be a nurse. I think to be the nurse you should have that combination [caring, compassion, empathetic approach] and not lack on any of those three. It takes the individual with that combination. - Karim

13 Valuing Patient Recognition She said she could not thank me enough for having been with her son. And that just rips my heart out when people do that. And that s what it s all about that they appreciated what you did for them. -Henry It was nice to know that she realized that you were doing everything you could for her and that she had an advocate in me and that meant a lot to me. -Sam

14 Experiencing Inequities Based on Gender Caring from a male viewed as taboo they associate being caring and loving with females and when a male exhibits that a red flag goes up and they say that just can t be right. Somethin has to be wrong. They have to have a motive. But it s a shame it s like taboo to associate caring and male. They look at it as wrong and it s not. -Sam

15 Experiencing Inequities Based on Gender Defending the decision to become a nurse You gotta survive the jokes. You gotta survive the family members who question why their son s a nursing major. You ve gotta cover all that So it is a rocky road. - Christopher I think most men won t go into this because you re brought up as a male that this is not a male s job, that you re gay if you re a male nurse. It s just not cool to be a male nurse society dictates that being a male nurse is less than perfect. -Mark

16 Facing a Double Standard From Others Not being perceived as a nurse by society I constantly get from patients, Oh, the doctor s coming in. Constantly get that. And after I tell them, they re like, Oh, the doctor s here. Like, I m not the physician. So I get that a lot. - Geoffrey I think families I interact with are shocked at times that you re introducing yourself as the male nurse, or the nurse, obviously. - Mark

17 Facing a Double Standard From Others Being held to higher expectations like in nursing school, it was, I thought, hard and the instructors went out of the way to make it difficult. I just thought they were much harder on the guys than they were on the girls. - Paul I get the heaviest patients and the sickest patients; there s more expectations on us guys. - Jeremy

18 Facing a Double Standard From Others Being intentional about portraying a more professional image But whereas when I m working in an ER and a 21 year old female comes in with chest pain, I usually go out of my way to find a female to go in and do an EKG. I don t think that s being gender biased. I think that s being more professional than anything. - George I ve always been very cautious. My fear each and every time with a female patient would be to be accused of something inappropriate. - Jeremy

19 Facing a Double Standard From Others Deferring own work to help move colleagues patients When it came to lifting, you were the go-to-guy for that patient on the floor, you were the go-to-guy for that. - Sam When there s a situation you re the first one they come to saying, I want to use your muscles. - Jeremy if there s seven of us on shift and I m the only one? Yeah. I never get my work done because I m there, Help me pull this one up, Help me pull that one up. - Henry

20 Contending With the Challenges of a Predominantly Female Profession Working with women I find I have to be a lot more aware of the emotional environment as opposed to working with men. - Geoffrey I hear all kinds of inappropriate sexual jokes. And I ve heard so many innuendos and sexual references to me. Oh, my gosh. If I were to say half the things that they said, I d be really in trouble It s unfair. - Jason

21 Additional Findings Increasing number of men in nursing Increasing diversity of nursing workforce Changing societal perceptions Promoting gender neutrality in nursing Incorporating history of men in nursing in curriculum Placing male students in clinical cohorts with other males

22 Implications Nursing Practice Nursing Education Nursing Science & Research

23 Nursing Practice Improve societal perceptions Proactive recruitment materials appealing to men Continuing education/professional development Increase awareness of inequities; eliminate discrimination; avoid offensive actions Increase sensitivity to concerns Promote a more diverse workforce

24 Nursing Education Incorporate history of men in nursing curricula Increase number of male role models Forums; open discussion of gender issues Consider cohorts of men in clinical/lab groups Provide students with guidelines for touch

25 Nursing Practice & Education Recognition of caring behaviors/different styles of caring Identification and elimination of discriminatory practices; Address extra expectation of lifting Awareness of media portrayals Educate the Public re: Nursing- what it is, including a viable and attractive profession for men

26 Nursing Science and Research Essence of nursing described as practice and profession Empirical base to address gap in literature regarding the essence of nursing as perceived by men Concept of caring expanded to include men specifically Gender biases and injustices expansion and confirmation of prior literature

27 Men in Nursing? Absolutely!

28 Thank You Questions? Comments?

29 References Athens, L. (2010). Naturalistic inquiry in theory and practice. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 39(1), Bell-Scriber, M. (2008). Warming the nursing education climate for traditional-age learners who are male. Nursing Education Perspectives 29, Callister, L.C., Hobbins-Garbett, D., & Coverston, C. (2000). Gender differences in role strain in maternal/newborn nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 39, Colby, N. (2010). The essence of nursing as perceived by practicing registered nurses who are male (Doctoral dissertation, Widener University). Dissertation Abstracts International (AAT ). Davis, M. T., & Bartfay, W. J. (2001). Men in nursing: An untapped resource. Canadian Nurse, 97, Ellis, D.M., Meeker, B.J.,& Hyde, B.L. (2006). Exploring men s perceived educational experiences in a baccalaureate program. Journal of Nursing Education, 45,

30 References cont Grady, C.A., Stewardson, G.A., & Hall, J.L. (2008). Faculty notions regarding caring in male nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 47, Ierardi, J.A., Fitzgerald, D.A., & Holland, D.T. (2010). Exploring male students educational experiences in an associate degree nursing program. Journal of Nursing Education, 49, Kelly, N.R., Shoemaker, M., & Steele, T. (1996). The experience of being a male student nurse. Journal of Nursing Education, 35, Keogh, B. & O Lynn, C. (2007). Male nurses experiences of gender barriers: Irish and American perspectives. Nurse Educator, 32, Kouta, C. & Kaite, C.P. (2011). Gender discrimination and nursing: A literature review. Journal of Professional Nursing, 27,

31 References cont National League for Nursing. (2008). News releases: Diversity key theme of annual NLN education summit. Retrieved on September 26, 2008 from O Lynn, C.E. (2004). Gender-based barriers for male students in nursing education programs: Prevalence and perceived importance. Journal of Nursing Education, 43, O Lynn, C.E., & Tranbarger, R.E. (2007). Men in Nursing: History, challenges, and opportunities. New York: Springhouse. Paterson, B.L., Tschikota, S., Crawford, M., Saydak, M., Venkatesh, P., & Aronowitz, T. (1996). Learning to care: Gender issues for male nursing students. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 28, Patterson, B.J., & Morin, K.H. (2002). Perceptions of the maternal-child clinical rotation: The male student nurse experience. Journal of Nursing Education, 41,