Most people when asked to picture a nurse, would almost always picture a women. Nursing has been a profession dominated by women. There are some notable exceptions over history, some as early as the 3rd century. Another such exception is the Knights Hospitaliers, and the Teutonic Knights, military orders who were attached to hospitals during the Middle Ages to provide care for pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. So there are precedents for men in nursing.
There are a lot of reasons men go into nursing today. Most importantly they want to be able to help the sick and injured. It certainly doesn’t hurt that nurses actually make a pretty good income, and in the field of nursing there are many chances for advancement as well as for education well past college.
There are almost 3 million registered nurses employed in nursing today. Almost 162,000 of those are men. Translation around 5.9 percent give or take. It is estimated that there will be at least 1.1 million jobs openings in the field of nursing in the year 2012, and over 2 million by 2015.
Medical facilities around the world are staggering under the burdens of not enough trained and qualified nurses to meet a rising demand of patients in need. More male nurses are entering training and schools, but we still have a long way to go before we can meet everyone’s needs.
The national average salary for a registered nurse is $57,785 a year. This average includes all RN’s working everywhere. Of course registered nurses who have chosen to continue their education will be able to bring in higher salaries. A registered nurse who gets a Master’s Degree or a Doctorate can then choose to become a nurse practitioner. The average salary for a nurse practitioner is $70,500 a year.
A registered nurse can choose to specialize in a particular field of medicine. One such example is certified anesthetists, these registered and specially certified nurses make almost $130,000 a year. This is a popular field for registered nurses who are males, almost forty nine percent of those employed work in this field.
There are many other fields of medicine that command decent salaries and offer many challenges to male nurses. As the world continues to be rocked by crisis after crisis, now more than ever there is an urgent need to fill positions in emergency rooms around the world. There are also other medical facilities that urgently need the help of qualified nurses, like oncology, pediatrics, and geriatrics.
Education is important, especially to a male registered nurse. Statistically, the male nurse is more likely to pursue a nursing degree to the masters level. Most of the time registered nurses who had a masters degree made almost $75,000 a year, those who have doctorate degrees make just over $80,000.
There are likely more opportunities available in the field of research for skilled registered nurses. Whatever career path the male nurse decides to take, he will most likely be happily welcomed because he will most likely be urgently needed. The field of nursing is facing a severe shortage of registered nurses, even though there are almost 3 million already employed.
There are a large number of men in the United States alone who have no work. They would be an excellent labor pool to tap to fill the growing need for nurses around the world. Everyone wins. Give them purpose, and watch the economic depression disappear. Heal the sick, and soon there will be less to fight about. Something to think about.
Learn more about RN’s by viewing these articles:
1). Different types of registered nurses
2). Registered nursing salary for male and female