Nursing Scholarship: Men In The Minority

Where are the scholarships for men in going into the field of nursing? Far and few between in comparison to those that are offered for women and minorities. Wait a minute. Men are the new minority in nursing. Therefore men should take advantage of the minority scholarships that are available. Better yet if you are a man with an ethnic minority. So how does a man go about looking for a scholarship for nursing school and where do you begin. There is a most wonderful nursing scholarship just for men which is offered by the American Assembly for Men Foundation Scholarships. Their web address is; www.aamn.org/aamnfoundationscholarships. This would be the first place to begin. Next, would be to take advantage of all of the minority nursing school scholarships that are available. The web address for minority nurses can be found at the web address; www.minoritynurse.com

Let's face it, as a man you are indeed a minority in the nursing field. Men represent only about 6% of those in the nursing field according to (www.menstuff.org). Actually, men in the nursing field is not new. Men have been nurses since the time prior to the Benedictine Monks in the fifth century. More and more literature is surfacing in regards to men in the nursing field. There is currently a magazine dedicated just for male nurses entitled Male Nurse Magazine. You can learn more from the site at; www.malenursemagazine.com

The first nursing school in the world was started in India in about 250 BC. Only men were considered "pure" enough to become nurses. The Charaka (Vol I, Section xv) states these men should be, "of good behavior, distinguished for purity, possessed of cleverness and skill, imbued with kindness, skilled in every service a patient may require, competent to cook food, skilled in bathing and washing the patient, rubbing and massaging the limbs, lifting and assisting him to walk about, well skilled in making and cleansing of beds, readying the patient and skillful in waiting upon one that is ailing and never unwilling to do anything that may be ordered." Source Information

During the Byzantine Empire nursing was a separate occupation practiced primarily by men. In the New Testament, the good Samaritan paid the innkeeper to provide care for an injured man. No one thought it odd that a man should by paid to provide nursing care. Story of the Good Samaritan found at: Luke 10: 35-36 Source Information

Men first began to enter the nursing profession in the late 1950's. Today, approximately 5.4% of the 2.2 million nurses are men. However, a 2000 survey found that almost 13% of the students enrolled in nursing school are men. Dwight Elliott is the only black male in his graduating class at East Carolina University. "It has been kind of tough being a black male in a predominantly white female profession." Another black male nurse said that he had gotten questions like "Are you an orderly?" There are certain areas in hospitals (such as labor and delivery and nursing units) that are still closed to most male nurses. However, Ramon Lavandero, Director of the International Leadership Institute of Sigma Theta Tau International, had a very positive experience working in obstetrics. He was offered three positions in women's health care after graduation. The American Assembly of Men in Nursing is a fairly new organization which is open to both men and women who share "our beliefs that nursing is a profession, not a gender-based profession," said Gene Tranbarger, President-Elect of the organization. Source Information

The above excerpts should inspire confidence if anything to those men who are contemplating becoming nurses. At www.nurselookup.com is a good site to go for men to talk about nursing issues and nursing school. This is a type of chat room for the male nursing student and other medical personnel.