Opening Up the Possibilities: Men in Nursing
Men make up just 5 to 6 percent of the nurses in the US. The percentage was even lower a few years ago at Cincinnati Children’s, until the leaders in Patient Services decided to change things.
Now, the hospital employs more than 100 men in nursing roles, with an active recruitment effort in place to attract even more.
“Gender diversity is an important organizational value, and part of both the institution’s and Patient Services’ strategic plans,” says Cheryl Hoying, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, senior vice president of Patient Services. “We are proud that in the past three years the percentage of male nurses at Cincinnati Children’s has increased by 108 percent.”
Toward a More Diverse Workforce
Recruiting more men into the nursing ranks at Cincinnati Children’s fits well with a larger recruitment and retention plan for Patient Services, a plan that calls for having the hospital’s staffing mirror the makeup of the Cincinnati community overall.
“The retention and recruitment plan for Patient Services calls for mimicking the diversity in the community, so our goal is to hire minorities that reflect the Cincinnati population,” says Hoying. “As we recruit men, we also want to recruit from minority populations.”
One of the ways Hoying addressed the issue was to help develop a local chapter of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing (AAMN). Bill Lecher, MBA, MS, RN, and several other male nurses at Cincinnati Children’s began the chapter in 2007 with the support of the hospital’s Department of Nursing Recruitment and Retention. Lecher, who has since been elected to the national board-at-large, and Glenn LeBlanc, BSN, RN, who serves as president of the local AAMN chapter, visit local all-male high schools to introduce boys to the concept of nursing as a career. They also distribute posters showing the exciting career possibilities in nursing, including the message, “Are you man enough to save a life?”
