SPECIAL FEATURE: What a female nurse can do, a male nurse can do better

Nursing is one career that most people consider feminine. In fact, it is strange to see a male nurse yet, it is not written anywhere that males cannot or should not be nurses. What is the experience like for them? Assistant Editor, CHINWE MADUAGWU spoke to a few of them.

Most people consider nursing to be a feminine job. It is not written anywhere to be so but, because it involves care giving, many believe males, who are perceived as ‘hard’ cannot fit into the profession.

The bias notwithstanding, a few males are found in the profession and they seem comfortable in and with it. In fact, they see the challenges as stepping stones to greater heights in the profession. In a chat with the Next Edition, some of them shared their inspirations, challenges and hopes. First, why did they chose nursing?

For Mr. Chijioke Okolie, the choice of nursing as a profession was based on his deisre to care for others in a direct and practical way. His words, “I chose to be a nurse because it is a profession that helps me to deliver to my patients. It is a profession that helps me have a direct contact with my patients and give them what they really need in order to get better. People believe nursing is a profession for women but in the actual sense it is not so. Anybody can get into any profession and nursing is not excluded.”

For Mr. Emmanuel Olukoya, nursing wasn’t the profession of first choice but when he found himself in the profession he fell in love. “I wanted to study Medicine initially, but when I wrote the nursing examination and passed, I decided to give it a try. When I got into nursing school, I realised that nurses were closer to the patients than doctors, they interacted more with patients, it is the nurses that deliver the care, it is the nurses that see when a patient is giving birth and when a patient is dying. I feel very fulfilled being a nurse, taking care of my patients,” he said.

Another young male nurse, Mr. Israel Onibudo, also told the Next Edition that nursing was thrust upon him by family, but he stayed because he came to love it. Hear him, “initially, I didn’t have nursing in mind as a profession. I didn’t even know there was a  profession like nursing. My step mum bought the form for me and I did the examination and passed.

“The first year was a bit challenging, but as time went on I realised that the nursing profession requires your knowledge and intelligence, and evey sense organ in you. It is also a profession that requires you to constantly update yourself. You have to be able to apply critical thinking in the management of in and out patients and anywhere you find yourself.

“Nursing is a very challenging profession and only the wise and intelligent can succeed in it and stand the test of time.”

For sure these young ones and a few more like them are sticking it out, but does that mean it’s been easy for them. While admitting the challenges they face in the line of duty especially when it comes to extending certain types of care, to the women, they insist they would not be deterred.

Mr. Onibudo spoke further, “when patients meet me for the first time, some are a bit uncomfortable. Like I said, nursing is a challenging profession especially when it comes to gender issues. One of my challenging experiences was when I was a nursing student posted to the female ward. Many of them would not want me to give them bed baths. It was that serious. When it was time for bed bath, they will tell me to go do other things.”

 He is, however, optimistic that things will change with the passage of time. “It’s something that will take time to catch up and people will begin to get used to it. When they see how good we are and our attitude towards the profession, people will begin to accept that gender does not matter when it comes to nursing, anybody can give care.

“I am not discouraged because I know it’s not a one-day job. With time people will come to accept us but we have to sensitise people around us, in our communities and localities before we can get the world to know that what a female nurse can do, a male nurse can do better,” he stressed.

Mr. Okolie shared a similar experience: “One of the challenges when we encounter patients is that they take us for doctors. But when they realise that we are nurses they kind of withdraw especially when it comes to rendering services like putting in catheters. The females feel you are invading their privacy and prefer female nurses doing that for them or a doctor. They also don’t easily accede to us giving them bed baths.”

Like his colleague though, Mr. Okolie said there was no going back. “Considering that we have come to stay in the profession, we will keep forging ahead with patience and hope that in future they will understand that as long as we are qualified nurses, we can do the same things female nurses do. There shouldn’t be gender bias in nursing.

“I am not discouraged by such reactions and we shouldn’t be. We can only make our patients realise and understand why we should render care to them because in a situation where you have only a male nurse in the ward and a patient refuses to be attended to by him, what happens?

“Again there are occasions when you can’t determine who will give you care, you just have to accept who is available to give you care,” he argued.

For Mr. Olukoya too, it hasn’t been a smooth sail. Hear him, “It’s really not easy being a male nurse. During my training, while I was in the ward, a male patient thought I was a doctor and was making requests from me as one. I told him I was not a doctor but a nurse, he didn’t believe me. He called me a liar and said I should never talk to him again. And throughout my posting to that ward, the man didn’t have anything to do with me. He kept saying ‘this boy is a liar.’ Even my grandpa doesn’t believe I’m a nurse.

“Some people have not accepted male nurses but with time, they will come to know that there are male nurses all over the world.

“In my first year, I was really discouraged by some of the reactions I got. In fact on one occasion, a doctor made jest of me saying, ‘look at this male nurse, why don’t you wear skirt?’ When I got back to my hostel, I really thought over it poundering whether I should quit but I told myself that with time, it would be easier.

“Today, I have many male nurses I have mentored and they are enjoying the profession. I’m also enjoying it. There’s no big deal. I love nursing.”

The gentlemen nurses are already looking ahead and planing big for their future in the profession. Asked where they would like to see themselves some 15 years to come, they reacted thus:

Okolie, “It is always encouraging seeing the nursing standard outside the country. So first, I would want to see the same standard in Nigeria though I’m looking for a means of leaving the country because I like the monetary aspect of the profession. But in the next 10-15 years, I shouldn’t be focusing on the monetary aspect alone. I also see myself making impact in the profession. We are going to work together towards making the profession like other known professions in Nigeria such as medicine and law.”

Olukoya, “ Well, I’ve never thought of changing my profession to start with. I’m into nursing and that’s it.  So, my focus is to get better. In the next 10-15 years, I would want to be a Nursing Consultant.”

Last  but by no means the least, Onibudo, “In the next 10-15 years, I plan, by the grace of God, to become a professor in nursing. There is no changing my mind. Nursing is it for me.”

Also, in the near future, they see more male nurses doting the hospitals landscapes in the country.

Mr. Okolie said “I see a situation whereby more males will get into the profession. At the time forms are sold, quite a number of males buy the form. I think it is at the screening level that most of them are dropped because even at that level, there are still challenges accepting male nurses. But I think with time, as they see more males in the profession and as they see them make progress, they are going to have more interest in joining the profession. Basically, I think when Nigerians consider professions, the first on their mind is what it can yield and I believe nursing in Nigeria is becoming very lucrative. With that, more males will definitely come into it.”

Mr. Olukoya, said. “before we came to nursing, what we heard was that for every set they take one or two male nurses. They don’t want to create space for male nurses. The doctors want to subdue nurses so they don’t want male nurses who will speak up for the female nurses. However, they are creating more slots for males. Even some hospitals prefer male nurses now. So gradually, we will get there.”

On why the country is yet to see a male midwife, the nurses joking wondered whether such people will be ‘midmen or mid-husbands.

Speaking seriously though, Mr. Okolie said, “Even the Midwifery sounds very feminine but that’s a speciality in nursing. I think there are enough areas of specialisation for the few male nurses we have, besides midwifery where they will have challenges considering the bias. Personally, I’m not interested in that area and I think it would be the same for other male nurses.”

Mr. Olukoya sees the situation thus, “to me, there are some male nurses that would want to be midwives but the Nursing Board doesn’t allow that. The school of Midwifery doesn’t allow males to get their form. So that would already reduce the chances of a male nurse becoming a midwife.”

For Mr. Onibudo, the idea of a male midwife sounded strange and funny; “A man being a midwife? I think that’s the height of what we are facing with the whole gender issue. Even at the admission stage, you don’t see males applying. Even when pregnant women come to the hospital, they don’t want to be attended to by male nurses. I really don’t know why we don’t have male midwives. But maybe, with time, that too will change.”

Mr. Onibudo blamed the problem of gender imbalance in the nursing profession on ignorance. His words, “I think the major problem with gender imbalance in nursing is ignorance on the part of the public as well as leadership of the profession. As I said earlier, I never knew anything about the nursing profession until my step mum got the form for me. So on my part, I was ignorant. Then on the part of those managing the profession, during the admission process, they give 50-10 slots for females and males. The statistics don’t add up considering where we want nursing to go but, I believe that with time it will get better.”

Having come, seen and being on the verge of conquering, what advice do these young ones have for other boys or males who might be nursing the idea of making nursing a career?

Mr. Onibudo said, “My advice to the person is first to be focused and determined. He needs to know where he wants to be in the profession in the next two, three, five years and beyond. He has to have a line of activities, why he is there, where he wants to be and how he wants to achieve it and the sky would just be the starting point for him.”

Mr. Okolie said, “my advice to such a boy would be first to see nursing as a profession that will make a difference in him. Nursing is a good profession though faced with some challenges in the country but, with time if the person perseveres he will find it interesting, meaningful and a profession that will take him to whatever height he wishes to get to.”

And for Mr. Olukoya, “my advice first would be not to think of the monetary aspect because they say male nurses don’t make money. If you want to make money from nursing, you have to have the passion. If you don’t have the passion, you will get frustrated easily. So passion is very key for a successful nursing career.”

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pics source: Nurse Uncut