Should my son go into nursing?

My son will be starting college next year. He wants an active hands-on job with good pay (rather than a desk job). When we got to looking at jobs, he liked ones that were in the medical field, and nursing looked good to him. He is bright, and thinks he would enjoy nursing.

But reading some of the posts on this forum frightens me enough to wonder if I should ask him to reconsider. He is a mentally strong young man and people usually like him. What do you think?

Thanks for the input.

Have him check into as many options as possible. Biomed tech, physician assistant, pharmacist are in great demand, etc.

His choice should be made in the context of as many options as possible.

Only he can decide if he should go into nursing. There are issues and nursing, especially for men, on the "inside" is not how it appears from the "outside".

As a nurse with over 20 years of experience, I think nursing is a great job for a man. It is not a desk job, that's for sure.My wife and I have both worked in the Operating Room, a sometimes very exciting place to be. I was a charge nurse in a combined ICU-CCU. That was a lot of fun. I staffed a Hyperbaric Chamber, taking care of carbon monoxide victims and other critically ill patients. I was a "Fixed Wing" flight nurse.Again, a sometimes very exciting mission.I am currently a Charge nurse in a Cardiac Cath Lab.When I tell others in the hospital what we do in the Cath Lab, They say "Wow, You guys play God!" It is very rewarding to have a person come in to the "Lab" dying of an MI and after an emergency angioplasty leave the "Lab" smiling.
The outlook for jobs in nursing in the future is rosey too. There is a crying need for nurses now and that demand will only increase in the future. As the economy has changed for the better and worse over the years, I've always been employed.Over the years the pay has improved too.With call, nurses in the "Lab" I work in make $70,000/yr+.
On the other hand, most of the positions I've held required being on call. This seriously interferes in your personal life.I take an incredible amount of call in the Cath Lab. I have to plan my life around the call. My 17 year old son doesn't want to be a nurse just because of the impact of call on my family.
The shifts that a nurse has to work can also be a downside to nursing. Working weekends, nights and holidays rather than a 9-5 job may be a hinderance to seeking employment in nursing.
On the whole, I've been more than satisfied with my career choice.

If you have found some scary posts in the forum re: nursing... Let not your heart be troubled, it's just a bunch of comrads venting as do many others in different professions. Kinda like water-cooler talk.

As for your sons consideration of nursing, I think he would do himself a huge favor by at least checking it out. It was the wisest decision I ever made. I am a man in a female dominated field, and have never had any serious problems with it.

I love my work, and I think that your son will love it as well.

The medical field is huge and growing and there are many, many different jobs within it. However the nurse, specifically the RN, seems to remain the cornerstone of the medical profession and really can be a very satisfying career that has a HUGE number of possibilities and various paths within it.

For the second part of your question - being a male in a female dominated field is not as big of a deal as some might make it out to be. Personally I haven't seen any real prejudice or favoritism that worked against male nurses. I understand that there is some, but what you see on this site should not dissuade your son from this profession. What it boils down to is this - if your son is a personable, respectful person, he will be welcomed with open arms by 99% of the professionals out there. The only problems that he will encounter are likely to be in common with any career path. In other words, every crate has a bad apple.

Nursing can be very demanding but the rewards are just as great if you enjoy it.

I hope this helps.

I say go for it. I like working with male nurses myself. I think they bring a good perspective to nursing.

JMO

WR,,,

Why should anything prevent him from becoming a nurse? Unless, of course, he doesn't want to become one. The fact that nursing has been a female-dominated profession is no reason to keep him from pursuing this particular vocation. Many women have gone into traditionally male-dominated professions. I say GO FOR IT!

I was a factory worker in a manufacturing plant for 13 years when I lost my job due to a reduction of work force (300 of 335). After extensive research of all possible options of interest, everything kept pointing back to nursing. I can get a job practically anywhere, pay is decent, hours are of my choosing, and job security is no longer an issue. School was difficult for me and many of my classmates, but I have been working as a nurse for almost 2 years now and it has been a rewarding experience.


MustangMarty

Hi Vicky,

Glad you came by our forum with your question. I'm not sure which posts had you concerned, but if it's all the negative things being said by some of our tired collegues don't let that worry you. My father was a pharmacist, my mother a beautician and they both came home moaning about their day at work too.

I am a "male" nurse though I don't really like that term. I am a nurse, who happens to be a man. We don't say she's a "female" doctor. That's just one of those gender biases some of us would like to get past.

In terms of discrimination in the work place, in my more than 20 years of nursing, I have never once experienced that problem. I have done just about every type of nursing there is to do, I've worked on general medical and surgical floors, intensive care, emergency rooms, long-term care, home care, administration and that's what makes the business great. When you get tired of one type of nursing, you can do something different. IT's GREAT!!!!

How much to I believe that, well my daughter is a 2nd year student at the University of Virginia and her mother (also a nurse) and I would very much like to see her go to nursing school. At this point I should mention it can be difficult to get in, my daughter was turned down. Not to brag, but she was class validictorian in her high school, SAT scores of 1480 and they told her they didn't have room. Now I do know why, when she wrote here entrance essay she indicated she wanted to be a nurse for all the business reasons, lots of jobs, good pay, steady work, etc., etc. And while that was honest and true, it's not what they want to hear. I only mention this because you talked about this in your post. Make sure you let him know to focus on humanistic reasons why he wants to become a nurse.

Finally, let me point you to a great website with lots of information about becoming a nurse. The site is www.discovernursing.com and it is published by Johnson and Johnson.

Best of luck to your son! Confucius said, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. I can tell you that at the end of the day, I don't believe any job can be as rewarding as nursing. Every day you go to work and you make a real difference in the lives of people. So many people work an entire lifetime and never get that satisfaction. As the recent commercials have gone...uniforms $50.00, shoes $30.00, saving a life - priceless.

Pat Mahan
Webmaster
www.nursingbar.com
www.recruitingware.com
www.inurses.net
www.nurse-education.com

If nursing is his choice, absolutely. As a new nurse myself, it's a pretty great job. It can be as thankless as any other sometimes, but the rewards are worth it to me. Just tell him that life is too short to do something you don't like, so if he doesn't like it, it's not worth it. However, I think it's a cool job, and worth looking into. I don't know of a man among nurses who wouldn't talk to him about it if you asked.
-Nathan

I have been a nurse for nearly twenty years.

I would advise your son to pursue medical school if at all possible.

He will be respected and will not undergo so much difficulty and will still be able to fulfill his goals to help people.

long term growth of income/income potential over the course of a career is my only reservation. other professions tend to reward more senior employees better (assuming you don't get down-sized first), both financially and general regard in the community. there's job security in nursing- currently the shortage makes getting a job nearly a sure thing.
I see discrimination daily towards men in nursing- but it is subtle and easily dealt with (such as answering the phone and hearing someone say hesitantly "oh, sorry, I was looking for my mother's nurse" -thats me- "oh, ok, well...how is she doing then?").
have him research all his options and decide- up to him.