Nursing Scholarship: Men In The Minority
Posted: Saturday, March 10, 2007
by Nancy Nurse
NET Education, Inc.
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
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."
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
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.
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.
The nursing entrance test study guide provides nurses the assistance they need with the nursing entrance test. The nursing study guide helps nurses. Visit http://www.nurseslearningcenter.com for more information.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)The link for the American Men in Nursing Foundation is no longer active. They have closed the website. Again, men get put in the background, we ARE minorities in nursing and it is only proven when we have multiple barriers to fight just to get a chance to become nurses. Now it seems white men are even more disadvantaged, there are all types of scholarships and grants for women, black, hispanic men. We still have the same families to support, the same dreams, so why are we, part of the Six Percent, still scraping by?Well said my friend.White men are not disadvantaged... u get 90-95%(most times 100%) of everything!. Even with the minority grants/scholarships now available..it is still only a small fraction of what is and has been ALWAYS available to whites! Never understood the backlash against these type of programs (set asides for qualified minorities total about what??? 10% probably) when whites still get 90-95% of of EVERYTHING.. give me a break
I am a white male in the nursing field, going from LPN to RN and have not found any scholarships for myself. I thought I was a minority?
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