The U of C club’s goal is “to promote positive messages regarding male nurses” and their role in health care. The timing couldn’t have been better, as 13 percent of the 123 students admitted into first-year nursing this fall from high school were male, a new record.
Dianne Tapp, dean of the faculty of nursing, says, “Over the past three years, our faculty has been working diligently to attract young men into nursing careers at our recruitment fairs, and all of our promotional materials convey messages and images to draw attention of prospective male students.” Guidance counsellors, she says, “have told us that male high school students are interested in nursing careers, but often seem to be dissuaded from choosing nursing by parents, particularly fathers who perhaps hold more stereotypical views of nursing.”
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the percentage of male registered nurses in Canada has been inching upward over the last few years, reaching a new high of 6.2 percent in 2009.