Male nursing students' perceptions of clinical experience

Christman questions the paucity of research completed with male nurses, given their history in the profession, and challenges nurse researchers to study in this area. To address this need, a phenomenologic study was undertaken to examine the perceptions of clinical experience of nine male nursing students. Findings revealed that men perceive a need to develop cognitive, psychomotor, caring, and intuitive skills. They want to be valued members of the team. The importance of assessing and reassessing role-related boundaries and the need to deal with their feelings about being men in settings that traditionally value women as primary care givers for intimate bodily functions are important. The results of this study offer important insights into male student nurses' clinical experiences that can be useful for other male nursing students as well as nursing educators.