Male nurses--reasons for entering and experiences of being in the profession

In order to illuminate male nurse teachers' and nurse students' reasons for choosing to become nurses, and their experiences and positions within the profession, all 13 males among a total of 184 nurse teachers and students at one nursing school in Norway were interviewed twice with a 10-year interval between the interviews. In a personal interview in 1984 all the interviewees emphasized that their desire to become nurses was connected with a wish to act in a woman's role and expressed feminine values. The interviewees' fathers disapproved while their mothers approved with their choices to become nurses. The subjects thought that female nurses did not accept that they were bedside nurses, and exerted pressure on them to adopt roles within nursing that were perceived to be male; i.e. teachers, or administrators. In a telephone interview in 1994 they were asked about their experiences and positions within the profession. Eight interviewees had worked as nurses within psychiatric care and ten had current senior positions. They stated that the most positive thing in the profession was the contact with the patients and meaning so much to someone. All said they would have made the same choice today and become nurses.