Luring Men Into Healthcare

With the growing need to fill nursing positions after baby boomers retire, the healthcare industry looks to entice both men and women with better salaries and nursing scholarship programs.

By Nancy Crotti, Star Tribune Sales and Marketing

Last update: April 2, 2008 - 3:45 PM

Anytime there's a downturn in the economy, more men turn to healthcare careers, according to Laura Beeth, system director of talent management for Fairview Health Services and healthcare representative on Governor's Workforce Development Council.

"With competitive packages and a variety of schedules, you could go almost anywhere in healthcare," she says.

Men may have an advantage in healthcare career advancement because women tend to leave the workforce for periods of time to care for family. "If you're looking at a track of continual advancement, sometimes working more hours brings more opportunity," Beeth says.

Nursing looks attractive

Nursing is particularly attractive because it doesn't require the advanced degrees of other healthcare careers. The current shortage of registered nurses and a looming wave of retirements among RNs nationwide may lead more men to give nursing a second look.

"I get calls from men who are considering nursing school and hear from more men who are looking at nursing as a second career," says Patty Kelley, an RN and nurse placement coordinator for HealthEast.

Bonnie Watts, acting director of nursing education at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, says approximately 25 percent of MCTC's nursing students are male, which is more than in previous years.

"Nurses now receive a more livable salary, making the profession more attractive to both men and women," Watts says.

National and local efforts

Campaigns to attract men to nursing have been more visible as well. Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson has featured male and female nurses in its "Be a Nurse" ad campaign since 2002 and provides scholarships to nursing students to stem the nurse shortage.

Local healthcare providers feature men in their advertising as well. "Fairview is doing this. You just have to," Beeth says. "You're not going to market to half of the people."

"We are becoming increasingly aware that we want to present a diverse workforce, including male and female," adds Kelley.

It's not easy to reach men in the community, says Bill Johnson, a registered nurse and workforce development specialist at Fairview. He works to attract new nurses to the organization and retain those already working in Fairview's hospitals and clinics.

"We're stating that we value men in the healthcare field whether it be nursing or any of the other roles within the organization," he says. "We don't have a strategy to have a certain percentage of hires at the moment. There is a certain awareness that we'd like to have more men in nursing."

Nancy Crotti is a freelance writer who lives in St. Paul.

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