Man enough to be a nurse?

A recent article in the Orlando Sentinel has re-focused attention on a 2002 ad campaign designed to break down gender stereotypes in nursing.  The “Are You Man Enough to Be  Nurse?” campaign was the brainchild of the Oregon Center for Nursing; its focal point was a black and white print ad featuring a line up of manly men who just happened to be nurses.

At the time, the campaign took some heat from nurses who deemed the ad “too macho.”  A small number of nurses believed the ad played up the nurses’ masculinity while ignoring their caregiving capacities.  Couldn’t the guys have at least smiled, they wondered?

But research from the American Assembly for Men in Nursing suggests the ad was right on target.  A 2005 AAMN survey found that men believe that images and ad campaigns depicting action, diversity, teamwork, technology and nurses as heroes may attract men to nursing, while men are turned off by ads that depict nurses as handmaidens or subservient to physicians.  Males also reject ads that reinforce stereotypes, including the nurse-in-white-uniform stereotype.

Considering the controversy over recent portrayals of nurses in the media, maybe all future ad campaigns should portray nurses as heroic, diverse healthcare providers?