The role of universities in attracting male students on to pre-registration nursing programmes: An electronic survey of UK higher education institutions

Abstract

The UK nursing workforce is facing a crisis. More nurses are leaving than entering the profession and there are tens of thousands of unfilled vacancies. Political factors are having a significant impact on numbers, in particular the decision to withdraw bursaries for nursing undergraduates and a steep decline in EU nurses registering to work in the UK post-Brexit. Against this backdrop, there is a stark gender imbalance in the workforce with only around 11% of registered nurses being male. We surveyed UK higher education institutions to try and identify whether the gendered nature of nursing was considered a concern and whether steps were being taken to address it. We sent an electronic survey to every UK university offering undergraduate nurse training validated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). With a response rate of 42%, the majority of respondents felt that nursing departments should take much more responsibility to increase the proportion of male nurses entering the nursing profession. More needs to be done to diversify the workforce and make nursing an appealing career choice for men and women.

British South Asian male nurses' views on the barriers and enablers to entering and progressing in nursing careers

“…With respect to gender, the numbers of men registered as NHS nurses have increased from 10.63% in 2004 to 11.5% in 2016 (NMC, 2016), but despite making up 50% of the total UK population (Office for National Statistics, 2012), men remain underrepresented in the NHS nursing workforce (Clifton, Higman, Stephenson, Navarro, & Welyczko, 2018; Evans, 2004). These patterns are similar to those across the world with a few notable exceptions such as Spain, Italy, Tanzania, Israel and Jordan where men are more visible in the nursing workforce (Abu Al Rub, 2007; Achora, 2016; Punshon et al, 2019).…”

Lack of awareness of nursing as a career choice for men: A qualitative descriptive study

“…Participants felt that even before applying to an undergraduate nursing programme, the minority status of men was highly conspicuous. Whilst all participants mentioned their minority status and male attrition rates within the classroom (Bartfay & Bartfay, 2017 ; Maykut et al, 2016 ), some also noted the absence of male faculty members and clinical role models (Clifton et al, 2018 ), especially in the first year of the degree. This absence of males may theoretically be mirrored within promotional material and recruitment activities, and therefore present as a barrier to recruitment.…”

“…Their research on 11 male nurses found that men chose to nurse because an opportunity presented itself, or they were influenced by people that were significant in their life, but they had not directly considered nursing when consciously thinking about choosing a career. Clifton et al ( 2018 ) argued that whilst the gender imbalance in nursing has been noted since the mid‐1940s in the UK when there were separate registers kept for female and male nurses, little has been done to improve the uptake into the profession. The Chief Nursing Officer for England acknowledges that more is needed to be done and has a joint project with the Royal College of Nurses to look at strategies that will help attract males into the nursing workforce (Haydon, 2017 ).…”

Men in the service of humanity: Sociocultural perceptions of the nursing profession in South Africa

“…[14] In 2017, 11% of nurses in the UK were male. [15] As noted, the status of the nursing profession remains based on gender dominance. Nursing is shaped by a patriarchal power structure that situates caregiving within the feminine realm and marginalises the caring acts of male nurses.…”