By Jennifer Kelley
In the female-dominated profession of nursing, men are slowly finding a place for themselves, even at BYU.
Many young men come to BYU every year with a major and career choice in mind.
But normally that choice is not nursing.
'It is very rare to find an incoming male freshman that wants to go into nursing,' said David Keller, assistant teaching professor of nursing. 'Unless they have had good experiences themselves or with family members, it isn''t really an option.'
Both national and BYU statistics seem to reflect the general trend of minimal male applicants, said nursing advisement center supervisor Linda Stevens.
In the fall, the College of Nursing received eight male applications and accepted four of them, Stevens said.
It was the highest number of male nursing applicants ever at BYU.
The male students at BYU that are studying nursing are good nurses and are very proactive as well, Keller said.
Of the ten Student Nurses Association board members at BYU, four are men, said Ben Boyer, 23, a junior from Scipio, Millard County, majoring in nursing.
Involvement in the program and extracurricular nursing organizations creates a platform for future growth in the medical profession, Boyer said.
'Nurses get on the personal level of things,' said Boyer, who is the president of the BYU Student Nurses Association. 'We don''t treat patients like a disease and we can spend more time with them.'
Nursing has been a biased profession toward females for a long time, but men are now adding diversity by choosing it as a career, Boyer said.
Yet, even with the diversity, Keller feels that personal qualities, not the gender, make a nurse qualified.
Even Johnson and Johnson is trying to change the public mindset toward nursing and male nurses.
During February 2002, it launched a program called 'The Campaign for Nursing''s Future,' which is aimed at increasing interest in the nursing profession.
The company is offering scholarships, as well as brochures, posters and videos to high schools and nursing schools around the country in an effort to combat the national nursing shortage.
Boyer commends the initial step taken by Johnson and Johnson because it is increasing awareness of the shortage throughout the nation.
'The nursing shortage is real,' Boyer said. 'But it will take more than television ads and fliers to change people and their perception of males in nursing.'