Posted on 12/12/2024 1:23:36 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Brandon Holcombe went straight from high school to working as a welder in northern Georgia, but it wasn’t for him.
Holcombe worried that the field was being automated away by robots, and besides, he wanted something with more problem-solving skills. Now, a decade later and at 28 years old, Holcombe is a long way from welding, studying at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to become a registered nurse.
“Each day brings new learning opportunities,” Holcombe said.
The number of men in the U.S. with the job of registered nurse has nearly tripled since the early 2000s. Many come to the field after working in the military or in jobs, such as paramedics or firefighters, that exposed them to the work of nurses.
“What I hear a lot from female students is, ‘I’ve always wanted to be a nurse, I like helping people,’ where the men tend to look more at job security and job stability,” said Jason Mott, president of the American Association for Men in Nursing.
Many of the manufacturing jobs that are being moved overseas, replaced by automation or phased out of the American economy were mostly filled by men. As a result, other occupations traditionally dominated by women are now gaining a larger share of men, including elementary and middle-school teachers and customer-service representatives.
Still, nursing is a relative outperformer in the proportion of men joining what has long been considered a “pink collar” sector. The number of male registered nurses has increased from about 140,000 in 2000 to about 400,000 in 2023. This means that about 14% of nurses are now men, up from about 9% roughly two decades ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I wasn’t intending to be rude, just factual. My apologies for upsetting people. I understand that, while nurses don’t receive as much formal education as doctors, the bulk of their education is on the job.
There was no intent to offend.
I’m female and about the size of your average NCAAF place kicker.
I once needed three nurses, all were female in the ward I was in, to help get me back to my bed after an unwise unaccompanied trip to the bathroom.
One big male nurse probably could have got it done unassisted.
Best thing about it was that she took the classes for CNA while she was still in high school so she walked out with a profession and her employers have paid for her schooling every since.
It was a lot of work but a portable career where you make six figures and have no student debt is nothing to sneeze at.
I knew a guy who was a medic, retired at 20 yrs (with retirment) then got job in private sector as a PA physician assistant.
Yeah, he might have had to take a few courses then pass the PA exam.
After working for a few years as an EMT, my nephew is going back to school for a year or two in order to become a nurse. Its a good gig. It pays pretty well, your skills are portable, you are always in demand and you are recession proof.
I have a young relative - big guy - who chose to become a nurse and loves it - he very cleverly (I thought) specialized in geriatric nursing and was up to his ankles in job offers. “One thing, though,” he told me, “If you’re the only guy there and something or someone has to be lifted, you’re it. Some days I feel like a stevedore.”
I am desperately in love with ER nurses. Every last one of them that I ever met made my life better.
I would dump Elaine immediately!!
And then become a lawyer
for Los Pollos Hermanos
There is a good career path in nursing
You used to be able to take your RN exam after an associate degree, but most places now want a 4-year bachelor’s.
Then you can get a masters and become an advanced practice nurse.
There are also flight nurses, who travel with patients to get them home ok on commercial flights.
I thought 🤔 I’d Better Call you
but I was too chicken 🐔🐔🐔🍗🍗🍗
Great money. Crap hours for the first several years. But if you are willing to move around (a “traveling nurse”) you can make really big bucks.
But, it’s not an easy program to get into or complete. Good for these guys.
Nursing assistants don’t get paid squat next to nurses. Often, they are paid minimum wage and a shift differential.
They do noble work. But as a career, it can be brutal. It’s physically demanding and you deal with a lot of people who don’t appreciate the effort.
They are two different positions entirely. The ONLY thing they have in common is sometimes Doctors work in hospitals.
You just keep saying stuff that, while correct, is kind of a non sequitor.
I don’t know a single nurse (I worked in a hospital, so I knew a lot of them) who started out wanting to be a doctor. I know several who have become PAs or NPs.
The do very different functions. Both are important, but I would rather have a group of good experiences nurses in the apocalypse than a crew full of doctors. After listening to them for a few hours, telling you how superior they are, you would open the door and feed them to the zombies.
It was always funny to watch the docs and surgeons sit in a tech meeting and think they were the smartest people in the room. Most were willing to admit they were out of the element, but those who didn’t gummed up the works with their lack of common sense.
In MA, a combat medic would need to pass the paramedic test and do hospital rotations to be able to ride on an ambulance.
Becoming a PA would require a three year program AFTER his bachelors.
There are not a lot of “credit for experience” in those roles.
I don’t mean to, but I deal with things in a non-emotional way. It’s all part of having Aspergers.
I totally understand the differences. Nurses really receive most of their education on the job and not in college. They get their foot in the door through the college, but their real education is on the job.
I also know that nurses are often somewhat contemptible of doctors, because show up in the last two minutes and fill out a form and go on their way, while the nurse may have spent hours handling the patient.
I am not intending to make it seem that doctors are important than nurses.
I don’t know why people are so offended by your post here. There are some nasty comments posted on this forum every day, but your post wasn’t one of them.
I’ve known many nurses, and as you said, they earn a good living. Many of them specialize.
“”””I also know that nurses are often somewhat contemptible of doctors, because show up in the last two minutes and fill out a form and go on their way””””
Something nurses talk about a lot over drinks is how many times they saved a patient from death because of a doctor’s carelessness, usually from mistakes on medicines and doses.
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