ABU DHABI // The long-held stereotype of nursing being a profession for women is slowly being challenged.
Experts say more men working as nurses is a welcome sign of diversity that improves the quality of care.
Although the gender gap in UAE nursing remains wide, Richard Caldwell, director of nursing at Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi, is among those who feel that the gap is closing.
He said the UAE needed male and female nurses to care for patients in view of the patients’ cultural demands.
“Male nurses make up less than 8 per cent of the overall nursing total in the UAE, but they are growing in number. Where I come from, the United States, males make up about 10 per cent of nurses,” Mr Caldwell said. “A balance of staff from all international locations, including gender, race and religion, is required to best care for our patient populations here in the UAE.”
In Britain, men make up 10.21 per cent of nursing staff, according to the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Mr Caldwell reckons that nursing can be an attractive field for young men to consider given the career mobility, flexible working hours, locations and medical specialities.
“Opportunities for advancement and learning are also endless,” he said. Magi Livadaris, vice president of clinical operations at Amana Healthcare, said there were male and female nurses at its Abu Dhabi and Al Ain hospitals, although the men tended to be expatriates.
“We have a large complement of male nurses at Amana Healthcare,” said Ms Livadaris, a former nurse. “They play an important role across the care spectrum but are especially critical for the care of male patients in situations where privacy and preference matter.”
Elsa Oommen, chief nursing executive at VPS Healthcare, believes that the increase in the number of male nurses is partly because men are no longer put off by sexual stereotyping.
“UAE culture requires that the proportion of female nurses remains high in hospital settings,” Ms Oommen said.
“We have female and male nurses. In our hospitals it is a 70 to 30 ratio, which is a very healthy proportion. Compared with other GCC countries, I believe that the UAE has higher numbers of male nurses.”
Gulf Medical University’s Centre for Continuing Education and Community Outreach offers nursing diploma courses. The centre says men make up about 20 per cent of applicants for nursing courses.
However, women still dominate the nursing profession because most people prefer to be cared for by a woman, according to Zahra Ali Abdi, deputy chief nurse at Corniche Hospital.
“From a cultural perspective, women and their families often wish to be cared for by female nurses, and this narrows the options for male nurses,” she said.
“In many other countries it is culturally acceptable for women to be cared for by male nurses.”
newsdesk@thenational.ae
