Nursing students’ educational and professional point of view of male nurse candidates in Turkey

Many studies have generally defined nursing as a female-dominated occupation. Knowledge and attitudes towards people were found to differ according to gender. This study was conducted to determine the points of view of student nurses at Faculty of Health Sciences about the roles of particularly male students in nursing. This is a descriptive study. This study included 357 students enrolled in the Department of Nursing at Ataturk University in the Spring Term of the academic year of 2012-2013. The data were analyzed using mean scores and the percentages in a computerized environment. The study adhered strictly to ethical values. In this study, 67.5 percent of the students were female. 66 percent of the students chose nursing voluntarily; 71 percent did so due to job prospects. 50.6 percent of the students stated that a certain title was not required for male nurses; 59.9 percent stated that male nurses would not bring in-class competitiveness; 22.1 percent reported that male nurses working in the medical services would significantly decrease workload; 15.6 percent said that male nurses would be of benefit to the privacy of male patients; and 56 percent stated that it would not lead to any trouble when male nurses worked in any medical service. It was found that the participants were not against co-education and that they believed male nurses would contribute not only to patient care but also to the advantage of nursing in general.