What attracted you to the nursing profession? My father works in aerospace and it always seemed like his job depended on winning the next government contract. He worked long hours and we didn’t see him much. So I decided that I needed a career with job security, and nursing fit the bill. I then discovered that it offered more than stability; it provided flexibility with my family and an opportunity to serve and make a difference in people’s lives, which is a nice feeling to go home with.

Did you get resistance for your career choice? My family was surprised, to say the least, — I was the kid who got ill looking at spilled pumpkin pie on the kitchen floor — but they were very supportive. My wife is a nurse and had encouraged me for a few years to enter the field while I, stubbornly, wanted to be an attorney. In nursing school most of the instructors were supportive of a man in nursing, but during clinicals I do remember resistance from the staff in some facilities we visited.

Do you think school counselors adequately promote nursing to boys as a career option? No. It seems that there is a certain stigma about men in nursing, that the boys should be doctors, not nurses. Little do they understand the great opportunity that awaits these students if they do become nurses.

Advice for men entering the nursing field: This is a very difficult field and you will be pushed physically, mentally and emotionally on a daily basis. However, the rewards are beyond what they can imagine. Work hard, increase your knowledge, and represent the profession of nursing every day in the way that you act, speak and dress.

Final thoughts: Nursing is the most respected profession, and that knowledge is often satisfaction in itself. To have the opportunity to touch people’s lives, hoping and working to make a difference, provides all nurses, male and female, a great reward.