The image of nurses has changed drastically over time. Beginning with the American Medical Association (AMA) article, nurses were described as either extremely competent and honest or as incapable and lacking skill (1869.) Nurses were also depicted as exclusively female (because males are regular drunks, incompetent, and lacked the characteristics that a woman possesses,) as well as religious (American Medical Association, 1869.) Furthermore, it was explained that nurses had a significant role in the fate of patients, they could either be skillful and save patients from lackluster physicians or incompetent and be the reason patients died (American Medical Association, 1869.) This thinking set the precedent of nurses, they must be female, extremely …show more content…
Our textbook outlines the misconception that nurses during the civil war were depicted as "white women," but in reality, most of the nurses that cared for the soldiers were men (Finkelman, 2016.) The issue surrounding male nurses is an area that I believe needs work. We, as a society, should work towards normalizing men in the nursing community. The video, "Just a Nurse," showed how male nurses are perceived and how male nurses actually feel in the nursing community (ChangeSchool, 2008.) When asking the public what they thought nurses actually do, most of the respondents began to explain by using the pronoun "she," rather than using a gender-neutral pronoun (ChangeSchool, 2008.) However, when these same respondents were asked how they felt about being seen by a male nurse, an overwhelming amount stated that the gender of their nurse did not matter, which is significant in accepting and normalizing male nurses (ChangSchool, 2008.) Of course, there are people who would rather be seen by a female nurse because they are viewed as more nurturing, gentle, and compassionate. However, it is very true that when it comes to life or death situations, people are only concerned with the confidence, education, and skill level the nurse