East Carolina University's SON was the first ever winner of the the Best Nursing School or College for Men Award by the American Assembly for Men in Nursing. Innovative thinking keeps them on the cutting edge and has got to be one of the reasons they were so recognized.
Thirty-five percent of the nurses in the U.S. Army are men. East Carolina has arranged to partner with area military bases to increase the number of men in nursing in the private sector. Their nursing school will work with military installations at Camp Lejeune, Seymour Johnson and Cherry Point to encourage men with military training and experience in health care to consider nursing as a viable career after military service and ease the transition from the military to civilian practitioners.
Military nurses are educated at the baccalaureate, masters and doctoral levels, also making them fine candidates for East Carolina SON faculty positions when they retire from active duty.
The University of Texas at Austin SON won the 2005 AAMN annual award in part because it lends its support to the student-led Longhorn Association of Men in Nursing.
LAMN's stated mission is to foster nursing education, facilitate unity among future colleagues and leaders in nursing, encourage men to consider nursing as a career and promote a positive image of men in the field of nursing. LAMN is working diligently to raise funds for their recently established Men in Nursing scholarship.
The University of Iowa College of Nursing has established a Men in Nursing Mentoring Task Force. Its purpose is threefold:
First to develop, recommend and implement strategies to recruit as many men as possible to the University of Iowa College of Nursing.
Secondly, to develop strategies to increase the visibility of nursing as a career choice for men interested in health care careers.
Finally, to facilitate retention and career development for male students who are majoring in nursing by developing a men in nursing mentoring program.
The University of Iowa has also put together a great publication entitled simply “Men in Nursing.”
Click here to download the pdf version.
The poster that graces the home page of RNmen.com was part of an ingenious public relations strategy concocted by the Oregon Center for Nursing in 2002 to recruit more men into nursing. The OCN produced poster, with the caption “Are You Man Enough to Be a Nurse,” has won countless advertising awards and done a world of good for the RNmen image in general. School counselors still call the OCN to order the posters to hang on high school walls.
