Difference Between Male & Female Staff Nurses

Staff nurses can be male or female.

Nurses can be either male or female. This includes--but is not limited to--staff nurses, who make up the majority of registered nurses.

Staff Nurses

Staff nurses are nurses who work on the "front lines." The nurse who administers medication on a ward is a staff nurse, as is the nurse who performs minor surgery in a GP's office. Nurse practitioners, on the other hand, are not staff nurses--they have more advanced training and responsibilities.

Proportion

There are substantially more female nurses than there are male nurses. As of 2010, 5.4 percent of nurses were men--meaning 94.6 percent of nurses were women.

Discrimination

While the perception of nursing as a female-only profession is changing, it is still female-dominated. Men do not suffer from discrimination in general, but there have been instances of patients feeling uncomfortable with male nurse midwives and male nurses in obstetrics. This means that a male staff nurse can have a harder time getting into these fields than a female nurse.

References

• Job Bank USA: Job Descriptions, Definitions, Roles, Responsibilities of Nurses
• Scrubs: Highest Paying Nurse Specialties
• All Nursing Schools: Men in Nursing: Learn About the Many Opportunities in Male Nursing