Male nurses can gender balance and more

By Dr Gaurav Agnihotri
Editor in Chief

When we think of a nurse, we imagine the image of a female with a peaked white cap and dress. We seldom imagine a male nurse. Yet, there are male nurses and many are doing an exceptional job. Many male nurses report both positive and negative discrimination when studying and in the workplace. Males nurses are often dubbed ‘murses’, however, nurses remain divided as to whether the term is derogatory or not, with some rejoicing in the fact that male nurses have a name specific to their gender and role, and others not seeing the necessity of such a term. I wonder if it is okay to call male nurses ‘murses’, then accordingly female nurses should be called ‘furses’ !! In a society where women strive to achieve equality with men, it seems ironic that men do not have equality with women in the nursing world.