10 things you probably didn’t know about male nurses—until now

This week a major national media outlet ran a photojournalism report on young men building careers in nursing. It’s been spurring chatter on social media ever since it posted.  

Focusing mainly on the nursing program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the piece—an NPR presentation—reports the UAB School of Nursing has made a concerted effort to court men, and to great effect. 

Close to 1 in 6 nursing students at UAB are men, “outpacing the national average,” reports NPR labor and workforce correspondent Andrea Hsu. Meanwhile nearly 1 in 5 faculty are men. And, in some specialties within the university hospital, male nurses are “almost as common as female nurses.”

UAB Nursing’s success in diversifying by sex or gender owes much to the program’s mindful approach. It spotlights male students in all marketing materials, sends male as well as female nurses into high schools on recruitment missions and runs an employee resource group for men in nursing at the university hospital.

Along with such telling background info, the NPR package has some illustrative photos and lively quotes from a handful of UAB male nurses. 

At HealthExec, the piece had us asking: What else don’t we know about men in nursing? Here are 10 things we found out. 
 

1. Of the 4 million-plus nurses in the healthcare workforce, about 12% are men. 

Interestingly, men hold some 16% of advanced practice RN jobs. Both those figures represent a substantial jump from 2008, when men made up just 7% of the total nurse workforce. And in the 1970s, the figure was stuck below 2%. Meanwhile, in the present decade, men fill an outsize proportion of nursing jobs in anesthesia—around 40%. 
 

2. There’s general parity in earnings between male and female nurses. 

Of course, salaries vary by location, specialization, education and other factors. But no differentiating factor has anything to do with sex or gender. (Incidentally, the median annual salary for RNs was $93,600 as of 2024.)
 

3. This year the American Nurses Association began recognizing men’s health as a nursing specialty. 

It’s too soon to say whether the development will draw more men into nursing, but it certainly can’t hurt. 
 

4. Males account for 12.6% of all baccalaureate nursing students in the 2025-26 school year. 

They also ring up representation rates of 11.8%, 16% and 11.5% of students enrolled in master’s, DNP and PhD programs, respectively. Representation of males across all types of nursing education programs has increased since 2024, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing reports. The growth “signals that targeted recruitment efforts are beginning to reshape the nursing student population,” RegisteredNursing.org remarks. 
 

5. People often mistake male nurses for doctors—or assume they’re gay. 

“A lot of times, men need permission to be in the nursing field,” says a graduate student who’s pursuing a dual master’s degree in nursing and business administration at UAB. 
 

6. There’s a national advocacy group for men in nursing. 

It’s called—what else?—the American Association for Men in Nursing. It’s been around for decades. And it’s now accepting nominations for outstanding achievers to award this year. Better hurry if you have someone in mind, though. Deadline for submissions is July 27. 

7. The first nursing school opened in India around 250 B.C.—and it only admitted men. 

Little by little, things turned around quite completely, didn’t they? When the U.S. Army created its Nursing Corps in 1901, only females were allowed to serve. “It wasn’t until after the Korean War that men were allowed to serve in the Army as nurses,” the College of St. Scholastica points out. “The next historical feat for men in nursing was in 1981, when the United States Supreme Court made it illegal to ban men from nursing school.”
 

8. When the Civil War began, both Confederate and Union medical departments preferred having male nurses taking care of their soldiers. 

“Generally, medical officers did not think that women were capable of the work or would be willing to follow military etiquette,” Colibri Healthcare’s EliteLearning.com reminds history buffs. Things changed in a hurry, however, “when the number of wounded soldiers requiring hospital treatment exposed how unprepared the country was to manage the carnage of war.”
 

9. In 2026, nursing scholarships for men are both numerous and inviting. 

Men who are interested in nursing have access to specialized scholarships aimed at increasing minority representation throughout the field, Morganne Skinner, RN, points out at NurseJournal. These financial awards can exceed $5,000, she adds, noting that applications may require essays, recommendation letters and proof of community service. See Skinner’s list of the best of the bunch. 
 

10. The 21st century has seen an uptick in men joining the nursing workforce through the military. 

“When I went to nursing school, two of the 12 guys in our class were using post-9/11 G.I. bill funding that they earned from their service in the U.S. Navy to pay for nursing school,” recalls Frankie Hamilton, RN, BSN, MBA, in a national nursing blog. 

Joining the military as a nurse “affords one the opportunity to develop exceptional leadership skills while serving our nation with pride, delivering high-quality nursing care to service members and their families,” Hamilton adds. “It gives you the chance to make a meaningful impact while building a rewarding career that blends professional growth and purpose.”

As an unknown but wise person once said: “Save one life and you’re a hero. Save one hundred lives and you’re a nurse.”