By Erica Techo
As more men continue to enter the nursing workforce, the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing continues to ensure they are supported and prepared to make a difference in their communities. For the third year in a row, the UAB School of Nursing was named a Best School for Men in Nursing by the American Association of Men in Nursing, an award that recognizes nursing schools and colleges continuing to recruit and retain men in nursing.
In 2015, the School laid the groundwork and provided support for establishing the Birmingham Chapter of AAMN, an organization that is open to nurses and nursing students of all genders in the Birmingham metro area. While COVID-19 has presented its own challenges and obstacles, this chapter has grown from 60 to 100 members in the last year.
“While we couldn’t hold in-person group meetings or hold social events, we were able to transition a lot of our activities to a virtual setting,” said Chapter President, Associate Professor and Interim Assistant Dean for Graduate Clinical Education Curry Bordelon, DNP, MBA, NNP-BC, CPNP-AC, CNE (DNP 2016). “This included member meetings and our mentorship program, as well as planning for community engagement activities such as vaccine clinics throughout the city and at UAB.”
According to 2020 numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, men account for around 13 percent of the registered nurse and nurse practitioner workforce, an increase from a 9 percent share of the workforce in 2011.
The UAB School of Nursing’s faculty is 17.8 percent male, while national averages are around 6 percent for full-time and 9.3 percent for part-time faculty, according to the National League for Nursing. The School also has strong male representation in graduate and doctoral programs, and an average of 14.5 percent male students in its BSN program, compared to a national average of 12.5 percent male enrollment.
One role of the AAMN Best School award, and one goal of AAMN chapters, are to highlight diversity in the nursing workforce and to discuss openly the accomplishments made and challenges faced by men in nursing. Throughout the pandemic, these discussions have also highlighted the value of nurses as a whole and their ongoing perseverance, Bordelon said.
“Although a horrific and devastating pandemic is in place, our membership discussions help participants understand that nursing has transcended these challenges before,” Bordelon said. “We’ve continued to build a strong workforce, and by continuing to build the number of nurses in the United States, even with this pandemic and other world events, we’ve been able to remain the most trusted profession and continued to make a difference in our communities.”
