Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
With the emergences of diseases brought about by different changes in the environment and advancement of technology rise also the need for more effective and efficient nurses that can respond to the demands not only of the patients but also the family and relatives of the patients.
In the earlier years nursing profession was left to the women with the thinking that nursing and nurturing are minimal jobs intended for the weaker gender. This was stressed by Blakely as she was interviewed by Meyers (2003) who said: "When people think of nursing, they think of women in nurturing roles, as handmaidens to doctors."
Many would frown on men taking up nursing with the thinking that a man who goes to the nursing profession is a homosexual-a gay one. And yet whoever believes such is misinformed. Readings have pointed out that even before the coming of Christ, nursing profession was intended for the male population.
Group of nurses, Base Hospital #45
Nurse log, Quinault Rain Forest Nature Trail
Nurse PractitionerGeocities (2008) attests on this fact:
The first nursing school in the world was started in India in about 250 BC. Only men were considered "pure" enough to become nurses. The Charaka (Vol I, Section xv ) states these men should be, "of good behavior, distinguished for purity, possessed of cleverness and skill, imbued with kindness, skilled in every service a patient may require, competent to cook food, skilled in bathing and washing the patient, rubbing and massaging the limbs, lifting and assisting him to walk about, well skilled in making and cleansing of beds, readying the patient and skillful in waiting upon one that is ailing and never unwilling to do anything that may be ordered."
Nursing must not be considered as the prime duty of women. It is both the responsibility of men and women. Earlier studies...