The number of male nurses has been increasing steadily in recent years, a check with public and private health-care clusters here revealed.
In hospitals in the National Healthcare Group (NHG), the number of male nurses has risen by 27 per cent over the last five years.
SingHealth, the other public health-care cluster, saw a 55 per cent increase in the same period.
It has more than 400 male nurses.
This trend is also reflected in private hospitals. A Raffles Medical Group spokesman said the number of male nurses has doubled since 2010.
At private hospitals in the Parkway Pantai group, the number of male nurses has gone up by 10 per cent.
Ms Elaine Ng, Parkway Pantai's group director of nursing, said: "With greater awareness of the profession, nursing is no longer viewed as a career only for females.
"Male nurses are suited for more challenging, fast-paced areas like the intensive care unit, A&E (accident & emergency) and operating theatres which require more dexterity in patient care." Job stability, flexi-work benefits and attractive remuneration packages also contribute to this increase, an NHG spokesman said.
SingHealth's group director of nursing, Dr Tracy Carol Ayre, attributed the rising number of male nurses to today's career pathways that have opportunities for professional growth and development.
This lets nurses go beyond just providing care and comfort to patients and become specialist nurses, nurse educators or researchers.
This article was first published on September 01, 2014.
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