Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Time to change a job title: "Nurse"

Wikipedia defines a nurse as "a health care professional who is engaged in the practice of nursing. Nurses are responsible—along with other health care professionals—for the treatment, safety, and recovery of acutely or chronically ill or injured people, health maintenance of the healthy, and treatment of life-threatening emergencies in a wide range of health care settings. Nurses may also be involved in medical and nursing research and perform a wide range of non-clinical functions necessary to the delivery of health care."

I think that this job description should have its name changed to a more gender-neutral title: I propose "medtech". It is well-documented that a shortage of "nurses" has existed in the US healthcare system for some time. I think that part of the problem is that many men would be interested in the field of medical care but not being doctors, but are deterred by the idea of referring to themselves as "nurses." Job listings at health care employment sites show that "nursing" jobs are relatively well paying.

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