Is graduate entry education a solution to increasing numbers of men in nursing?

• Traditionally, the proportion of males in nursing has been low in many countries.
• Males may consider nursing as a second career pathway.
• Graduate entry courses may provide an attractive option for increasing numbers of males to enter the nursing workforce.

Males have traditionally constituted a very small proportion of the nursing workforce in many countries, including Australia. Together with a need to address the gender imbalance, nursing workforce shortages require strategies for recruiting new nurses, including males. This study examined characteristics of males entering one accelerated graduate entry masters pre-registration nursing program in Victoria, Australia. A quantitative survey gathered a variety of demographic data and factors relating to participants' decisions to undertake nursing. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics including frequencies and distributions. Forty-three male nursing students from four cohorts of the Master of Nursing Practice (MNP) course from 2009 to 2011 completed the survey. The proportion of males (30%) was considerably greater than traditional nursing courses and the profession generally. Participants demonstrated wide distributions in age ranges, professional backgrounds and previous years in the workforce. Graduate entry appears attractive to males of varying ages, personal and professional backgrounds. More research is needed to examine this phenomenon on a larger scale.