Background: The nursing profession has seen significant increase in men choosing nursing as a career, yet male nurses are still grossly disproportionately in comparison to female nurses. As our society grows more diverse, the nursing profession and workforce needs to reflect the population they are providing care to. It is still not clearly understood with the opportunities, stable jobs, fairly good salaries, and even though the barriers toward male nurses are minimal, it appears that men are still not attracted to the nursing profession.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore and elucidate the everyday lived experience of male registered nurses in the workforce.

Methods: A qualitative phenomenological design and van Manen (1990) hermeneutic approach were used to describe and explicate the lived experience of the male nurses. The central question that guided the research study was: “What is the lived experience of male nurses in the workforce? The participants were (N =17) male nurses, 21 years and older, with more than one year nursing experience living in the tri-counties of South Florida, speak English, and willing to speak about their experience.

Results: The central themes and sub-themes highlighted were motivating factors (job opportunities, job flexibility, financial stability) breaking gender barriers (moving beyond gender barriers, making a difference, caring for female patients), and gendering (preferential privileges, maintaining masculinity).

Conclusion: Men in nursing with their minority status continue to have advantages. Further investigation is needed to understand why more men, especially the younger male adults are not attracted to the nursing profession. The Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) maybe a good tool for guidance counselors to introduce in high schools and colleges to assist students to identify career path.