Teng Fei (R), a nurse of the 1st Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, guides relatives of a patient to clinic rooms in the hospital in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, May 11, 2013. Male nurses in China are scarce, whose number accounts for merely one percentage of the total nurses in the country. Many people attribute the scarcity to society's view point that nursing is a women's job. Women are seen as more careful and patient than men, but, in general, male nurses are physically stronger or more energetic than women. They are particularly needed in Intensive Care Units, emergency departments, psychiatric hospitals and so on. (Photo: Xinhua)
Chinese male nurses, who represent less than one percent of the total nursing population, are in huge demand in the nation's job market, the Chinese Nursing Association (CNA) said on Sunday.
Cheng Gen, a CNA member in charge of male nurse related work, said male nurses are expected to be very popular in the future job market considering their small number and huge market demand.
Cheng said male nurses mainly work in intensive care unit (ICU), emergency medicine department, cardiovascular department and mental disease unit.
Such a population is swelling rapidly, especially in large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, Cheng said, adding that among the approximately60,000 registered nurses in Beijing, more than 2,000 are men, accounting for three percent, a share higher than the nation's average.
Cheng attributed the rapid rise in male nurse population to significant improvement of remunerations for nurses. In the past, men were reluctant to stay a nurse and many quitted their jobs for low-pay and limited career development, Cheng said.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission said on Friday nurses' working conditions and remunerations have improved in recent years.
Among 5,809 nurses working in 112 hospitals across China, 84.2 percent are generally happy in their work, according to a third-party survey commissioned by the health authority.
China's number of registered nurses stood at nearly 2.5 million at the end of 2012, according to official statistics.
