By Tatum Lyles Flick
Communications Specialist
For the fifth year in a row, the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing has been named one of American Association for Men in Nursing’s Best Schools for Men in Nursing. The award honors schools that offer supportive education experiences to men in the nursing field and those that work to recruit men to their programs.
“For more than five decades, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing has provided men with unrivaled opportunities to excel as nurse practitioners, researchers, administrators and educators,” wrote VUSN chapter adviser Chance Allen, MSW, MSN’12, in the school’s application. “The first male dean of nursing in the U.S. was Luther Christman. We are honored to say he served his first deanship at VUSN.”
The School of Nursing teaches across curriculum on male health, including men’s health and transgender health, male cancer biology, male reproductive system, genes and gene-environment interaction, assessment of renal and male genitourinary systems, LGBTI health, renal/GU – prostate cancer, and men’s health: ED, BPH and HRT management.
“The Vanderbilt School of Nursing provides high-quality training for aspiring advanced practice nurses from a wide array of backgrounds,” said Dean Pamela Jeffries, PhD, RN, FAAN, ANEF, FSSH, the Valere Potter Distinguished Professor of Nursing. “Recruiting men into nursing, a profession where women are the majority, adds diversity of ideas that strengthens our field and produces skilled nurses from different backgrounds who provide health care to the varied populations we serve.”
VUSN has a thriving AAMN chapter that actively recruits new members and an environment in which faculty and staff excel in their careers, winning numerous awards including fellowships, grants, leadership, service and staff appreciation awards.
“The AAMN Men in Nursing Award is as much an award as it is a yearly quality improvement process,” Allen said. “Winning the award shows that we continue to strive to increase the numbers of men in the nursing workforce. The result of this will hopefully add much needed staff to the already struggling ranks of nurses who have been under great stress from the pandemic.