The growing problem of understaffed health services could be solved to some extent if more men would go into nursing, a registered nurse asserted here Wednesday,
He is Edward G. Benz of Hat-tiesburg, Pa*, an official of the American Nursing Association and nursing consultant for the department of public welfare.
He was principal speaker at the afternoon session of the current Louisiana State Nurses Association in the Jung hotel. His subject was "Some Present Day Staffing Patterns." {
Participating in a panel discussion of the theme with him were Mrs, Eloise Kauf froth, assistant director of nursing in U.S. 'Public Health Service hospital; Miss Mildred Ann Vogel, Touro infirmary's director of nursing service; Miss Joan Walsh, assistant director of nursing, Baton Rouge General hospital; and Miss Edna Me-whinney, regional nurse consul-1
tant, Louisiana state board of health.
Men, said Benz, are" part of the answer to the nursing shortage. Only tradition keeps more of them from entering the profession, he said.
"Men," he pointed out, "can be just as sincere and dedicated nurses as women, and we think they have proven it. However, only three per cent of our nurses today are men."
He called attention to the fact that many women nurses drop out of the profession after they marry and bear children; men also marry, but domestic responsibilities do not prevent them from carrying on professionally. x
"Why," he asked, "shouldn't the nursing profession latch onto a group that can prdvide more stability?"
Benz also pointed out that the shortage of nurses extends to mental institutions, and it is there that men nurses can be particularly useful in tending male patients.
In addition to routine business meetings, Thursday's convention program will be high lighted by a discussion on hypother* my. It will be led by Drv Kenneth Bray of the Veterans Administration hospital staff.
The convention will close Friday following a day-long LSNA board meeting.
