A primary school was transformed last week as pupils as young as six were given the chance to become nurses for the day. It is part of a new initiative to tackle gender stereotypes and teach boys and girls that the future of the country’s healthcare is in their hands.
The groundbreaking programme will be rolled out across schools in Lothian and Grampian in a bid to encourage more youngsters, girls and boys, to see healthcare as a natural career choice in their future years.
The Future Nurse campaign, launched in Duddingston Primary School, is part of a partnership between NHS Lothian, NHS Grampian, the Scottish Government, and the uniform provider, Dimensions UK.
The project was initiated by Colin McNulty, Senior Nurse Manager at NHS Grampian, who found that attitudes and ideas about nursing are formed as early as primary school for most children.
Colin said: “If you look at a typical nurse costume for a child, the uniform often comes with a cape and hat, even though these haven’t been standard uniform for decades. The tools they have may be limited to a thermometer and a fob watch, suggesting nurses do little more than take temperatures or measure pulses.
“The reality of modern day nursing couldn’t be further from this, but first impressions matter. If this is what very young children are learning about nursing then they may decide it is not the job for them in years to come. As a registered nurse, I wanted to change the message.”
The children not only met nurses from NHS Lothian, but were given their own little uniforms to try on for size.
They also had the chance to use real nursing equipment and take part in simulations to learn about the life saving work nurses undertake every single day.
The initiative highlights the importance of gender equality and perceptions of nursing, in an attempt to shape the future of Scotland’s workforce.
It is hoped it will help young children understand the value of a career that is based around caring for others and teach young boys that they can be nurses one day too.
Professor Alex McMahon, Director of Nursing at NHS Lothian, who started his career as a registered nurse in 1983 said: “It is really exciting to work with schools to try and educate children from an early age about jobs in healthcare.
The ability to shape the thinking of young boys is really important. This project will help them consider a career in nursing, which can then go on to open the doors for working in so many different areas of healthcare. Around 8% of the nursing workforce are men, so the idea that we could grow that number through these initiatives is amazing.We are delighted to be working with NHS Grampian as the only two health boards in Scotland to be taking forward this initiative.”
Fiona McQueen, the Chief Nursing Officer of Scotland said: “This is a fabulous initiative devised and developed by NHS Grampian in partnership with NHS Lothian and local schools, to inspire the next generation of the nursing workforce.
“I wholeheartedly support the approach to showcase the breadth and diversity of nursing and midwifery careers. We are delighted that Dimensions are able to provide gender neutral child size tunics to challenge crucial early perceptions of what it means to be a nurse.”
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