Let’s face it, when most people hear the word “nurse” they still picture a woman holding that job. And that’s actually no small wonder because in actuality, male nurses comprise only a small percentage — slightly over five percent — of all registered nurses in the US. That’s according to a survey by the Department of Health in 2004.

That number does seem to be increasing, however. Records in the Department of Health and Human Services reveal that way back in 1980, only 2.7 percent of Registered Nurses in America were male.

Interestingly enough, centuries ago, almost all caretakers were male. Women in those days, of course, did not exactly get out of the house to pursue outside careers much. Many of the earliest caretakers were monks and religious men who considered caring for the sick to be a holy calling. As a matter of fact, the Benedictine order was established by St. Benedict in the 1800s primarily to care for the sick.

For some reason however, the job of caring for the sick has fallen to the hands of women in these modern times. The nursing profession has come to be identified as feminine and few men dare venture into the field despite the high demand and high pay.

But for men who want to pursue a nursing career, the best school that they can be in today is Excelsior College, says the American Assembly for Men in Nursing. Although they still are far from having an even distribution of men and women attending the nursing school program at Excelsior College, 21 percent of the pre-licensure nursing students are male.

An online college, Excelsior offers many nursing online degrees including programs for LPN to Associate in Nursing and LPN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Of course, male student nurses are also welcome in any nursing school across the country and Excelsior College is but one of the nursing schools that would-be male nurses can enroll to.

Excelsior may be the best nursing school for male nurses but there are a lot of terrific schools for both men and women. Visit http://nursingschoolprograms.com to discover which nursing schools and programs might be perfect for you!