A woman's world? A day in the life of a male nursing major

Junior Eric Kern was supposed to be an engineering major at Indiana State University, but today he proudly wears a faded IU T-shirt with the words “Indiana Nursing” on it.
Such a drastic change in major can only be explained by the events of March 2007.

While driving home from work along an unlit, hilly road in Ireland, Ind., Kern’s mom caught a glimpse of something in the street. Assuming it was a deer, she quickly swerved. Her car crashed into an embankment on the side of the road, leaving Kern’s mom with three broken vertebrae.

Kern, his two siblings and his four foster siblings were left without a mother figure for several weeks as she recuperated in the hospital with the support of a four-person nursing staff.

During the weeks after the accident, Kern remembers visiting his mom in the hospital and seeing the nurses connect with the rest of his family. On numerous occasions, the nurses would provide him with meals or sit and talk to offer both moral and spiritual support, he said.
 
“With seven kids without a mom to take care of them, these nurses helped to make a difference in our life when there was an empty void,” Kern said. “The impact they had on me and my family was huge.”

These moments explain Kern’s nursing T-shirt. He bought it June 1, 2009 — the day that he, along with three other men and 56 women, was accepted into the IU School of Nursing. 

Before receiving his acceptance letter, which completed his transfer from Indiana State University, Kern became a certified nursing assistant at Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Ind., working alongside the same nurses who took care of his mom. He worked in geriatrics for three years and currently works in the emergency room.

“I like trauma,” he said. “It’s where I like to call home.”

This wasn’t always the case.

Turning his head to the side, Kern points to a scar on his left eyebrow. At the age of 8, while roughhousing with his siblings, he sliced his head on the edge of a table and refused to get stitches.

A year later, Kern came down with pneumonia and missed more than a week of school before his mom dragged him to the hospital.

“I used to hate the hospital,” he said. “I probably should have had stitches or gone to the hospital a bunch of times, but I never wanted to admit I was sick.” 

Now, more than a decade later, Kern’s academic career revolves almost entirely around nursing.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, Kern’s days are filled with nursing lectures, and on Tuesdays he has a clinical lab from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“His work ethic is above and beyond a lot of people in the nursing school,” junior Caitlin Burden said.

A day in the life

Dressed in red scrubs, white tennis shoes and an ID tag with his photo on it, Kern walks into a classroom in the Sycamore Hall basement at 7:50 a.m. Tuesday. The classroom is decorated with two posters, one of which shows a male nurse with the slogan: “Be a Role Model. Be a Nurse.” 

Sitting down at the table, he reaches into his bag for a Cool Blue Gatorade and a Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tart.

Along with the nine women in the class, Kern watches a skills module on how to insert a urinary catheter. 

“We have learned to be a family,” he said. “My girlfriend is at Butler College in Indianapolis, so it’s nice to have girls to go to and talk if you need advice.”

Folding his arms across his chest, he stares intently at the screen, adjusting the purple “Find a Cure” wristband he wears on his left wrist. 

Kern wears the wristband to support a friend and fellow nursing student who is suffering from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

As president of the sophomore nursing class, Kern helped plan a benefit concert at Buffa Louie’s to raise money for the illness.

After the video, Kern snaps on purple surgical gloves and approaches the mannequin in the electric hospital bed.

“Hello, Mrs. Jones,” he says. “I’ll be putting a catheter in you today.” 

Working through the steps, Kern emphasizes the importance of maintaining sterility and patient privacy.

“You’re going to feel a little pressure,” he says, inserting the lubricated tubing into the mannequin.

This is not Kern’s first experience with urinary catheters. Working at the hospital, he has seen this typically messy procedure performed numerous times.

“If you get grossed out easily, this wouldn’t be the field for you,” he said.

‘Focused and determined’

Besides a full course load, Kern puts in a 12-hour shift at the Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Ind., once a week and also works at the registrar’s office.

“Eric is the most focused and determined person I know,” sophomore Gordon Lang said. “I feel like he could choose any academic route and he could really excel in that area.”

To make it to the hospital on time on Thursday morning, Kern leaves IU on Wednesday night. He spends the night at home in Ireland, Ind., and makes the 10-minute commute to Jasper in the morning.

While attending to patients, Kern said he has encountered curiosity about his career path due to the low percentage of men in the nursing field. 

“When I walk in a room and say, ‘I’m going to be your nurse today,’ I’ve had older patients ask me, ‘What made you want to be a nurse?’ or ‘Why aren’t you farming?’” he said. “I tell them that I enjoy caring for people and helping the sick.”

In the future, Kern hopes to become an emergency room nurse practitioner or certified registered nurse anesthetist in Indianapolis’ Wishard Memorial or Methodist Hospitals.

Although it’s been nearly three years since the car crash, Kern said the lessons he learned from his mom’s nursing staff have resonated with him as he pursues a career.  
“I want to make a great impact on patients’ lives,” he said. “And I want to be able to pay it forward.”