Making a Difference
Male RNs on the Rise

In an article in a 2000 issue of Nurseweek, the nursing division of the Department of Health and Human Service’s Bureau of Health Professions was cited as reporting that the percentage of men in the registered nurse population increased from 4.9 percent in 1996 to 5.9 percent in 2000.

This increase is evident at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, where the percentage of male RNs is higher than the national average. At TIRR, men comprise approximately 13 percent of the RN staff.

"We are very proud to have these highly skilled professionals at TIRR. They contribute in so many ways to the clinical and administrative arenas," said Donna Stultz, executive director of nursing at TIRR. "Once they experience the fulfillment of providing care to our patient population, they are often ready to make rehabilitation their area of specialization. What they do truly makes a difference in the lives of patients and families."

Three TIRR nurses, each working in a different area of the catastrophic rehabilitation hospital, serve as good examples of why rehabilitation nursing is an ideal field for men. They are registered nurses Rajeshbhai (Raj) Karee, Specialty Rehabilitation Program; Bart Plumbley, Spinal Cord Injury Program; and Felix Covarrubias, operating room.

Karee moved to Texas from India by way of New York in 1994. His mother was a pediatric nurse at Anand Municipalti Hospital in India. As a child, he read the biography of Florence Nightingale, and was so inspired by the book and his mother’s work that he began dreaming of becoming a nurse. He fulfilled his dream in 1988, when he began studying oncology nursing and worked for six years in an intensive care unit at Memorial Research Hospital in Bombay, Asia’s No.1 cancer center. The desire to be in warm weather brought Karee to Houston, where he joined the TIRR staff in 2000.

Karee said he chose the rehabilitation nursing field because it combines the joy of satisfying patients with the opportunity to cover many different areas of the discipline. At TIRR, he can move from wound care to caring for a diabetic, and from suctioning a child who is ventilator dependent to teaching patients and families about long-term care following catastrophic injuries.

Karee’s experience in pediatric as well as adult rehabilitation nursing makes him even more invaluable to TIRR’s patient population.

In high school, Bart Plumbley took a career placement test and learned he should consider a career in medicine. Plumbley wanted a career in the performing arts, and ignoring the test results, he attended college on a voice scholarship. Fate redirected him.

In 1986, his friend and partner was in a diving accident that left him a C-4 Tetra, which is what happens when there is a cervical spine injury near the fourth vertebra. As these injuries occur in the neck region, they are very serious, and patients often lose all feeling below the injury location.

The friend did his rehab at TIRR and Plumbley was his primary caregiver for the three years following the injury. It was this experience that showed Plumbley he was meant to be a comforter and a healer. He subsequently enrolled in nursing school.

Rehab nursing gives Plumbley the opportunity to work with patients who are physically and cognitively challenged, as well as physically ill.

"It’s exciting and rewarding to know that in some way I can help my patients reintegrate and contribute to the community at large," Plumbley said. "I stay in the field because I thrive on the physical work and the opportunities to teach. I’m very gratified when I see people I have cared for and know that, in some small way, I may have helped them make something of their lives after a life-changing accident."

A native of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Felix S. Covarrubias wanted to become a doctor but his family could not afford the tuition. He earned a scholarship to a local nursing school, and soon realized he was more suited to nursing.

"Knowing there were so few men in nursing, and being the only male in our class made me push even harder, thinking perhaps I could blaze a trail and become a role model for others to follow," Covarrubias said.

Covarrubias trained in surgical nursing in Mexico, where he realized how far behind Mexico’s programs were in comparison to those in the United States. Working in the Texas Medical Center has given him first-hand knowledge of the latest innovations in medicine and the opportunity to work with some of the best surgeons anywhere.

Covarrubias sees himself as a true patient advocate.

"While a patient is under anesthesia, I am there to represent that patient, to watch over his health, safety and well-being," he said.

Covarrubias spoke for his fellow TIRR nurses, male and female, when he said that day-to-day patient encounters are challenging, since many patients have experienced catastrophic injuries and must live with the greatest challenges any person could possibly face.

"These individuals often teach us about life and its difficulties and limitations, and we are often humbled by their strength and their will," Covarrubias said. "Our greatest challenge is to help them to the very best of our abilities, all the while keeping one step ahead and always with a reassuring attitude."

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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