Son Chooses To Follow In Dad's Nontraditional Career: Nursing

LUTZ, FL — For years, it was a career dominated by women. But a Tampa Bay father and son duo are among the growing number of men who are proving that a desire to care for patients has nothing to do with gender.

Jim Wilson, 64, has been a nurse since 1992 and a registered nurse in the surgery department at St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz since 2010.

His son, Ryan, 39, is a registered nurse in the interventional radiology department at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa. Ryan Wilson has been a nurse for seven years, five of those years at St. Joseph’s.

According to the most recent study by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, only about 9 percent of registered nurses are male. That’s up slightly from about 7 percent in 2013.

When Jim Wilson attended nursing school in the 1990s, he said there was still a stigma associated with male nurses.

“There were only three males in my graduating class of 230,” Jim Wilson said. “The perception has changed over the years. Nursing is a profession for anybody that cares for their fellow human beings. It is not gender-specific, even though it might originally have had that perception. It takes someone who has compassion, no matter what your gender, background or ethnicity is.”

Both father and son went into nursing as career changes. Jim Wilson worked in restaurant management and Ryan Wilson in retail.

Ryan Wilson said when he began considering a career change, he didn't have to look far for inspiration. Not only is his dad a nurse but his mom, Susan, was a registered nurse for 20 years (she is now an attorney).

Ryan Wilson's grandmother was a nurse and he has two other family members who are currently nurses: Brian Curtis is an intensive care unit nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital-North and Catie Liniger is a pediatric nurse at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital.

“I was exposed to the nursing profession for the majority of my life,” Ryan Wilson said. “My Dad did not necessarily encourage me to be a nurse, but I was always aware that the option was there.”

Ryan Wilson said he has always been mechanically inclined so becoming an interventional radiology nurse especially suited him.

“I get to use a lot of equipment and constantly am learning new things,’’ he said. “Nursing allows you a lot of flexibility. There is job security, nurses are always in demand, and it is rewarding – the satisfaction of helping people. Nursing may have been a female-dominated profession, but it is a great career for women and men.”

They both realized how critically important their career choices were when the coronavirus pandemic was declared, and they were asked to put their lives on the line every day as front-line workers in the war against the virus.

They don't perform their job duties for the accolades. Nevertheless, their efforts haven't gone unnoticed.

Earlier this year, the Wilson men were honored by their respective hospitals within weeks of each other.

Jim Wilson was awarded a Clinical Nurse Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award from St. Joseph's Hospital-North while Ryan Wilson was named St. Joseph's Hospital's Team Member of the Month for May.

They were both nominated by their peers and management for their leadership abilities and qualities.

“I’m proud of my Dad,” Ryan Wilson said. “I’m especially proud when people talk to me and speak so highly of him.”

Jim Wilson is equally proud of his son.

“He has taken his talents to the nursing profession and put them to good use,” Jim Wilson said. “He’s always been a leader. I like to think we’re cut from the same cloth.”