'I rarely have contact with my female colleagues'

Yang Bin, a male nurse in Hefei

I have been working as a male nurse since 2007. When I was in college, there were 62 girls and just five boys in the class. Now, I am the only man among 80 nurses in the elderly care department at the Hefei Binhu Hospital.

Friends joke that being around so many female colleagues must be very cool, but I often feel embarrassed about it.

As one of two head nurses, I find that it requires great patience to make the female nurses listen to me, and I also think it's a good idea to steer clear of office politics.

I rarely have contact with my female colleagues after work. That feeling is shared by the 14 other male nurses in the Hefei First Hospital Group, with which the Hefei Binhu hospital is affiliated.

The work schedule is a big obstacle to social activities, anyway. My working hours change every few days, between 8 am to 4 pm, 4 pm to 12 pm and 12 pm to 8 am.

Some of my friends complain that they never know when I will be at work.

The 15 male nurses know each other well and we keep close personal contact outside of work.

The Male Nurses Committee was founded by the Chinese Nursing Association in 2014. Since then, local organizations have been founded in some provinces, but there is no official organization in Anhui yet.

To raise the profile of male nurses, I proposed founding the Hefei Union of Male Nurses, which won support from the hospital group and my 14 male colleagues.

We want more male nurses from the city, and even the province, to join us, but so far, only the guys from my hospital group have become members. Well, at least there are enough of us to form teams for basketball and soccer matches!

Yang Bin spoke with Zhu Lixin