Men find niches in nursing, child care work

Chris Pfeiffer hopped aboard a stereotype-busting train about 20 years ago when he became a male nurse, one of the last bastions of truly traditional gender roles at work. Pfeiffer, who also co-owns the Tea Tots Child Care Center with his wife, Tonya, began his career in the early 90s.

He earned an associate degree in nursing before embarking on his career and has continued to learn new skills ever since, such as advanced life support procedures for pediatric and cardiac patients, pre- and post-op care, acute care and more.

While Pfeiffer has noticed more males in the crowd of student nurses touring the Sioux Falls Sanford Hospital where he works, he is still one of just three male nurses in his current work area, post anesthesia. “We’re very outnumbered, but we hold our own,” he said.

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