Men’s Health Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice 

Honoring Julian L. Gallegos, PhD, MBA, APRN, FNP-BC, NREMT, CNL, CMHE, FAUNA, FADLN
 
Indiana is now firmly on the map in a historic transformation of nursing practice. Men’s health has been officially recognized as a specialty within the profession of nursing, and at the center of this national achievement is one of our own: Dr. Julian L. Gallegos.
 
Dr. Gallegos, faculty at Purdue University–West Lafayette, was the driving force behind the idea that men’s health deserves its own defined specialty within nursing. For years, he witnessed how boys and men were often invisible in traditional models of care, despite experiencing disproportionate burdens of premature death, occupational injury, mental health challenges, and delayed treatment. Refusing to accept this as the status quo, he set out to change the profession itself.
 
To advance this vision, Dr. Gallegos founded the American Men’s Health Nursing Alliance (AMHNA) and, together with national partners, led the development of the first-ever Men’s Health Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice. This document has now been formally reviewed and approved by the American Nurses Association (ANA) Board of Directors, officially establishing Men’s Health Nursing as a recognized specialty.
 
Indiana nurses can take pride in knowing that this groundbreaking work began with a Hoosier nurse whose commitment to evidence-based care, health equity, and innovation shaped a new path for the profession. Through his leadership, men’s health is no longer an afterthought it is a defined focus of nursing practice, education, and research.
 
As this specialty is implemented across the country, Indiana’s nursing community stands at the forefront, with Dr. Gallegos’s work ensuring that boys and men in our state and beyond will be seen, heard, and cared for with greater intention and expertise than ever before.

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