In the last couple of decades nursing schools have worked hard to attract more minority nurses. Strategies have included scholarships and grants and promotion of the career advantages available to professional nurses.
As the U.S. grows more and more diverse the healthcare industry grows more diverse as well. Two of the largest minority groups in the nation are African Americans and Hispanics. Statistics show that hospitals and patient care areas are seeing increasing numbers of minority patients and as such the demand for minority healthcare professionals also grows.
Hospitals can only benefit from integrating minorities into their nursing teams and elsewhere. This helps answer the need for responding to the needs of patients from more diverse backgrounds and broadens the scope of nursing in any care environment. In other words the more diverse and well-rounded a team of nurses, the more expert it becomes when dealing with patients from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
Consider that nursing is largely about dealing with social preconceptions. Patients that come from more disadvantaged backgrounds, culturally unique backgrounds and more pose challenges to nurses trying to provide “white and Americanized” care tactics. But in many cases patients have unique needs—they may have had little adequate healthcare, and may have culturally unique notions about health and disease, may engage in alternative healing and medicine, or may have other challenges unique to a minority population. An ethnically diverse nursing staff is more prepared to manage the needs of a cross-section of patient population.
But how do schools of nursing appeal to ethnic and other minorities, including men? Traditionally offering monetary incentive has helped attract targeted student populations. Scholarships and grants provide a lot of incentive when it comes to attracting minority students to nursing.
You’ll find scholarships aimed at minority nursing students available from nursing schools, from nursing associations, and from public and private sources.
One of the best supports for promoting nurses is a nursing association. Nursing associations come by the dozens and embrace all nursing specialties and types of nurses, including students and working professional nurses. Minority nursing associations specifically help address the issues that impact the various minority populations in the field of nursing. Associations include:
The need for minority nurses continues to grow. Hospitals, nursing schools, and nursing associations all are working together to provide the support necessary to nurture the needs of all types of minority nurses, from students to professional RNs and LPNs.