[rnbeauty]

University of Maryland had their first class in August of last year if I'm not mistaken.....extremly diversed. Asian, Hispanics, AA, Caucasion.

Kudos to UMD!

[apaisRN]

My class of 25ish has two students of Asian ancestry, one black, and at least three Hispanic. Our director is female and minority. Probably minorities are still underrepresented with those numbers, but it's nice to have a mix. I personally am about as white as a human can be and come from a racially homogenous part of the country, so I'm enjoying meeting new people (in school and in my new community).

[hdorsey]

You know I am experiencing similiar treatment right now! My OB instructor is Caucasian & from the South. She gives the white girls less complicated patients and expects even less of them and gave the B+(s) @ mid term. I got a C @ midterm and my careplans are well thought out, I provide good patient care and I am always going the extra mile to show my competency as a nurse. She said I am unorganized and do not prioritize my care. She also treats a Chinese girl in my clinical group the same way. Although I am usually an A or B student, I will have to take a C from this woman, pass the class and then go on about my business. What do you guys think?

[graduate_2002]

I would call her out on it. Document what is happening and go over her head if you have to.

Originally Posted by hdorsey

You know I am experiencing similiar treatment right now! My OB instructor is Caucasian & from the South. She gives the white girls less complicated patients and expects even less of them and gave the B+(s) @ mid term. I got a C @ midterm and my careplans are well thought out, I provide good patient care and I am always going the extra mile to show my competency as a nurse. She said I am unorganized and do not prioritize my care. She also treats a Chinese girl in my clinical group the same way. Although I am usually an A or B student, I will have to take a C from this woman, pass the class and then go on about my business. What do you guys think?

[SheRN1]

I find this thread very interesting because these are some of the same questions I have pondered. I was fortunate enough to meet 2 African American female CRNA's. Since, this meeting they have always been a great source of encouragement to me and my goals of becoming a CRNA. As a African American woman I know that we have to strive and work harder to enter the field. But, never give up and my best advice is to try network with these CRNA's they are always willing to help other minorities who have drive and determination. I know that hard work, determination and drive is what got me accepted into an Anesthesia program for 2006.

[rnbeauty]

Excellent. Congrats to you!.


What school?

[hdorsey]

Thanks! I just might have to do this ASAP!

[SigmaSRNA]

What's going on everybody? I'm an African-American Man and currently a RRNA at Texas Wesleyan University ( Class of 2007 ). My mentor (who is also an african-american male) is a graduate of this program and really sold me on being a CRNA. I couldn't be happier. God has blessed me with 6 classmates (who are all african-american) which I study with. Roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of our class is minorities of every kind.

[rn29306]

In the past three years of both seeing the existing classes and just recently seeing the potential interviewers for next year, there are only two minorities that I can remember. One girl never came back from Christmas break. That was the class ahead of me that just graduated. There is one minoritiy classmate currently in my group. He is doing quite well and looks to graduate in 8 months.
As for the whys, you are asking the wrong person. The interview numbers for African Amercians SRNAs are almost nonexistent and so are the enrollment numbers.

[SigmaSRNA]

Originally Posted by rnbeauty

The Director of Wayne State University's program in Michigan is minority.( Prudentia Worth, PhD) I spoke with her personally in regards to this huge disparity and she agrees as well. She actually wrote an article about this issue in the AANA journal.
The numbers are critically low.....WHY? Are minorities just not applying because of lack of knowledge about the field or are they applying and not getting accepted? I can admit that I did not know about this field until about 6 years ago. Never even touched on it in school. If we did, it was very little. I can also say that while attending undergrad ( an HBCU)....I've never seen a CRNA attend any career fairs that was held on campus. However, my sister attended a public non HBCU and states she recalls meeting several CRNA's at careers fairs.
I personally would love to dig a little deeper to figure out why the numbers are so low. The fact remains that diversity makes for a more culturally competent and culturally sensitive quality of care.

I went to an HBCU and noticed the same thing.
In my humble opinion, there are reasons why there isn't a large population of CRNA that are minorities. I will speak from an african-american perspective (since I am one). First, we are only a small percentage of nursing in general. And second, we don't have alot of african-american nurses who are ICU nurses (mostly med-surg,L&D, or peds). This was the case a decade ago (hence not seeing them now). You will start to see more of us going into anesthesia school. TO ALL APPLICANTS. Be open minded as far as schools. Just because one school doesn't take you another will. Its your job to find out which one.

I also went to an HBCU and saw the same thing. My p