Increasing Latino Participation in the Nursing Profession: Best Practices

The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) at the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning, and Development has released "Increasing Latino Participation in the Nursing Profession: Best Practices at California Nursing Programs," a 68 page study on a topic increasingly important to our state. There is a two page Executive Summary that will give the reader a good overview of the report and the report itself is laid out with a table of contents and is easy to read.

According to the study, California is suffering a critical nursing shortage that could be mitigated by more minorities stepping into the field, in turn elevating the standard of care for minority patients. As our population ages, there will be increasing demands for nursing services.

Analysis and findings of the TRPI study raise compelling points about why Latinos bypass the field of nursing including:
• Family-related barriers
• Financial barriers
• Pre-college educational barriers
• Lack of Latinos in leadership roles in health professions
• Socio-cultural barriers, and
• Systemic barriers in higher education...