I pasted my comment from another thread (above) into its own thread because I'm interested in why y'all think there is such a lack of diversity in nursing and what you think the solutions should be.
This is a touchy subject, I know, so I only ask that you keep your comments respectful and constructive:
As a minority we experience many unnecessary, unexplainable things that our equal counterparts never even have to deal with, like be confused with all of the healthcare team auxillary members (CNA,house keeping,PT,RT,patient escort, lab tech, pharm tech, etc...) while having a badge that Ray Charles could see identifying us as an RN!!!!! When you pretend to yourself that it doesn't happen, it is because you have probably been guilty of it yourself. Have you noticed how receptive people are to a young (majority) male in scrubs/lab coat versus a minority male in scrubs/lab coat?????? The minority could actually be the MD and majority the scrub tech, but guess who gets the MD RESPECT?
Older thread I came across but wanted to comment on this:
First, some demographics: in the U.S. as of 2000, RNs are comprised of:
1. The key statistic here is that only ONE PERCENT of nurses are non-white males. If I mistake a minority male as being somebody OTHER than a nurse, sure, there might be some built-in cultural bias there, but it's just as likely that it's because of the rarity of such nurses in the first place.
Now, you might argue that the rarity is the real problem and I would agree. A profession that under-represents minorities by a factor of 3 and males by a factor of 9 needs to ask itself one potent question: why?
2. I think the OP has had a difficult time over the years finding fellow minority male NPs because those nurses would be a fraction of the ONE PERCENT total number of non-white male nurses. A small pool to swim in, to be sure.
3. As demographics change, nursing is simply going to be forced to address this issue of an astounding lack of diversity in its ranks. As our nation drops below 50% "white" in the next decade or two, it will simply become unfeasible to continue to recruit 86.6% of RNs (male and female combined) from the shrinking pool of whites in this nation. Think real hard about that last statistic: something is amiss in how we recruit nurses. Something's broken and needs to be fixed.
(disclaimer: it's not my intent to be biased against LVN/LPNs, however, I got my stats from government links that only tabulated RNs.)
In the early eighties my hospital decided to go toward an all RN staff. LVNs were laid off.
With one exception the white LVNs went back to school and are now RNs.
The Black and Hispanic LVNs are still LVNs.
WHY?
They all state different personal reasons. Mostly short term financial difficulties and lack of time with family. I waited until my kids were in highschool to go back for my RN.
I think family encouragement is almost essential.
BUT I also think encouragement in terms of decreased red tape, waiting lists, inflexible work schedules and such would encourage LVN/LPNs to earn their RN too.
I do think the initial decision could be guidance counsellers at highschools with minority student bodies advising people interested in nursing into an LVN/LPN program rather than ADN or BSN.
Amazing how responses to this thread cite local nurse force composition down to the shop level in refutation of national RN breakdown. A little denial here maybe? Critical thinking please?
In the early eighties my hospital decided to go toward an all RN staff. LVNs were laid off.
With one exception the white LVNs went back to school and are now RNs.
The Black and Hispanic LVNs are still LVNs.
WHY?
They all state different personal reasons. Mostly short term financial difficulties and lack of time with family. I waited until my kids were in highschool to go back for my RN.
I think family encouragement is almost essential.
BUT I also think encouragement in terms of decreased red tape, waiting lists, inflexible work schedules and such would encourage LVN/LPNs to earn their RN too.
I do think the initial decision could be guidance counsellers at highschools with minority student bodies advising people interested in nursing into an LVN/LPN program rather than ADN or BSN.
Amazing how responses to this thread cite local nurse force composition down to the shop level in refutation of national RN breakdown. A little denial here maybe? Critical thinking please?
? the previous info was helpful, critical thinking is not always necessary for direct information.
I have to admit that I have not read the entire thread.
I do want to address the "equality" factor. Someone asked early on; "Do you think a black nurse can be just as good as a white nurse?"
The answer is an obvious and resounding "yes."
The follow up question was then "shouldn't we actively recruit nurses from minorities then?"
I propose a different question.
Shouldn't we actively recruit quality individuals to be nurses? Regardless of their race; religion color or creed?
I think the answer to that question is yes. I think that if we provide postive role models than more people of all backgrounds will be drawn to nursing. Honestly, who cares if the nurses are 99% black or 99% male or whatever.
It seems to me that people hate labels and stereotypes and pigeonholes... that is until those labels; sterotypes and pigeon holes work towards their advantage.
We are either all people and nurses; or we are not. If race should not be an issue (which it shouldn't) why is it then that it is constantly made into one?
Why does everything have to be about race! who gives a hoot? The person who has the appropriate courses taken to get into a school and who has the fortitude to finish and pass the NCLEX LPN or RN and has the desire to care for people should enter this profession period. Nothing more Nothing less.
I think diversity exists in nursing, but it may be regional and departmental. I would expect that your staffing would represent your local population, as well as, schooling choices(availability).
In NJ, my ER is incredibly diverse-many males-even mix of white, black, hispanic, phillipino, jamaican,and haitian. I am not sure about the floors-perhaps, males gravitate towards specialties. I have to admit those are the only areas I've seen them in. What's interesting is that radiology seems to attract alot of males-perhaps its the perception that nursing is a woman's job?
I love my coworkers and can't imagine any other mix-regardless of our differences, or professional goals are the same! Caring for our patients and doing the best we can to help them heal. I'd also like to think that are patients may be getting exposed to people they might not in their regular lives.
Education will always be a point of contention-we want the best to care for us, yet Timothy has a point-all schools do not prepare children equally for college. I don't know how we can fix that, without fixing all of the reasons surrounding it.
BUT, I do believe that only the best should be admitted-regardless of sex, or race. Would you go to a lawyer or doctor or any other professional if you knew that they were last in their class, if you had a choice? Would you trust the care of your children to that doctor? I wouldn't...
Then again, women and men that I attended nursing school failed on their inability to translate(English quickly), understand complex concepts (during testing-English)or for that stupid medical calculations test(basic algebraic calculations). Some were excellent-had great skills, were smart, and good clinical skills-I was mad the school let them fall! Some left, others I met after they had been readmitted-some became my friends-we studied and hashed out test questions and critical thinking questions till we were sick of them! We went over that stupid math-once you get it it's easy. They all passed! In some ways, I believe they are smarter-reading in one language, thinking in another, then translating back--AMAZING.
I think if nursing's image changes, perhaps it will be a desireable choice for students choosing their college course of study-as long as we are only seen from the perspective of pooper scoopers-WE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE IMAGE PROBLEMS.
The large majority of white female nurses is the result of the additudes 30-40 years ago, when nurses were all white females. The nurses training now are a very diverse group. I think that retirement of that huge wave of nurses reaching retirement age will drastically change the statistics. As far as not respecting the non-white male, move to the NY area, they WILL think you are a doctor, and probably value your opinion more than the traditional white female.
I really agree with you on this one. My class of thirty is very diverse. Attitudes are definitely shifting.:clphnds:
This is a great thread! I would agree that the nursing student population of today is different than that of 10 or 20 years ago.
However, I think that the nursing population should be representative of the local population or thereabouts. If we have a local population of lets say 50% caucasian, 30% asian american, 10% african american, 10% american indian - would it make sense to have a 60% asian student body? Would this be representative? Or are we looking at catching up on diversity for lost time? Similarly, if we had a large spanish speaking patient population, would it be an injustice to english only nurses to be turned down for work based on foreign language or more of an injustice to the spanish only patients who does not have a bilingual caregiver?Just thoughts I think are interesting to ponder...
I have friends that say we need to have diverse nurses to meet the needs of our diverse patients. Good point. I also have friends that say the attention paid to diversity quotas are an injustice to white nursing students who are being turned away for their more ethnically diverse counterparts. Interesting point.
Personally, I think that we should stop asking nurses/nursing students about which racial or ethnic box they check and be more interested in their experiences with diversity and how that helps them be a good nurse.
Just thoughts. Would love to hear yours. Thanks for reading :)
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pickledpepperRN
4,491 Posts
I think it is quite complicated.
In the early eighties my hospital decided to go toward an all RN staff. LVNs were laid off.
With one exception the white LVNs went back to school and are now RNs.
The Black and Hispanic LVNs are still LVNs.
WHY?
They all state different personal reasons. Mostly short term financial difficulties and lack of time with family. I waited until my kids were in highschool to go back for my RN.
I think family encouragement is almost essential.
BUT I also think encouragement in terms of decreased red tape, waiting lists, inflexible work schedules and such would encourage LVN/LPNs to earn their RN too.
I do think the initial decision could be guidance counsellers at highschools with minority student bodies advising people interested in nursing into an LVN/LPN program rather than ADN or BSN.