Help: Interview questions for minority RN nurses

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Sep 4, 2006

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum. I also just started nursing school 2 weeks ago. I'm still a excited and a little nervous. I hope everything will be fine. Anyway, one of the assignments that I have to do is to interview minority RN nurses a few questions:

Good luck! Just remember to be punctual, be regular and take breaks/time off. You'll do great! :)

Now as for 'minority' nursing - I think I'm a 'minority of a minority of a minority' :chuckle I'm of a minority race, from a foreign-born population in the US, who also happens to be male!

1. In what way was your education more difficult or easier as a minority student?

I think the biggest stumbling block I faced was the US education system - I'm used to huge classes, big yearly exams and little attention from professors etc.

In the US, performace is graded more regularly (e.g. weekly papers). Attendence, though not mandatory, was quite important - so much material was covered in one class that if I missed one, I would be lost the next week. I'd never heard of TAs or professor office hours before! Also, US education tends to focus more on application than theory and I was used to the exact opposite.

In short, I don't think I utilised the resources in school as much as I could/should have. I faced a challenge simply tryig to adjust to the different education system and standards.

2. What do you see as the barriers for minority nurses in our profession?

The biggest barrier seems to be communication/lack of awareness regarding minority issues. This affects progress.

And yes, I'd like to see more financial help/incentives. :) School is expensive!

3. What do you see as the opportunity for minority nurses in our profession?

Help bring a broader perspective to nursing!

I speak 4 (and understand 7) languages - and I learned most of them simply by virtue of being a minority! See, wherever I'd lived, I was forced to learn the langauge of the majority population.

My own experience as a minority helps me lend empathy to other minorities.

4. What do you view as the value of increasing diversity in the nursing profession for health care?

How do I value of/in the increasing diversity of nursing?

A lot. Nursing should be as representative of the population as other careers. But I must stress the importance of communication - increasing diversity is useless without parallel increase in communication.

5. What do you think we can do as a profession and personally to increase diversity in nursing?

This might seem very controversial (and it might seem to contradict all that I've said above): but we must stop discrimination on the basis of majoriy and minority. We are all nurses first!

We must make it easier for students to stay in school (I mean financial aid-wise). As a profession (and healthcare in general) I'd also like more studies/research on minorities.

Please help and answer the above questions if you can. Thank you very much.

You're welcome and I hope my ansers were helpful