|
For many of us, this has been a long, cold winter
that has brought limited sunshine and lots of snow.
March gives us hope that spring is on the way, mixed
with days filled with frigid snowfall. I love the anticipation
of seeing plants begin to reappear, signaling that warm
weather once again will be the norm. For all of you
who-like me-are looking out at high snowdrifts, we will
have to keep the faith that spring is, indeed, around
the corner.
Likewise, for years we have looked for solutions to
bring more minority nurses into our profession. Despite
our best efforts, we have made little headway in improving
minority recruitment for nurses and nursing faculty.
We need to ask ourselves why. Despite knowing that we
need to start with schoolchildren to acquaint them with
the profession, we have not done enough to ensure that
we recruit the numbers necessary to reflect the ethnicity
of our general population. Thus, the circle of not having
enough role models to attract minority nursing students
continues, as well as not having enough practicing minority
nurses to meet the needs of our patient populations.
The rising number of ethnic minorities creates a mandate
that we resolve our entry-into-practice issues for a
more diverse nursing population. This mandate will grow
only larger with each passing year. Additionally, we
have not done enough to make our workplaces more sensitive
to nurses of different ethnic backgrounds. Specifically,
we need to consider the effect of nursing careers on
family expectations. Although we have all experienced
heavy schedules and often unpredictable time requirements,
the need still exists to accept that family requirements
for many cultures are paramount in one's life. Have
we done anything to be more sensitive to these needs?
We are facing myriad demands to make our profession
and workplaces more accommodating and flexible. The
ability to do this will not be found by slightly enhancing
what we do now. The real answers will come from applying
a different type of thinking to develop and support
the customization of the workplace to meet the needs
of each of our nurses. A one-size-fits-all approach,
to which we now adhere, will need to give way to a more
flexible environment that creates a place for the diversity
of individual needs. We all will have to be a part of
that transformation.
Just a reminder: Be sure to nominate a nurse for our
Nursing Excellence Awards, which will be presented in
August. Nominations close April 30, so it is time for
you to look around and recognize a colleague who best
exemplifies excellence in professional nursing. We offer
eight categories to select from, and the nomination
form is available if you click
here if you would like to nominate someone. Let's
be sure to have the best of the best represent us at
this annual event.
Discuss this and other topics with your colleagues
at www.nurseweek.com/rnvillage
|
