NurseWeek News

Change in the Air
It's time to apply a nw vision to expanding the ethnic mix of nursing

By Katherine Vestal, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Midwest Editor
March 21, 2003

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 on Page 14, as well as at www.nurseweek.com. 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