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| Programs
like the Recruitment and Retention of American Indian
Nurses at the University of North Dakota in Grand
Forks have become models not only for attracting
minorities to nursing, but for getting them through
school, into the workforce and, in many cases, back
to school for advanced degrees. |
When Christopher Lee Navarrette, a nursing student
at the University of Texas Health Science Center at
San Antonio, missed his grandmother's funeral because
he had exams and a huge paper due, members of his large,
close family were hurt and appalled.
"I tried ad nauseam to explain it, but some of
them just could not understand," said Navarrette,
president of the student chapter of the National Association
of Hispanic Nurses. "Family is a wonderful thing,
but when they don't understand what's going on, it can
be a problem."
Navarrette has used his experience to support and encourage
fellow Hispanic nursing students as a mentor in UT's
"Juntos Podemos" (Together We Can) program.
The program, which pairs experienced and beginning students
of similar backgrounds, helps students feel that they
are not isolated, that they have support from people
who understand what they're going through.
For the Hispanic students he mentored, the most difficult
part of school "was their interpersonal relationships
with their families," Navarrette said. "Half
of them had their own children. They felt guilty about
being away for so long from their families. It's a big
challenge for Latino nursing students coming in."
Although the number of racial and ethnic minority nurses
is growing, they are still underrepresented in the profession
as a whole. Nurse recruiters, community clinics and
nursing schools are crying out for more minority nurses-especially
bilingual nurses-in an attempt to reflect the populations
they serve.
But if the profession wants to attract and keep more
Hispanic, American Indian, Asian-American and African-American
nurses, it needs to offer support and a welcoming attitude,
say those who work to promote greater inclusion of minorities
in nursing. This includes recognizing the importance
of family support, the need for a social life and a
sense of belonging and the value of speaking a second
language.
Programs like Juntos Podemos and RAIN (Recruitment
and Retention of American Indian Nurses) that aim to
support minority students in all aspects of their lives
have become models for not only attracting minorities
to nursing but for getting them through school, into
the workforce and, in many cases, back to school for
advanced degrees.
Ethnic minorities make up about 30 percent of the U.S.
population, according to census figures, and this percentage
is expected to increase to nearly 40 percent in 2025.
But 12 percent of nurses identified themselves as belonging
to one or more ethnic minority groups in 2000, according
to the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses.
As the nursing shortage intensifies, nurse leaders
talk of the importance of bringing in new blood, of
appealing to all sectors of the population, of looking
beyond Caucasian women, who have made up the vast majority
of nurses for years.
The message seems to be getting through.
The number of male and racial and ethnic minority RNs
has increased rapidly in the last 20 years. The number
of nurses identifying their background as one or more
racial minority groups or as Hispanic/Latino has tripled
between 1980 and 2000, and the representation of minority
nurses has increased from 7 percent in 1980 to 12 percent
in 2000, according to the nursing sample survey.
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