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"We know we've got a yawning nurse shortage looking
at us over the next 20 years, yet these two large groups
in particular are underrepresented," O'Neil said.
"We need to learn more about their values and goals,
and structure education and employment systems to better
meet those needs ... and at the same time, focus on
culturally competent care. That requires us to do more
things than just put out a space-available sign."
In many poorer neighborhoods, the family dynamic appears
biased against advanced education in part because of
the potential separation from the family. "But
as we've seen, they can be trained to be certified nursing
assistants in six months in their own communities,"
O'Neil said.
"So almost overnight, they have the ability to
double the salaries of what they can make at a McDonald's.
That's the real hook that gets them."
But minority nurse organizations need more funding
to promote recruitment, O'Neil said.
The Pittsburgh-based Nursing Recruitment Coalition,
which helped more than 150 African-American women and
men, as well as other nontraditional students, become
nurses in a 10-year span, ceased operation in early
2000 when its federal grant money dried up.
"That's the problem with solely grant-based programs,"
VIDA's Halaby said. "As soon as the grant money
ends, so do the programs. Our program is structured
to lay more of the groundwork in its early stages [with
grants] and rely more on community and private financial
support after that."
Rolanda Johnson, assistant professor of nursing at
Vanderbilt University, said the college's nursing school
is stepping up efforts to recruit more minorities. "Many
times, minorities feel isolated and alienated because
they don't see many people like themselves," she
said. "These groups need to see a person in a role
and say, 'I can do that.' "
Academia must act to promote health care careers more
vigorously to youth, said school nurse/educator Randall
Peterson, MSN, RN, founder of the Maryvale High School
Student Nurse Academy in Phoenix.
Peterson's mentoring and instructional program, instituted
at the school more than three years ago, provides high
school students a means to become LPNs by graduation.
Freshmen apply by writing an essay on nursing and submitting
their eighth-grade report cards. Students with the best
essays, grades and attendance are invited. Peterson
helps graduates pursue scholarships and grants for college.
"The solution to the nurse shortage so far has
been to import nurses from Canada and the Philippines,"
Peterson said. "But now, there is nobody else we
can steal from. We have to look to our own resources."
Peterson took what he called a "massively underperforming"
student body with more than 50 percent failure rates,
and now has a "100 percent pass rate in our CNA
program and 90 percent in LPN," using what he calls
a no-child-left-behind approach.
The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, in
fact, wants to implement a similar program statewide,
said Fran Roberts, Ph.D., RN, vice president of professional
services at the association. The Maryvale academy proves
that young people of multiple backgrounds "can
be drawn to nursing and other health care professions
despite the obstacles they face," she said.
Polly Bednash, executive director of the American Association
of Colleges of Nursing, said reaching students in communities
where they live may be the most effective way to both
diversify and fortify the nurse population. "We
do know that people want to have care from individuals
who are like them," she said. "It's like a
woman wanting a female gynecologist or obstetrician."
Several recruitment efforts are under way. To make
inroads into American Indian communities, the Intercollegiate
College of Nursing at Washington State University appointed
a member of the Nez Perce tribe as a recruitment coordinator.
In June, the Department of Health and Human Services
awarded a total of $3.5 million in grants to 16 universities
to support nursing education for individuals from disadvantaged
backgrounds.
More distance-education programs for American Indian
nurses and other minority groups that strive to keep
their families together geographically need to be developed
by colleges, Bednash said.
"If you have a large Native American population
or a large Latino or Cambodian community, or any other
ethnic group in an area, then disciplined efforts should
be made to bring them into the health care community
in proportionate numbers," she said.
"There are cultural reasons, language and communications
reasons, quality-of-care reasons and, of course, nurse
shortage reasons. These more than justify that effort."
Contact Steve McLinden at smscribe@hotmail.com
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