Nursing workforce diversity: Promising educational practices

Joanne Noone, Rana Najjar, Amanda D. Quintana, Mary S. Koithan, Stephanie Vaughn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Nursing workforce diversity is a national priority for providing culturally competent care and contributing to improved health equity. While nurses from underrepresented populations are increasing in the nursing workforce, the distribution of nurses in the United States is still not representative of the population. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the current state of workforce diversity in Western states and identify promising practices from programs located in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Oregon that are focused on improving nursing workforce diversity. Methods: Four innovative programs to address nursing workforce diversity are presented. Each project has unique situations and approaches to improving admission, retention, and graduation of students underrepresented in nursing. Similar approaches each project used include holistic admission review, academic and student support, financial support, and mentoring. Conclusions: These projects contribute to knowledge development related to improving nursing workforce diversity for other colleges, universities, and states to consider. Improving nursing workforce diversity is a priority issue that could lead, through collective impact, to resolving health inequities nationally.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)386-394
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Professional Nursing
Volume36
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2020

Keywords

  • Cultural diversity
  • Health workforce
  • Nursing education

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Nursing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Nursing workforce diversity: Promising educational practices'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this