With the growth of a population filled with different ethnicities, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, social views, social status, generational age gaps, and culture beliefs to list a few, the need to understand and support these unique differences as it relates to providing health care cannot be ignored. To improve the health and well-being of the nation’s people seeking medical care, a call to increase the diversity of the nursing workforce must be answered. To address the issue of increasing diversity in the nursing population, actions to address an increase in the diversity of student enrollment, retention of the academic student nurse, and recruitment by healthcare organizations during the hiring process of qualified professional nurses with diverse backgrounds is necessary.
Diversity in College and University Recruitment for the Student Nurse
Although some research has identified barriers hindering the success of multicultural student enrollment, little was being done to find what facilitates the success of the multicultural nurse. According to Grainger (as cited in Flores & Combs, 2013), one issue contributing to underrepresentation of minorities in nursing is the pool of individuals accepted into nursing schools. Representing to a population that is growing in number, enrollment of …show more content…
Nies and McEwen states (as cited by Cherry & Jacob, 2014), members of some cultural groups are demanding culturally competent health care that incorporates their beliefs and practices. The world is changing and need for ‘culturally competent care’ is becoming a nationally recognized requirement effecting all aspects of healthcare from initial visits to a hospital, overall patient satisfaction scores, and ultimately health and healing. As this change occurs, so must the makeup of those called healthcare