Developing an educational pipeline for public health nursing among ethnically diverse and disadvantaged K-12 students

Public Health Nursing is greatly affected by the nursing shortage---especially in light of the need for a more culturally diverse workforce. To address this problem and develop an educational pipeline, nursing faculty from California State University, Bakersfield have been working for over 4 years with ethnically diverse, disadvantaged high school students who are interested in nursing and other health professions. Health Careers Academies (HCAs) are offered in many high schools to help students develop skills needed in this area. Students are often able to shadow various health professionals, hear guest speakers and complete projects that highlight certain occupations. Two high school HCAs with high numbers of low income, Hispanic and Southeast Asian students partnered with CSUB to increase the numbers of disadvantaged students in nursing. Each year, over 300 sophomore, junior, and senior high school HCA students participated in activities ranging from tours of the university campus and nursing facilities, outreach presentations, videos about different types of nursing (including public health nursing), and intensive advising by nursing faculty and university staff. Under the direction of nursing faculty, students prepared Power Point presentations based on HRSA's Kids Into Health Careers program and shared them with ethnically diverse, disadvantaged elementary and middle school students in order to promote awareness and interest in nursing careers and other health professions. A newly organized 100 member RN Explorer Post also participated in the collaboration. One nursing faculty served as a mentor, and monthly meetings for RN Explorers included tours of local hospitals and health care agencies, nursing skills demonstrations, videos about public health nursing, presentations by nursing students, local nurses and other health professionals, and a yearly field trip to UCLA Medical Center. Participating students reported that they most enjoyed presentations by nursing students and recent graduates, as well as campus and hospital tours. Results of this partnership revealed a larger percentage of students expressing interest in nursing and in attending CSUB after high school. Students often have many misconceptions about nursing, and we can broaden their knowledge and pique their interest about public health nursing if we continue to plant the seeds early.