Lack of recruitment and retention of racial/ethnic minority nurses

Background The United States is currently experiencing a nursing shortage that is expected to intensify as older registered nurses (RNs) retire and the demand for health care grows. This is not only the result of an aging nursing workforce but also a lack of recruitment and retention by nursing schools in the US. Furthermore, with the increase of a growing and more diverse population comes the need for a more diverse nursing staff. Thus, nursing colleges need to recruit a more diverse nursing faculty as a means to increase the diversity in the nursing student body.

Description The goal of this study was to identify and describe the disparity between racial/ethnic minority faculty and students in nursing programs. This study evaluates whether the number of minority faculty in nursing schools influences the recruitment and retention of minority nursing students. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) surveys were used to obtain faculty and student data from the years 2004 to 2008. Student recruitment was measured by number of enrollees and student retention by the number of graduates. The data was examined for the racial composition of enrollees and graduates of baccalaureate nursing programs as compared to nursing faculty by university and by state.

Lessons Learned The projected findings of this study were in-line with anecdotal accounts of the lack of diversity in nursing. Overall, it was observed that the lack of racial/ethnic minority faculty influences recruitment and retention of racial/ethnic minority students. Furthermore, regional differences of racial/ethnic minority faculty were observed due to the limited number of racial/ethnic minority faculty nationwide but also because of faculty clustering at universities located in diverse settings.

Recommendations To respond to the nursing shortage nursing schools need to increase recruitment and retention of racial/ethnic minority faculty and students. Retention of faculty and students will require schools to have appropriate infrastructure in place to support the unique needs of minority faculty and students. Built-in mechanisms are need to continuously foster recruitment and retention of racial/ethnic minority faculty and students.