minority nurse magazine (fall 2013)

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• Advanced Degrees and Certifications

• Joining the Nursing Profession from Divergent Fields

• Studying Minority Populations and Health Care Inequality

How MentoringPrograms InfluenceWorkforce Diversity

+ The Education Issue

The Career and Education Resource for the Minority Nursing Professional • FALL 2013

Handbook of MINORITY AGING

Key Features:• Off ers “one-stop shopping” regarding the development of a substantial knowledge base about minority aging

• Provides current, comprehensive information about minority aging through a multidisciplinary lens

• Includes recent progressive research pertaining to the social, cultural, psychological and health needs of elderly minority adults in the US

• Integrates information from scholars in gerontology, anthropology, psychology, public health, sociology, social work, biology, medicine, and nursing

July 2013 · 592 pp · Softcover · 978-0-8261-0963-7

E D I T E D B Y

KEITH WHITFIELD, PhD

TAMARA BAKER, PhD

This text provides up-to-date, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive information about aging

among diverse racial and ethnic populations in the United States. It is the only book to focus on paramount public health issues as they relate to older minority Americans, and addresses social, behavioral, and biological concerns for this population. Th e text distills the most important advances in the science of minority aging and incorporates the evidence of scholars in gerontology, anthropology, psychology, public health, sociology, social work, biology, medicine, and nursing.

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2 Minority Nurse | FALL 2013

Table of Contents

Cover Story

10 How Mentoring Programs Influence Workforce Diversity

By Christine Hinz

Discover how mentoring can give you the necessary leg-up in

fine-tuning your skills and broadening your career options

Features

19 Studying Disparities: How Nursing Schools Cover Minority Populations and Health Care Inequality

By Margarette Burnette

An examination of how nursing schools report on racial disparities

and the best practices they teach to address them

24 Advanced Degrees and Certifications: What You Need to Succeed

By Pam Chwedyk

Learn more about the benefits of pursuing higher education and

the credentials that will open the door to rewarding advanced

practice careers and leadership roles

32 New to Nursing: Joining the Profession from Divergent Fields

By Leigh Page

Considering a career change? Find out how others made the

switch and what motivated them to make the leap

In Every Issue3 Editor’s Notebook

4 Vital Signs

9 Making Rounds

48 In the Spotlight

49 Highlights from the Blog

56 Index of Advertisers

Academic Forum37 An American Journey:

From Constipation to Colorectal Cancer By Ed James, MD An overview of common colorectal conditions

Americans face and the role a healthy diet can

play in preventing them

38 Keeping Back Pain at Bay By Terah Shelton Harris Find out how to avoid back pain despite long

shifts and heavy lifting

Second Opinion40 Honesty and Ethics in Nursing By Jebra Turner Recognize the public’s trust in nurses and

embrace your role as a patient advocate

42 Technology in the Workplace: How You Can Prepare By Nikki Yeager Don’t let technology put you on the wrong

side of the digital divide

Degrees of Success44 Growing the Numbers of Diverse Nursing Faculty By Robin Farmer The advantages of diverse academic role models

46 Racial Disparities of Nursing Educators and Students

By Eliss Cucchiara The correlation between culturally competent

care and diverse nursing faculty

www.minoritynurse.com Minority Nurse Magazine @MinorityNurse 3

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MINORITY NURSE MAGAZINE

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Minority Nurse Editorial Advisory Board

Jose Alejandro, PhD, RN-BC, MBA, CCM, FACHE President

National Association of Hispanic Nurses

Teresita Bushey, MA, APR-BC Assistant Professor, School of Nursing

The College of St. Scholastica

Wallena Gould, CRNA, MSN Founder and Chair

Diversity in Nurse Anesthesia Mentorship Program

Constance Smith Hendricks, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor

Auburn University School of Nursing

Ed James, MD Founder and President

Heal2BFree, LLC

Sandra Millon-Underwood, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor

University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, College of Nursing

Tri Pham, PhD, RN, AOCNP-BC, ANP-BC Nurse Practitioner

The University of Texas-MD Anderson Cancer Center

Ronnie Ursin, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC Parliamentarian

National Black Nurses Association

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Editor’s Notebook:

Inspiration is Key

What made you want to pursue an education in nursing? The most common reply I see to this question is “I want to help people,” which may be true enough, but go beneath the surface and you will most likely find that there was someone in your life who inspired you to

help others first. Maybe a hospice nurse eased your mother’s passing, or a boss recognized your leadership qualities and took you under her wing. Be it a nurse, a family member, or a coworker, a mentor comes in many forms. And a random act of kindness may be all it takes for inspiration to strike. In our cover story, Christine Hinz highlights the importance of mentorship and the positive influence it has on diversifying the workplace.

On a similar note, Eliss Cucchiara and Robin Farmer discuss the racial disparities of nursing educators and the steps we can take to recruit more minorities into nursing. The benefits of having diverse faculty are twofold: it will broaden your knowledge on delivering culturally competent health care to a diverse nation; and it will encourage others to follow suit. In turn, this will help eliminate racial health disparities.

In Margarette Burnette’s article, she investigates how nursing schools are covering minority populations and health care inequality in our country. There is a reason inequality exists—and nurses are in a powerful position to do something about it. According to the most recent Gallup Poll on honesty and ethics in professions, nursing is once again the most trusted profession. Jebra Turner explores the reasoning behind this and gives you tips for upholding that hard-earned trust.

Trustworthy or not, everyone needs a little guidance now and then. A mentor’s knowledge can be invaluable whether you are just graduating from college, considering a career change, or contemplating retirement. It’s never too late for a career shift, as Leigh Page’s article on second-career nurses demonstrates. And once you have made the decision, Pam Chwedyk will equip you with the knowledge to determine which degrees you need on your nursing journey.

Finally, check out our latest In the Spotlight column (and our blog at www.

minoritynurse.com/blog) for a little dose of inspiration. Wherever your journey may take you, learn to inspire others, and let them inspire you. After all, inspiration is contagious.

— Megan Larkin

Vital Signs


High Job Satisfaction among Public Health Nurses, But Many State Health Departments Struggle to Fill Vacancies

Public health nurses play an essential role in improving the population’s health and delivering essential health services to communities, but the public health nursing workforce is facing significant challenges. More than two in five state health departments report having “a great deal of difficulty” hiring nurses, and nearly 40% of state and local health departments report having insufficient resources to fill vacant nurse positions.

Those are among the find-ings of a report released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

(RWJF), which provides the first comprehensive assessment of the size, composition, edu-cational background, experi-ence, retirement intention, job function, and job satisfaction

of nurses who work for state and local health departments.

Enumeration and Character-ization of the Public Health Nurse Workforce: Findings of the 2012 Public Health Nurse Workforce Surveys, produced by the Uni-versity of Michigan Center of Excellence in Public Health Workforce Studies and funded

by RWJF, collected data from state and local public health departments and surveyed public health nurses them-selves. It finds that public health nurses report concerns about job stability, compen-sation, and career growth in light of budget-tightening at many state and local health departments. Yet these nurses also report very high levels of job satisfaction and that they feel they are making a difference in their communi-ties—factors that could bolster recruitment efforts.

“Capturing this data about public health nurses, who represent the largest profes-

sional sector of the public health workforce, gives us a clearer picture of the chal-lenges before us,” said Pame-la G. Russo, MD, MPH, RWJF senior program officer. “It should be a high priority to address gaps and take steps to strengthen the public health nursing workforce. As health reform is implemented, and as public health agencies are transforming to a more pop-ulation-health-oriented role in promoting health and pro-tecting communities, public health nurses will need ad-ditional training to keep pace with the changes. The size, makeup, and preparation of

Vital Signs


the public health nursing workforce greatly affect the ability of agencies to protect and improve the health of people in their jurisdictions.”

The new report offers a snapshot of the current pub-lic health nurse workforce—estimated at 34,521 full-time equivalent RNs—and high-lights the need for ongoing systematic monitoring in or-der to: inform competency, compliance, and credentialing efforts; permit better align-ment of academic resources with workforce needs; and al-low for better understanding of the relationship between workforce infrastructure and population health outcomes.

Among its findings:•Nearly two in five respon-dents to the survey (39%) re-port that their highest nursing degree is a diploma/associate’s degree. Just 10 states require public health nurses to have BSN degrees. •Providing clinical services is part of the work done by RNs in state and local health de-partments, but these nurses assume a wide variety of roles, including health promotion, disease surveillance, commu-nity health assessment, policy development, and more. •The public health nursing workforce does not reflect the diversity of the communities it serves. Just 4% of public health nurses self-identify as Hispanic/Latino and 95% of those in leadership positions self-identify as white. •The public health nurse workforce is aging; however, most RNs do not intend to re-tire within the next five years. •Recruitment and hiring of RNs into public health nurses positions can be challenging,

particularly for state health de-partments. •Lack of promotion oppor-tunities is a concern to both health departments and RNs. •Public health nurses report extremely high levels of job satisfaction, despite reporting high levels of dissatisfaction with salaries.

Recommendations in the re-port, created by the project’s advisory committee, include:•Develop feasible opportuni-ties for additional education and training for public health nurses. •Improve the pipeline and intensify recruitment so pub-lic health nurses in health departments reflect the racial and ethnic composition of the communities they serve. De-termine how changes in the functions of public health de-partments, due to health care reform and the transforma-tion of public health agencies’ work, may affect the education public health nurses need. •Identify options to address concerns about recruitment, compensation, and promotion opportunities. •Conduct follow-up studies to monitor size, composition, capacity, and functions of the public health nurse workforce over time, to help ensure this workforce is well-prepared to meet emerging needs.

“The nation depends on a strong public health nursing workforce, and these surveys identify clear challenges that federal, state, and local poli-cymakers, health agencies, and academic and philan-thropic leaders can address,” said Matthew L. Boulton, MD, MPH, director of the Center of Excellence in Public Health Workforce Studies and associ-

ate professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health (UMSPH).

“We shouldn’t overlook the importance of positive find-ings related to job satisfaction,” added Angela J. Beck, PhD, MPH, the Center’s associate director and research assistant professor at UMSPH. “With 85% of public health nurses reporting job satisfaction and 90% reporting that they feel they make a difference in the health of their communities, we have a strong foundation to build on.”

Several earlier national stud-ies have attempted to count public health nurses in specific settings, but until now there has been little data collected on the characteristics of the public health nursing work-force as a whole. This limita-tion has made it difficult to determine the most strategic and sustainable approaches to

providing training that will increase the skills and impact of this essential workforce. For this report, RWJF commis-sioned both organizational- and individual-level public health nurse workforce sur-veys, conducted by the Uni-versity of Michigan Center of Excellence in Public Health Workforce Studies, to address these gaps in knowledge.

A public health nursing re-search agenda, established in 2010 by a collaborative work-ing group of leaders in public health nursing, emphasized developing a better under-standing of how metrics re-lated to public health nursing impact population health. The recent Enumeration and Char-acterization of the Public Health Nurse Workforce report provides baseline data that can further this research agenda.

For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.

Vital Signs

6 Minority Nurse | FALL 20136 Minority Nurse | FALL 2013

Healthy Life Expectancies at Age 65 Highest in Hawaii, Lowest in Mississippi

Residents of the South regardless of race, and blacks throughout the United States, have lower healthy life expectancy at age 65, according to a recent report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Healthy life expectancy (HLE) is a population health measure that estimates expected years of life in good health for people at a given age.

The CDC used 2007-2009 data from the National Vital Statis-tics Systems, US Census

Bureau, and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to calculate HLEs by sex and race for each of the 50 states and Washington, DC, for all people aged 65 years.

“Where you live in the Unit-ed States shouldn’t determine how long and how healthy you live—but it does, far more than

it should,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH. “Not only do people in certain states and African Americans live shorter lives, they also live a greater proportion of their last years in poor health. It will be important moving forward to support prevention programs that make it easier for people to be healthy no matter where they live.”

For all adults at 65, the highest HLE was observed in

Hawaii (16.2 years) and the lowest was in Mississippi (10.8 years). By race, HLE estimates for whites were lowest among Southern states. For blacks, HLE was comparatively low throughout the United States, except in Nevada and New Mexico. HLE was greater for females than for males in all states, with the difference ranging from 0.7 years in Loui-siana to 3.1 years in North Dakota and South Dakota.

Other fi ndings:•HLE was greater for whites than for blacks in all states and Washington, DC, that had suf-fi cient data, except Nevada and New Mexico.•HLE for males at age 65 years varied between a low of 10.1 years in Mississippi and a high of 15.0 years in Hawaii.

•HLE for females at age 65 years varied between a low of 11.4 years in Mississippi and a high of 17.3 years in Hawaii.

HLE estimates can predict future health service needs, evaluate health programs, and identify trends and inequali-ties. Furthermore, examining HLE as a percent of life expec-tancy can reveal populations that might be enduring illness or disability for years. Public health offi cials, health care providers, and policymakers can use HLE to monitor and understand the health status of a population.

For the full report, please visit www.cdc.gov/mmwr.

Vital Signs


Women’s Height Linked to Cancer RiskThe taller a postmenopausal woman is, the greater her risk for developing cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Height was linked to cancers of the breast, colon, endometrium, kidney, ovary, rectum,

and thyroid, as well as to mul-tiple myeloma and melanoma, and these associations did not change even after adjusting for factors known to influence these cancers, in this study of 20,928 postmenopausal women, identified from a large cohort of 144,701 women re-cruited to the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI).

“We were surprised at the number of cancer sites that were positively associated with

height. In this data set, more cancers are associated with height than were associated with body mass index,” said Geoffrey Kabat, PhD, senior epidemiologist in the Depart-ment of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York. “Ultimately, cancer is a result of processes having to do with growth, so it makes sense that hormones or other growth factors that influence height may also influence can-cer risk.”

Some genetic variations as-

sociated with height are also linked to cancer risk, and more studies are needed to better understand how these height-related genetic variations pre-dispose some men and women to cancer, according to the study’s authors.

Kabat and colleagues used data from the WHI, a large, multicenter study that recruit-ed postmenopausal women between the ages 50 and 79, between 1993 and 1998. At study entry, the women an-swered questions about physi-cal activity, and their height and weight were measured.

The researchers identified 20,928 women who had been diagnosed with one or more invasive cancers during the follow-up of 12 years. To study the effect of height, they ac-counted for many factors in-fluencing cancers, including age, weight, education, smok-ing habits, alcohol consump-tion, and hormone therapy.

They found that for every 10-centimeter (3.94 inches) increase in height, there was a 13% increase in risk of devel-oping any cancer. Among spe-cific cancers, there was a 13% to 17% increase in the risk of getting melanoma and cancers of the breast, ovary, endome-trium, and colon. There was a 23% to 29% increase in the risk of developing cancers of the kidney, rectum, thyroid, and blood.

Of the 19 cancers studied, none showed a negative as-sociation with height.

Because the ability to screen for certain cancers could have influenced the results, the re-searchers added the partici-pants’ mammography, Pap, and colorectal cancer screen-ing histories to the analyses and found the results re-mained unchanged.

“Although it is not a modi-fiable risk factor, the associa-tion of height with a number of cancer sites suggests that exposures in early life, includ-ing nutrition, play a role in influencing a person’s risk of cancer,” said Kabat. “There is currently a great deal of in-terest in early-life events that influence health in adulthood. Our study fits with this area.”

Vital Signs


Redefining Cancer: New Recommendations Could Reduce Unnecessary Treatments, but Improved Diagnostic Testing Still Required

New cancer recommendations made by a National Cancer Institute (NCI) working group could reduce unnecessary treatment by eliminating the fear factor linked with some early-stage cancers. However, there is a need for diagnostic tests that can recognize whether these early conditions could become life-threatening, states an analyst with research and consulting firm GlobalData.

The NCI scientists rec-ommended that words like cancer, neoplasia, and carcinoma should

be removed from premalignant conditions in order to reduce the incidences of over diagno-sis and to prevent patients from

undergoing irrelevant surgery, radiation, or drug treatment.

“The implementation of this recommendation will

help make patients and phy-sicians more comfortable with refraining from unnecessar-ily treating benign disease,” says Cheryl S. Gradziel, PhD, oncology analyst with Global-Data. “The term cancer and its synonyms are alarming, which leads patients to strongly be-lieve that premalignant con-ditions such as ductal carci-noma in situ or high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neo-plasia should be treated ag-gressively, when this is often not the case.”

As people become more aware and screening for many common cancers increases, more tumors are being treat-ed at early stages. But, those screenings have resulted in more frequent diagnoses of abnormalities that would nev-er become life-threatening, which is what the NCI is try-ing to minimize by redefining the terms surrounding cancer.

In order to reduce the exces-sive treatment of low-risk di-agnoses, GlobalData’s analyst argues for the importance of investing in tests that could determine early on if a condi-tion will become malignant or not.

“There is ample market op-portunity for such tests, and their approval and subsequent adoption will have the greatest impact towards reducing the overdiagnosis and overtreat-ment of cancers in the US,” says Gradziel.


Making Rounds

October4-6International Society of Nurses in GeneticsSilver Anniversary Conference: 25 Years of Leadership in Genetic NursingDoubleTree HotelBethesda, MarylandInfo: 412-344-1414E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.isong.org/ISONG_annual_con-ference.php

11-14Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates44th Annual ConferenceHyatt Regency Chicago, IllinoisInfo: 888-827-7862E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://event.suna.org

17-19American Academy of Nursing40th Anniversary of the Academy’s Transforming Health Care: Driving Policy ConferenceHyatt Regency on Capitol HillWashington, District Of ColumbiaInfo: 202-777-1170E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.aannet.org/2013conference

23-25The American Assembly for Men in Nursing 38th Annual Conference: Men in Nursing: Guided by the Past, Based in the Present, and Unfolding Our FutureHilton Newark Airport Elizabeth, New JerseyInfo: 205-956-0146E-mail: [email protected]: http://aamn.org/conference.shtml

23-26The Transcultural Nursing Society39th Annual Conference: Transcultural Nursing: Relationships for Health Locally,Nationally and InternationallyHotel Albuquerque at Old TownAlbuquerque, New MexicoInfo: 888-432-5470E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.tcns.org

November2-6American Public Health Association141st Annual Meeting and ExpositionBoston Convention and Exhibition CenterBoston, MassachusettsInfo: 202-777-2478E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.apha.org/meetings/Annual-Meeting

7-9Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse 37th Annual ConferenceDoubleTree HotelBethesda, MarylandInfo: 401-243-8460E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.amersa.org

8-9Aging and Society2013 Interdisciplinary ConferenceUniversity Center ChicagoChicago, IllinoisInfo: 217-328-0405E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://agingandsociety.com/the-conference

8-10National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing 2013 Annual ConferencePeppermill Resort Spa & Casino Reno, NevadaInfo: 877-966-6236E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.noadn.org

8-11American Association of Nurse Life Care Planners 13th Annual Conference Loews Philadelphia HotelPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaInfo: 801-274-1184Website: www.aanlcp.org/conference

16-20Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing42nd Biennial Convention JW Marriott IndianapolisIndianapolis, IndianaInfo: 888-634-7575E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.nursingsociety.org

December2-4OMICS GroupInternational Conference on Nursing & Emergency MedicineHampton Inn TropicanaLas Vegas, NevadaInfo: 800-216-6499E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.omicsgroup.com/conferences/nursing-emergency-medicine-2013


HowInfl uence Workforce Diversity

Mentoring Programs

www.minoritynurse.com Minority Nurse Magazine @MinorityNurse 11 www.minoritynurse.com Minority Nurse Magazine @MinorityNurse 11

BY CHRISTINE HINZ

Karen Bankston, PhD, MSN, FACHE, didn’t have management in her career sights when she started as a fl edgling emergency room nurse in 1976 at then-Southside Hospital in Youngtown, Ohio. She wasn’t thinking much beyond giving the best care possible to patients with traumatic injuries and acute health issues.

Yet Bankston’s chief nursing offi cer, Ruth Eldridge, MSN, RN, had a different idea. She saw enough leadership potential in her young nurse to offer herself as a mentor. Bankston admits that she didn’t even know what the

term meant back then. But with Eldridge’s counseling persis-tence, her career took a rewarding trajectory, eventually leading to her present position as associate dean for clinical practice, partnership, and community engagement at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Nursing.

It’s from that perch that Bankston now offers similar counsel to nurses-in-training. As faculty advisor for AMBITION—Advising Minorities By Inspiring and Transforming Them Into Outstanding Nurses—she wants to impart the same wisdom that her now retired mentor did to her years ago. “I’ve always been grateful to Ruth. If she hadn’t taken that step and said to me, ‘I’m going to help guide you because I see that you can do some great things,’ I might have had a totally different career than the one I’m enjoying today.”

A Place at the TablePerhaps you’ve had a similar experience. Someone spotted

you as a diamond in the rough, a professional gem ready to be mined and polished. Or maybe you were the one searching for a seasoned colleague to help you buff your skills, build your portfolio, or strategize your next move. In either case, you’ve likely reaped the benefi ts in forging relationships with people who have your back and your best interests at heart.

But in the bigger universe, how does mentoring actually help diversify the nursing workforce? What role does it play in answering the calls of the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) and other nursing organizations for increas-ing diversity and giving an ever-changing patient population culturally competent care?

Mentoring can have widespread implications beyond boosting individual careers. By giving minority nurses and nurse practitioners a necessary leg-up in broadening their options and fi ne-tuning their skills, mentoring changes the face of one organization and the makeup of the entire fi eld. By encouraging persons of color to join, grow, succeed, and stay in the profession, it expands diversity, one person at a time.

More specifi cally, developing a mentoring relationship exposes you to jobs you’ve never heard of—and to people who’ve never heard of you. It shows you that others have done what you’ve only thought of doing in passing. Now that you know their

Mentoring Programs


path, however, you can accom-plish those goals too! Finally, by tapping people you respect for their wisdom, you ready yourself as an effective partici-pant at any leadership table. In doing so, you’ll bring diversity to the highest decision-making levels of the profession’s lad-der, not just those lower rungs.

As Commander James Dick-ens, DNP, NP, FAANP, US Pub-lic Health Services, Office of Minority Health, Dallas-based Region VI, observes: “Nurses always talk about having a place at the table, but I think it’s more important than just that. You also need to have a fundamental understand-ing of what occurs…of what roles you and your colleagues bring to the team. Sometimes you may be the only nurse or nurse practitioner sitting there, so it’s important to un-derstand the expectations.”

An Invitation into the FoldYet you can’t diversify the

leadership table if you’re not in the profession in the first place. Although mentoring is an es-sential technique for helping nurses and nurse practitioners of color enter the job market and capitalize on their skills, it’s also an effective tool in attract-ing promising young men and women into the field initially.

By encouraging ethnically and racially diverse students to take the academic plunge, mentors play a critical role in expanding the nursing uni-verse at the earliest possible juncture. They’re key for steer-ing mentees as they navigate the rigors of training programs that are both new and chal-lenging. They’re a sounding board when the educational waters get murky or rough. But their primary role, be-

yond helping fledgling nurses graduate with flying colors, is to make sure persons of diver-sity understand that they have a place in the profession and are capable of the work.

“People sometimes have the perception that they can’t succeed at nursing, especially if they’re part of a racial mi-nority or from a different cul-ture or lower socio-economic

background,” says Willa Hill Fuller, RN, executive director of the Orlando-based Flori-da Nurses Association and a veteran mentor and mentee. “They didn’t have a mom like my mother who just never let me think that I couldn’t do something. Mentors can help eliminate those kinds of attitudes, so their mentees can realize their potential.”

Growing up disadvantaged, Gordon Gillespie, PhD, RN, a Robert Wood Johnson Founda-tion Nurse Faculty Scholar and assistant professor at the Uni-versity of Cincinnati’s College of Nursing, had no aspirations to be a nurse. Like many men, he initially bought into the gender biases surrounding the profession, stereotypes that can stifle that initial interest and


prevent retention. But Gillespie had a major supporter in his mother-in-law, herself an RN. She not only saw his potential,

but eventually, with the help of other nurses, convinced him that nursing fit him to a “T.”

“As I look back, it’s almost a miracle that I graduated from college, let alone became a PhD,” he says. “But someone looked at me and said, ‘I have faith in you. I believe in you. I will challenge you.’ That’s where mentorship is really es-sential. It can keep students in a program until graduation so we have that diverse workforce.”

Today, Gillespie is both a mentor and mentee. As part of a scholarship program de-signed to single out the next generation of academic lead-ers, he’s put together a team of role models to facilitate his own growth beyond the doctorate and the experience he’s already amassed. For Gil-lespie, that includes two cam-pus colleagues—one a nurse and the other from a differ-ent discipline—to help him deal specifically with being a good researcher, teacher, and fellow professional within his program. A third mentor, sepa-rate from both nursing and Cincinnati, serves as his ex-ternal “safeguard.” She offers a broader perspective on a given situation from her spot in Bal-timore. “I used to believe that

having a one-on-one relation-ship with a single mentor was the perfect situation,” he says. “But now I realize that a pack-

age of mentors is excellent. It’s going from good to great.”

The model has worked so well for Gillespie that he uses it as a guide in mentoring his own students, particularly the young men he meets as the faculty advisor for the Col-lege of Nursing’s MENtorship program. With the ultimate goals of enrollment and re-tention to graduation and beyond, MENtorship was ini-tiated to help male nursing students not only recognize the possibilities of a career in a caring profession, but also to deal with the real-life issues of choosing one dominated by women. In doing so, the dis-cussion between mentors and mentees—upper classmen for lower classmen, and licensed nurses for seniors—often centers on dispelling gender myths and dealing with the challenges of caring for the opposite sex.

Gillespie’s mission is to turn out male nurses who are not only potential leaders, but also content enough in their own skin to stick with the profes-sion. “Our goal is to give these young men the support they need so they’re very comfort-able with who they are as men in nursing,” Gillespie says.

“We want them to be able to go out and broadcast to the world, ‘Here I am. I’m proud of what I do.’”

Formalizing TasksTo be effective, should men-

toring occur vis-à-vis a formal structure or can you connect successfully in other “organic” ways? Truth is, whether you come together in the frame-work of a program or by link-ing with people whose sub-stance and style you admire, you can have a very successful relationship. That is, as long as you’re on the same page in terms of goals, expectations, and even practicalities. There are times, however, when a formal construct not only ce-ments mentoring as an impor-tant part of a nurse’s profes-sional life and training, but also serves as a significant tool for bringing and keeping more persons of color into the fold.

For instance, in 2008, the Robert Wood Johnson Foun-dation (RWJF) joined with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) to launch the RWJF Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program, an effort to alleviate the na-tion’s nursing shortage by dra-matically expanding the pipe-line of students from minority backgrounds via accelerated nursing programs. Since its inception, RWJF has awarded some 2,700 $10,000 scholar-ships, through grantee schools of nursing, to entry-level nurs-ing students coming into the field from other careers. Prefer-ence is given to awardees from underrepresented groups or disadvantaged backgrounds.

To achieve that success, however, program officials knew early on that they had to establish consistency in

how their grantees—nursing programs throughout the country—not only defined mentoring, but how they would be implementing it. Out of the concerns that people don’t confuse mentoring with academic counseling came a toolkit (www.NewCareersinNursing.org) to guide grantees in setting up a program.

“If organizations can formal-ize their mentoring efforts, I think the odds are much better that they’ll see success,” says Vernell P. DeWitty, PhD, RN, program deputy director. “But even if they don’t have the re-sources we provide our grant-ees, as long as they have a good understanding of what mentor-ing should look like and how it should be approached, I think it can work.”

Likewise, for the past six years Marquette University’s College of Nursing has used Project BEYOND (Building Eth-nic Youth Opportunities for Nursing Diversity), an effort funded by the Federal Health Resources and Services Adminis-tration, to increase the number of minority BSN students ad-mitted to and graduating from its nursing program. Mentoring is one aspect of an agenda that also includes tutoring, struc-tured leadership programming, and peer-to-peer support.

In terms of connecting, both mentors and mentees come together in what’s called the “World Café,” a meet-and-greet event conducted much like speed dating. Mentees spend five minutes with each licensed RN to share information and measure the chemistry. Before formalizing any relationship, however, they spell out their three top choices from which program directors make the

By helping mentees fine-tune their business savvy and sharpen their political senses, mentors are critical assets in broadening choices beyond direct patient care. They facilitate diversity not only by help-ing nurses boost their competencies in areas never addressed in nursing school, but also by steering them to new options for their expertise.


final match. From there, it’s a matter of meeting initially to firm up the details, which must include at least two face-to-face meetings per semester. Most mentoring pairs, however, are regularly in touch throughout their collaboration.

Since the goal is academic success, Project BEYOND fea-tures a separate specialist who also oversees a small cadre of upper grads or graduate assis-tants who peer tutor younger students. “We find that peer mentoring can be very effec-tive because the relationship with another student is often easier to establish than with a faculty member or nurse,” says Juanita Terrie Garcia, MEd, RN, Project BEYOND coordinator. “Mentees have a level of confi-dence that they’ll benefit from their mentors because they’ve just gone through something similar. It’s fresh.”

Since the inception of Proj-ect BEYOND, Marquette nurs-ing officials have witnessed an increase in minority en-rollment from 12% to 18% with retention rates of 96% to 100%. That’s translated into more than 30 underrep-resented minority students successfully graduating, with seven enrolling in graduate programs. Project staff mem-bers believe they’re making progress because they’ve taken a “holistic” approach to raise not only academic skills, but self-confidence as well.

“One of the most significant factors affecting the success of minority students is their level of confidence,” says Glo-ria Rhone, MSN, RN, Project BEYOND’s academic support coordinator. “They have to deal with all sorts of stereo-types about their ability to perform whether they’re appli-

cable or not. So having some-body there to motivate them, encourage them, and just be a good listener can help build that self-esteem.”

Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunities

By connecting with support-ive and insightful individuals, minority students can indeed bolster their initial skills so they’re ready to be success-ful, working members of the profession. Yet establishing mentoring relationships af-ter you’ve finally entered the workplace as a licensed prac-titioner can be just as fruit-ful as connecting with role models in training. Mentor-ing throughout your working years not only secures your personal long-term success, but also introduces your tal-ent, perspective, and vision to the organization.

By assisting new (or sea-soned) nurses in plotting their career paths and fine-tuning their skills, mentors help men-tees take their ambitions to the next fulfilling level. Whether you connect formally or infor-mally, working with a men-tor is a way to network with colleagues, demonstrate your abilities, and grow into jobs that fit your ambitions and long-term plans. From pro-motions to PhDs, mentoring brings a bevy of people into the job force, priming them for the next move. But for starters, it bridges the inevitable gap be-tween education and practice so there can be no doubt that a new face on the block will be a valuable asset.

Once they come on board at Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services, for instance, new graduates, along with nurses new to an acute care

setting, undergo a variety of steps to ensure their initial success and long-term tenure. Beyond orientation and a preceptor to help them navigate the hospital and their unit, they’re also part of a year-long

nursing residency program, an added layer of training and support. It’s then that they buddy with a mentor—usually a nurse manager or other nurse leader—to master the nuances of Fairview’s unique workplace.

They may also join the system’s diversity circle, a separate mentoring effort that brings minority professionals together to broaden their networking reach in meeting leaders of color. Although diversity is part and parcel of every endeavor, the circle puts real faces to the concept that you can grow within the organization.

Indeed, later on when they’re ready to take on more responsibilities, they’ll have access to developmental pro-grams available to every prom-ising nurse. But initially, the focus is on grappling with the challenges of picking up the pace and seeing greater num-bers of patients than they did in training. It’s about learning how to be in command of their new environment—and com-fortable enough to commit for the long haul.

“It’s important to connect people with people,” says Lau-ra D. Beeth, Fairview’s systems director, talent acquisition.

“It shows that you care about them…that you’re not just throwing them out there. In-stead, you’re giving them a safe place to ask questions, especial-ly when they’re overwhelmed and need to reach out.”

In terms of diversity, Fair-view’s residency program is far from the organization’s only attempt to broaden its nurs-ing corps. Officials have estab-lished a veritable roadmap of pipeline programs to lure mi-nority persons into the medical field, whatever their ultimate career choice. From support for two Minneapolis health career-focused high schools to individual scholarships and summer internships, Fairview has instituted opportunities at every step of the training continuum to find, attract, and fund potential nurses of color.

Much of the activity begins with the hospital’s award-winning SCRUBS Camps, an annual opportunity for minor-ity teens, among other high schoolers, to live and breathe what it’s like to work in medi-cal careers. So named for the attire of the attendees, SCRUBS is an intense three- to five-day college campus tutorial involv-ing a largely hands-on agenda. Participants network with fac-ulty members who, if only for a short time, mentor them on their choices.

Although her introduction to Fairview didn’t involve summer camp, Marion Lee, RN, BA, MSN, has benefited in

To broaden her perspective, DeWitty has tapped people from fields other than nursing throughout her career. The variety, she says, “not only gives you a different perspective but also helps you become a much more rounded professional.”


other ways from her relation-ship with the health system and her colleagues. Besides a $10,000 sponsorship to finish her nursing education (via an accelerated master’s degree), Lee has reaped many rewards from the preceptors and men-tors she’s encountered as both a student and newly minted professional. The people sur-rounding her have been in-strumental, for instance, in helping her sharpen her skill sets, especially in approaching patients, interacting with their families, and managing her time doing both.

But the biggest advice she’s received may involve just be-ing sensitive to other cultures. Even though Lee is Mexican by birth, she has to keep in mind that patients from other areas of the world don’t always ap-preciate her Latino warmth.

“We’re very touchy, feely peo-ple,” Lee says. “We love to hug and touch. Sometimes patients look so lonely that I just want

to hold their hands. But I have to step back and realize that I can’t do that. I have to remem-ber that there are boundaries.”

Testing New WatersLike Lee, you may have dis-

covered your niche at the bed-side. But not every nurse will find caring for patients his or her forte. Fortunately, in today’s market there are other ways to use your skills and unique back-

ground. Whether filling a for-profit or not-for-profit position, nurses and nurse practitioners are sought-after commodities

in all sorts of places that need their clinical expertise and pa-tient perspectives.

So how can mentoring en-sure that minority nursing professionals have options be-yond traditional health care jobs? By helping mentees fine-tune their business savvy and sharpen their political senses, mentors are critical assets in broadening choices beyond di-rect patient care. They facilitate

diversity not only by helping nurses boost their competen-cies in areas never addressed in nursing school, but also by steering them to new options for their expertise.

As Elizabeth Allee, BSN, clini-cal trial project manager for Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company, observes: “Mentor-ing in a corporate environment is extremely, extremely impor-tant. In a hospital, a nurse is a nurse, even though every area is different. But when you come into a company, your knowl-edge and training can be used across multiple departments. You need a mentor to help you leverage your expertise so some-one will look at you and say, ‘This person would be a great fit for our team!’”

Allee credits the right people for giving her the right advice at the right time as she’s transi-

Mentoring is critical at every step in a minority nurse’s professional journey—to soar academi-cally as a student, to transition into the workplace as a novice, and to plot the best career path as an experienced pro.


tioned from her first Lilly job in global patient safety to her cur-rent role overseeing global clini-cal trials for various therapeutic teams. Ten mentors along the way have helped her navigate the politics of the organization and readied her for the next step. Today, she’s returning the favor by marshaling advice for 12 fellow employees, many of whom are nurses of color.

She’s also a founding leader of the Lilly Nursing Forum, a ground zero effort for promot-ing both patient-centered com-munity initiatives and nurs-ing professionals. Even though there’s no formalized mentor-ing structure within the forum, the networking that occurs ex-poses nurses to opportunities not always obvious in a behe-moth corporation. Allee, for instance, just returned from a six-month assignment in Chi-na, a stint that wasn’t on her career radar until she learned of it through her forum contacts.

Among their activities this year, forum participants are keying into Lilly’s corporate initiative, “Fit for Life,” by fo-cusing on career as one of sev-eral wellness areas. As part of that agenda, Allee predicts an increased emphasis on mentor-ing, not only as a strategy to help individual nurses realize their potential within the com-pany, but also to help the com-pany retain its nursing talent.

When Dorothy Jackson, RN, MS, came to Lilly in 2006, she brought along 20 years of di-verse experience in surgical, coronary care, ICU, and com-munity health nursing. As a former clinical research coor-dinator for an outside cardiol-ogy group, her past experience fit nicely into her first job, a contract employee on Lilly’s cardiovascular research team.

Today, Jackson serves as a glob-al lead for case management, meaning she provides safety collection oversight for Lilly’s endocrine clinical drug trials.

She’s also a Lilly Nursing Forum leader, a position sug-gested initially by her friend and current mentor, Liz Allee.

Jackson had worked with two previous mentoring colleagues before tapping her former de-partment co-worker to help her identify her next profes-sional steps. Together, the two are focused on fine-tuning her career development plan so the path she chooses fits her strengths and skills.

Besides offering advice and networking contacts, Allee has encouraged her mentee at every turn to chase new pursuits in broadening herself and upping her profile. When the nursing forum started, for instance, she

urged Jackson to join, even though her mentee was hesi-tant of the time commitment. Allee persevered, however. To-day, they’re collaborating not just on Jackson’s future, but also in creating educational out-reach projects using a variety of forum nurses. It’s a natural fit

for Jackson, who does health training and diabetes education in her community.

“Liz made me take a second look at something I probably would have passed on,” says

Jackson. “She kept saying, ‘You’d be good at this. You do community service all the time. You have a good outlook on nursing. Let’s do this to-gether.’ I think an important part of being a good mentor is simply looking at a person and saying, ‘You’d be a great fit.’”

Good Mentors Worth GoldWhat makes for good mentor-

ing? There’s no one-size-fits-all formula in selecting people to emulate or tap for their advice. But here are some factors that

“As I look back, it’s almost a miracle that I gradu-ated from college, let alone became a PhD,” Gil-lespie says. “But someone looked at me and said, ‘I have faith in you. I believe in you. I will challenge you.’ That’s where mentorship is really essential. It can keep students in a program until graduation so we have that diverse workforce.”


you may want to think about as you make your choices.

Numbers and variety count. Mentoring doesn’t have to be one-stop shopping. Putting to-gether a team of people who can work with you on a variety of fronts can help you address issues beyond even nursing.

One of the best mentors De-Witty had as a young unit head nurse, for instance, was her hospital director. He gave her the opportunity to sit in on meetings and afterwards ask any questions about the delib-erations. By delving into the details of such conversations, she had a better understand-ing of how things worked. To broaden her perspective, DeWitty has tapped people from fi elds other than nursing throughout her career. The va-riety, she says, “not only gives you a different perspective but


Numbers Make Mentoring Imperative

There are many reasons to encourage diversity, not the least of which is to allevi-ate the well-established health disparities experienced by minority communities either lacking access to quality care or the cultural incentive to get it.

Research consistently shows that patients experience improved outcomes when their caretakers share their cultural story or worldview. They respond positively in terms of navigating both the health system and their own medical issues when someone of the same background is helping them on that journey.

“You can take culturally and linguistically appropriate classes,” says Dickens. “But stud-ies still show repeatedly that if a nurse or nurse practitioner looks like the patient and is someone that patient can relate to, his or her outcomes will be better.”

Yet confi guring a nursing corps with an adequate mix of African Americans, Latinos, Asians, American Indians, and Alaskan Natives to match those needs remains a daunt-ing challenge, given the current state of nursing and projections for the future. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, for instance, suggests that more than a million new and replacement registered nurses will be needed by 2020. The profession is soon to lag, regardless of its makeup.

Furthermore, although minority groups comprise more than one-third (37%) of the populace, according to 2012 US Census Bureau data, the numbers of racially and ethni-cally diverse health professionals to care for them are hardly adequate today. A bevy of studies compiled over the past decade by both government and private entities dem-onstrate that although minorities have made strides in the health professions, they’re still an underrepresented nursing class when compared to the patients they serve. They embody less than 17% of the registered nurse (RN) workforce, according to 2008 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses data compiled by HRSA, the US Health Resources and Services Administration.

Those numbers refl ect an RN population comprised mostly of Asians (5.8%) and African Americans (5.4%) with fewer Hispanics (3.6%), American Indian/Alaskan Natives (0.3%), and multi-racial nurses (1.7%). Although the number of men has climbed steadily since 1980, they still only comprise 6.2% of the workforce.

In terms of where they’re headed educationally, the statistics represent further evi-dence of the task ahead. In its 2012-2013 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing report, for instance, the AACN noted that minority nursing students represent 28.3% of entry-level baccalaureate programs, 29.3% of mas-ter’s programs, and 27.7% of research-focused doctoral programs. At the same time, men comprised 11% of BSN students, 10% of MSN students, and 7.9% of students in research-focused and 10% of students in practice-focused PhD programs. The AACN 2011 annual survey data also reveals a full-time nursing school faculty that is only 11.8% minority and only 5.1% male.

Supported by similar fi ndings from a cache of other major nursing organizations, the IOM made nursing diversity the focus of its 2010 landmark report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. In calling for a greater emphasis on a nursing work-force that’s better able to interact with and provide culturally competent care to a wide swath of patients, the authors offered many recommendations, particularly in the area of education. They urged systemic changes to both increase the recruitment of under-graduate students from all backgrounds and ready an expanded crop of graduate-level minorities prepared to be faculty, scientists, and researchers. In so doing, IOM’s authors identifi ed mentoring, particularly in nursing education, as one tool among many to woo more qualifi ed candidates who will help counter any training and workplace shortages.


also helps you become a much more rounded professional.”

Think culture and beyond. Don’t limit yourself to nurses who share your race or ethnic-ity. Even though it’s impor-tant to find examples of people within your own community who’ve excelled at what you want to do, it’s just as impor-tant to match your needs with the best resources available. The first mentor who made such a difference in Bankston’s life, for instance, was Cauca-sian. Likewise, it was expected that DeWitty would pair with African American nurse men-tors during her PhD program. But she had lived and worked most of her life in a culturally diverse environment, so she looked for a role model mix. “Similarities in ethnicities are important,” she says. “But you should go deeper to see if two people are operating on the same wavelength and are really the best match.”

Reach beyond your environ-ment. Nowhere is it written that you have to limit your choices to those directly sur-rounding you. A good men-tor can be as close as the next office or as far away as a dis-tant land. Just as long as you have a structure in place for connecting with someone ef-ficiently, you can make those long distance collaborations work nicely. For instance, Dick-ens, who usually confines his advice as a mentor to masters-degree hospital administration nurses stateside, also mentors a chief nursing officer at an American hospital in Saipan. He’s helping her traverse the concerns of being isolated geo-graphically in a hospital that needs help with its CMS (Cen-ters for Medicare and Medicaid Services) status when she’s not

necessarily being prepared for the job.

Be flexible. If you’re the mentee, don’t be afraid to ask for a referral or to end the re-lationship when you’ve gone beyond what this person can offer you. If you’re the mentor, be ready to suggest another nurse or professional who has the right contacts and advice if that’s not you. Dickens, for instance, doesn’t hesitate to push people along or con-nect them with new sources. “It’s extremely fluid,” he says. “Some of my mentees have outgrown me because their career trajectory has set them in another direction. I under-stand that. I say, ‘Look, I want to keep you in my back pocket. I’ll never go away. I’ll always be available to you.’”

A Final NoteWhether you’re starting your

career or just moving into the next phase, seeking the counsel of wise and diverse colleagues can make the difference be-tween success and failure. Men-toring is critical at every step in a minority nurse’s professional journey—to soar academically as a student, to transition into the workplace as a novice, and

to plot the best career path as an experienced pro. It can pro-vide nurses of color the kind of insight and edge that helps them succeed personally as they bring needed diversity to their patients, colleagues, and the profession at large.

Bankston, for instance, has benefited immensely from her mentor’s early and frequent message: To be taken seri-ously, especially in a world fraught with biases, she’d need to be at the top of her game. Whether that meant polish-ing her skills, dusting off her professional demeanor, or adding another credential to a growing resume, Bankston responded by listening, learn-ing, and doing. When Eldridge pointed out, for instance, that Bankston’s hand movements were a distraction when she presented, she practiced dili-gently in front of the mirror to employ them effectively. Likewise, when her mentor suggested that an advanced degree would be paramount in the roles she envisioned for her young charge, she started thinking PhD.

Today, Bankston counts stints as both a hospital chief nursing officer and chief ex-

ecutive officer among the titles she’s earned since her mentor first spotted those leadership qualities. As the faculty advi-sor for AMBITION, a peer-to-peer tutoring group, she wants young minority nursing stu-dents not just to have the right skills to behave admirably in the workplace, but to master the rigors of nursing school so they can get their foot in the door. By pairing upper class-men with freshmen who need to overcome any hurdles, AM-BITION alleviates the isolation that Bankston herself felt in nursing school 40 years ago. It also keeps a new generation of minority nurses committed to a profession they, in turn, will diversify.

“As minority nurses, we need people in our lives who’ve al-ready navigated the waters,” says Bankston. “Finding men-tors who are both trustworthy and honest can help us recog-nize the potential missteps and even push us when we think that we just can’t do anymore. They’re very important in our career journey.”

Christine Hinz is a freelance writer

based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.


Studying Disparities How Nursing Schools Cover Minority Populations and Health Care Inequality

BY MARGARETTE BURNETTE

About 30% of Hispanic Americans and 20% of African Americans don’t have a usual source of health care, but less than 16% of white Americans lack a source.

For women who have had an abnormal screening mammo-gram, the length of

time before a follow-up test is conducted is twice as long in Asian American, Hispanic, and black women than it is in white women.

It’s no secret that there are racial and ethnic disparities in health care. These statistics, which come from the Agency for Healthcare Research and

Quality’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, highlight a major concern in the fi eld of medi-cine. Not all patients receive the same level of high quality treatment—or in some cases, receive treatment at all.

This concern is important within nursing schools, be-cause they are tasked with making sure our country’s fu-ture nurses fully understand racial disparities and what can be done to address them, says

Mary Green, PhD, MN, RN, interim chair of the Dillard University School of Nursing in New Orleans.

Schools must show the latest research and best practices to the next generation of nurses, and take them into communi-ties so they can see fi rsthand the effects of health inequality, argues Green. “Nurses need to get the broadest experiences they can.”

Learning in the CommunityMany nursing schools have

mandatory community health courses that expose students to inequalities among groups of

people. Nursing students learn about the statistical differences in health care outcomes, and along with that, many of these institutions require nursing students to meet the people behind the statistics.

For example, at the Univer-sity of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing, un-dergraduate students, along with faculty, go into communi-ties in the greater Birmingham area that have historically had less access to health care, says Linda Moneyham, PhD, RN, FAAN, senior associate dean for academic affairs at UAB. There, nursing students learn


how to master their clinical work while partnering with neighbor representatives who are interested in improving the community’s health, she adds.

“These tend to be commu-nities that are lower income, have high minority popula-tions, and have a lot of health needs,” she says. “In fact, Ala-bama is often the epicenter for some of the major health problems the country faces.”

Moneyham explains that Alabama ranks near the top for prevalence of heart disease, obesity, and HIV—and minori-ties are disproportionately af-fected. “We have to focus on these populations because they are the populations nursing students are going to be caring for,” says Moneyham.

At the University of Wash-ington School of Nursing in Seattle, there is a similar ap-

proach. “We have for years had a required course on commu-nity health nursing that ad-dresses health disparities and inequities,” says C. June Strick-land, PhD, RN, associate pro-fessor, psychosocial and com-munity health nursing, at the school. “It’s [often] the very first course that students take when they come into our pro-gram to study,” she says. “Es-sentially, it focuses on health disparities, equities, and social justice.”

“In addition, we have clini-cal sites in multicultural envi-ronments that include Ameri-can Indian, African American, Latino, and Asian popula-tions,” explains Strickland.

“When faculty members take students to those clinical sites, they get a cultural immer-sion and opportunity to under-stand some of the issues people

are facing. For instance, with Native people, some of what we experience is the impact of colonialization that continues on in our community.”

The School of Nursing also attracts other students that plan to work in related fields, such as social work, public

health, and psychology, says Strickland. “I teach a core course in assessment and that course also draws students from all over campus, because certainly these issues come up [in those disciplines].”

There are also graduate level courses that dig deeper into

problems associated with in-equalities. Deborah Ward, PhD, RN, FAAN, is associate dean for academics at the Betty Irene School of Nursing at the Uni-versity of California-Davis in Sacramento. “We have a course in health status that all of our masters and PhD students take.

That course looks at health sta-tus around the world, and it certainly looks at disparities in the US,” says Ward.

“We also have another course called Community Con-nection. Our masters students in the leadership program take this course where pairs of stu-dents work with communi-ty agencies,” she continues. Examples of these agencies include the Sacramento Uni-fied School District and the local food bank’s parent-child program to provide support for parents with a variety of special needs. “Students come face to face with the issues that community agencies are work-ing on, which includes the health effects of disparities of all kinds,” says Ward.

For example, one pair of stu-dents working with the county health department looked at soft drink vending machines in certain schools. School districts that are strapped for funds—and often in minority neigh-borhoods—can get money by having vending machines for soft drinks in their schools, Ward explains. “But on the other hand, if you have vend-ing machines in schools that deliver sugary drinks, you’re

contributing to the obesity epi-demic that places students at all kinds of risk.”

Students who are obese are at great risk for many health problems, such as diabetes, says Ward. So the nursing students learned how school pupils in minority neighbor-

“If you have people who have lower income, less education, and who live in communities that are less friendly to activity [and exercise], their health by definition is going to be less,” explains Hines-Martin.

This concern is important within nursing schools, because they are tasked with making sure our coun-try’s future nurses fully understand racial disparities and what can be done to address them, says Mary Green, PhD, MN, RN, interim chair of the Dillard University School of Nursing in New Orleans.


hoods are exposed to factors that contribute to the obesity epidemic.

In this particular course, nursing students wanted to ad-dress the question of whether or not it was good for a cash-strapped school system to get immediate money from vend-ing machines, or if it was better to ban the vending machines and have students ingest fewer sugary drinks.

“The students did a sophis-ticated analysis of the cost and benefits to the community in having soda machines in the school,” says Ward. “Armed with that kind of data, you can come back to your com-munity as a nurse leader and demonstrate the long-term ad-vantages of not having soda machines in a school.” The students learned how to work at system-level changes that are going to help communi-ties make decisions about im-portant health issues in their community, Ward adds.

Filling in GapsWith upcoming changes in

health care laws, there are go-ing to be thousands of people from different communities who are going to be seeking health care services they might not have sought in the past, says Moneyham. In many ar-eas, especially rural areas, nurse practitioners will be called on to help fill in the gap between patients requiring care and available physicians, Money-ham explains. Nursing schools are teaching their students that

this is something that can di-rectly help reduce the inequali-ties that have historically ex-

isted in those communities, she adds.

In addition, nursing students will be called on to share in-formation about programs that help disadvantaged patients. For example, there are phar-maceutical companies that may supply medication for patients for minimal charge, particularly if the shelf life of the medicine is short. “Some-times they’ll distribute those to poorer patients,” says Money-ham, and a nurse can be the link between that patient and the pharmaceutical company.

Avoiding StereotypesIn order to give quality care

to people who are from differ-ent cultures and ethnicities, all nurses, including minority nurses, need to learn to over-come misconceptions and even prejudices they may have about the patients they serve, says Moneyham. “For example, one stereotype is that if some-one is overweight or they have health problems, they don’t care about themselves, and you can’t help those people because if they wanted to lose weight they could.”

But the nursing school helps students understand that there are often external affairs that affect a person’s health, and health professionals should un-derstand what those factors are in order to effectively help a patient, she says. “We provide the experiences to nursing stu-

dents to help them walk in the [patient’s] shoes, and try to understand their perspective about their weight problem and their challenges.”

The methods used when ap-proaching people should be appropriate and respectful. If nurses don’t understand someone’s situation, any rec-ommendation will likely not be effective, says Moneyham. She conducts focus groups with women who may be classified as obese, and she finds that many may not see themselves as overweight. Students learn that in these cases, giving lec-tures on losing weight likely won’t work. “What we need to focus on are things that help these women feel healthier, such as getting enough exer-cise or watching the types of food they eat,” she argues. “We have to work where the person is ready to work.”

Even then, minority nurs-ing students should learn that individual actions are only a small piece of what impacts health, argues Vicki Hines-Martin, PhD, CNS, RN, FAAN, director of the office of health disparities and community en-gagement at the University of Louisville School of Nursing. In fact, students are often sur-prised to learn that social fac-tors outside of a person’s con-

trol have a very large influence on their health. These “social determinants of health,” as outlined by the World Health Organization, identify that a person’s health status, access to

care, and health outcomes are all influenced by things that are not specifically health-re-lated, says Hines-Martin. Those determinants include econom-ic status, education, and even access to transportation. “If you have people who have lower income, less education, and who live in communities that are less friendly to activity [and exercise], their health by definition is going to be less,” explains Hines-Martin.

“Increasingly, students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels are expected to think critically about the context from which a person comes. And as a result of that, faculty are changing where they do their work clinically, how they do their classroom teaching, and the examples they use to help a nursing student make better decisions about the populations they work with,” says Hines-Martin.

“Not only do we need to teach our nurses what they should be doing directly with the patient, we also need to put them into the context of where that patient comes from. Then we realistically adjust, adapt, or support that person’s ability to maintain whatever wellness they can,” she continues.

At Dillard, nursing students learn to address disparities and

overcome their own prejudices by looking at case studies, says Green. She gives the following example of a case study:

Let’s say we have JM, who is a 47-year-old African American

“Going into the community gives a more accurate picture of the racial and ethnic disparities that exist,” says Green.

Understanding disparities can occur with one-on-one teaching, but diversity initiatives should also occur on an administrative, school-wide level, says Strickland.


male who is currently homeless, jobless, and suffers from schizo-phrenia, uncontrolled diabetes, and hypertension. Because of the behavior attributed to his mental illness, he may be in and out of jail and perceived as a threat to the community. As nurses, what do we do?

Green explains that nurs-ing students learn how to deal with urgent problems, such as the uncontrolled diabetes, as well as seek out other resourc-es, such as helping to locate a case manager who could help JM access mental services that may be available.

These case studies are then followed up by actually visiting similar neighborhoods. “Go-ing into the community gives a more accurate picture of the racial and ethnic disparities that exist,” says Green.

School DiversityUnderstanding disparities

can occur with one-on-one teaching, but diversity initia-tives should also occur on an administrative, school-wide level, says Strickland. This means having a nursing school that refl ects and celebrates ra-cial and ethnic diversity in addition to teaching it. “It’s important to have systems and structures in place that support these behaviors.”

Strickland states that the University of Washington has a diversity council and an of-fi ce of minority affairs that’s very active. “There is also a diversity council within our School of Nursing, and some of the activities have included working with faculty to de-sign an evaluation so faculty can evaluate how effectively they’re addressing disparities and diversity in their course content,” she says. Strickland

adds that the school recently voted to include diversity in their promotion and tenure documentation for faculty.

At UC-Davis, Ward says the fi rst area where the school practices the goal of cultural inclusiveness is with its faculty and staff. “We like to think of what we’re doing as a multi-faceted approach,” she says. “This means cultural inclu-siveness, teaching cultural ap-proaches to care, and working with all of our communities to improve care and health.”

At the UAB School of Nurs-ing, Moneyham says that more than 26% of students are minorities. “This is high compared to the national av-erage,” she explains. “A lot of that has to do with where we sit in the Deep South region of the United States.” Mon-eyham adds that cultural di-versity in nursing schools is good because nurses are able to accurately refl ect the com-munities they serve.

When nursing schools cov-er minority populations and

health care inequality effec-tively, they produce nurses who are more competent at addressing those inequalities. This in turn produces better nurses who are more likely to take a leadership role in help-ing eliminate disparities, says Hines-Martin. “It is a strategy of engaged scholarship, en-gaged teaching, and engaged research that has evolved.”

Margarette Burnette is a freelance

writer based in Georgia.

Only those who care for others know what it’s really like to care for others. That’s why AARP created a community with experts

and other caregivers to help us better care for ourselves and for the ones we love.

aarp.org/caregiving or call 1-877-333-5885

Only those who care for others know what it’s really like to care for others. That’s why AARP created a community with experts

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aarp.org/caregiving or call 1-877-333-5885

24 Minority Nurse | FALL 201324 Minority Nurse | FALL 2013Minority Nurse | FALL 2013

Advanced education and specialty certifications can help minority nurses take their careers—and their ability to improve health outcomes—to a whole new level.

BY PAM CHWEDYK

Advanced DegreesWhat You Need to Succeed


Carmen Paniagua has so many educational and professional credentials after her name that she practically needs an oversized business card to fit them all. In addition to being an RN, she is an ANP (Adult Nurse Practitioner), a board-certified ACNP (Acute Care Nurse Practitioner) and AGACNP (Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner), an APNG-BC (Advanced Practice Nurse in Genetics), and a FAANP (Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners). She’s also a CPC (Certified Procedural Coder) and a CMI (Certified Medical Interpreter), and she holds MSN and EdD (Doctor of Education) degrees.

“Some people prob-ably look at my CV and think this is just a lot

of ‘alphabet soup,’” says Pa-niagua, a faculty member at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine in Little Rock. “But advanced degrees and certifi-cations are more than just a collection of letters. They’re the evidence and recogni-tion of your competence and clinical expertise. They enable nurses to take pride in the ac-complishment of advanced practice knowledge and to demonstrate their specialty expertise to both employers and patients.”

Jose Alejandro, president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses and corporate director of case management at Cornerstone Healthcare Group in Dallas, agrees that it’s what those abbreviations really stand for that counts.

“You can have all the de-

grees and certifications you want, but it’s the tools you learn from having them that’s the biggest benefit,” says Ale-jandro, an RN-BC (Registered Nurse-Board Certified), CCM (Certified Case Manager), FACHE (Fellow of the Ameri-can College of Healthcare Ex-ecutives), and a MBA who re-cently earned his PhD. “They give you additional skills and what I call your ‘chops.’ That’s primarily what has enabled me to move up in my career, be-cause I can accomplish things based on more than just hav-ing experience.”

Opening DoorsThere are many compelling

reasons for minority nurses to pursue graduate education and specialty nursing certifica-tions. Acquiring these creden-tials opens the door to a wide new horizon of rewarding ad-vanced practice careers and leadership roles—from nursing professor and nurse scientist

to nurse practitioner, nurse anesthetist, nurse executive, and more. Furthermore, the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s)

landmark 2010 report The Fu-ture of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health calls for all nurses to “achieve higher lev-els of education and training” and “attain competency in specific content areas” in order to respond more effectively in today’s rapidly evolving health care environment.

But the IOM report also underscores an even more persuasive reason. Advanced degrees and certifications—or more precisely, the specialized

Advanced DegreesWhat You Need to Succeed

and Certifications


knowledge and skills nurses gain from them—are linked to improved patient outcomes and better nurse-led interven-tions for eliminating minority health disparities.

“This is a wonderful time

for all nurses, and particularly nurses of color, to seriously look at graduate education, because of the millions of uninsured and underinsured people who will now be com-ing into the health care system as a result of the Affordable Care Act,” says Kem Louie, PhD, RN, PMHCNS-BC, APN, CNE, FAAN, professor and di-rector of the graduate nursing program at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. “Many of these new

patients will be members of medically underserved minor-ity populations. The other is-sue is that there’s a shortage of primary care physicians. So there’s a tremendous need to increase the number of cul-

turally competent advanced practice nurses who can meet these patients’ primary health care needs.”

Of course, it’s also hard to ig-nore the “what’s in it for me?” benefi ts. Becoming certifi ed in an in-demand specialty—for example, emergency nursing, perioperative nursing, critical care, or pediatrics—increases your value to employers. Plus, it’s no secret that many ad-vanced practice (APRN) spe-cialties that require a master’s

degree and board certifica-tion—such as Certifi ed Regis-tered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and Certifi ed Nurse-Midwife (CNM)—pay substantially higher salaries than the typical staff RN position (see sidebar). In fact, according to the most recent (2008) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, RNs with graduate degrees earn an aver-age of at least $20,000 more per year than nurses with lower education levels.

But it’s not just about the money, argues Henry Talley V, PhD, CRNA, MSN, MS, di-rector of the nurse anesthe-sia program at Michigan State University College of Nursing in East Lansing and treasurer of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. “Ad-vanced degrees and specialty certifi cations do increase your earning powers,” he says. “But they also increase your ability to make change happen in health care. They make you an expert in your particular fi eld, and they put nurses on an equal footing with other health professionals.”

Breaking Down BarriersMinority enrollments in

graduate nursing programs have nearly doubled over the past decade, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Yet racial, ethnic, and gender minority nurses continue to be underrepresented among the ranks of APRNs and certi-fi ed RNs—primarily because they’re still underrepresented in the nursing population as a whole. Fortunately, numerous nursing organizations, from AACN to the American Board of Nursing Specialties, are rec-ognizing the need to identify and remove barriers that may prevent nurses from diverse backgrounds from earning the advanced credentials they need to succeed.

Traditionally, one of the big-gest challenges in going back to school—for majority and minority nurses alike—is fi nd-ing the funds to pay for it. And thanks to the current econ-omy, with its skyrocketing tuition rates and burgeoning student loan debt, fi guring out how to afford graduate school can be a trickier task than ever. Then there’s the cost of certi-fi cation examinations, which in some cases can range from about $300–$400 to as high as $725 for the CRNA exam. But even though fi nances can be a formidable obstacle, they’re not an insurmountable one.

“What I have personally observed is that our poten-tial minority nursing students are much more hesitant to take out loans and incur debt than majority students,” says Courtney Lyder, ND, ScD(Hon), GNP, FAAN, dean and professor at UCLA School of Nursing. “And what I tell them is: Nurses make good

“But advanced degrees and certifi cations are more than just a collection of letters. They’re the evidence and recognition of your competence and clinical expertise. They enable nurses to take pride in the accomplishment of advanced practice knowledge and to demonstrate their specialty expertise to both employers and patients.”



salaries. Compared with other academic disciplines, the com-pensation in nursing makes it one of the few professions in which you can actually pay off student debt in a timely manner.”

“One of the benefits of com-ing to graduate school now is that there are still scholarships and federal financial assistance

programs available,” adds Lou-ie, who is also the founding president of the Asian Ameri-can/Pacific Islander Nurses Association. She cites HRSA programs like the National Health Service Corps, which provides scholarships for nurse practitioner and nurse-midwife students in return for a commitment to practice in a

Recognizing the ValueGrowth in Minority Enrollments in Graduate Nursing Programs, 2002–2011

MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAMS

Race/Ethnicity* 2002 2005 2008 2011

Non-Hispanic White 61.3% 78.0% 76.0% 73.4%

Black/African American 7.0% 10.7% 11.9% 12.6%

Hispanic/Latino 3.2% 4.7% 4.9% 5.1%

Asian/Pacific Islander 3.7% 5.9% 6.7% 7.0%

American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.5% 0.7% 0.6% 0.7%

Two or More Races N/A N/A N/A 1.13%

Total Minority Enrollment 14.4% 22.0% 24.0% 26.6%

DOCTORAL PROGRAMS (RESEARCH-FOCUSED)

Race/Ethnicity* 2002 2005 2008 2011

Non-Hispanic White 71.6% 81.6% 77.9% 75.3%

Black/African American 6.8% 9.9% 10.9% 11.9%

Hispanic/Latino 2.0% 3.3% 4.0% 4.7%

Asian/Pacific Islander 3.6% 4.5% 5.9% 5.9%

American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.5% 0.7% 1.3% 1.4%

Two or More Races N/A N/A N/A 0.85%

Total Minority Enrollment 12.9% 18.4% 22.1% 24.7%

*Percentages may not total to 100 due to rounding.

Source: American Association of Colleges of Nursing


medically underserved area for at least two years after gradu-ation, and the Nurse Faculty Loan Program, which forgives 85% of student loan debt for RNs who complete a gradu-ate degree at a participating school and agree to serve as full-time nursing faculty.

Talley and his wife, a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), recently conducted research examining some of the other factors that impede minority nurses from pursuing advanced degrees in general and nurse anesthesia degrees in particular. Lack of knowledge about APRN and specialty nursing career paths is another big barrier, he says.

“There are still people of col-or out there who have just not had the exposure to these ca-reer options,” Talley explains. “Nursing specialties have to get the message out to them about these opportunities and what the requirements are. Nurses need to know early on that they will want an advanced de-gree, because the key to open-ing that door will be how well they do in their undergraduate studies. Otherwise, they’ll find out about advanced practice specialties later in their BSN programs and decide ‘I want to do that’ when their GPAs will not support it.”

But Alejandro believes that

perhaps the hardest hurdle for minority nurses to clear is the surprisingly common “fear factor.”

“It’s the fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of whatever,” he says. “I tell all the students I mentor: ‘The very first barrier you have to overcome in pursuing any advanced education or any certification is removing that fear.’ In my case, once I was over that fear, I was able to ask questions. If I didn’t un-derstand something in a par-ticular class, I went ahead and asked classmates who under-stood it a little better.”

Starting the JourneySo you’ve decided it’s the

right time to return to school, earn an advanced degree, and chart your course toward a ful-filling specialty nursing career. Congratulations! But where do you start? How do you choose which graduate program to apply to? And what type of degree should you go after? Is a terminal master’s enough or will you need a doctorate?

Lyder, who made history by becoming the first male minority dean of a school of nursing in the United States, as well as the first African American dean at UCLA, says it all boils down to answering one basic question: What do you want to do?

“Find your bliss,” he advis-

es. “Is it pediatrics, geriatrics, psych/mental health, adminis-tration, nurse-midwifery, nurse anesthesia? Once you’ve fig-

ured that out, the next step is to identify schools in your community that may have those programs. Then, contact those schools and schedule a time to talk with the admis-sions counselors—and I don’t mean an e-mail—to see if this is something you really want to pursue. Also, try to find an opportunity to shadow some-one who’s in that role. Identify that CRNA or that psychiat-ric nurse practitioner and say, ‘Can I shadow you for a day to get a sense of whether this is what I want to do?’”

Getting over the fear of speaking directly with admis-sions officers or the graduate program director to get the facts you need to make well-informed decisions about a school is key, Louie emphasizes.

“You have to tell yourself, ‘Just pick up the phone,’” she says. “Graduate programs in nursing are competitive and some of them can be very daunting. But I find that I have to invite students to talk to me, to ask me, ‘What sup-port services are available? Tell me about the admission re-quirements. Help me through the application process.’”

As for what kind of advanced degree to get, once again it all depends on your goals.

Power EarningHighest-Paying Nursing Specialty Certifications and Advanced Practice Careers

AVERAGE ANNUAL SPECIALTY EARNINGS

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist $154,221

Nurse Practitioner $85,025

Certified Nurse-Midwife $82,111

Nurse Consultant $76,473

Informatics Nurse $75,242

Clinical Nurse Specialist $72,856

Management/Administration $72,006 to $96,735

Source: The Registered Nurse Population: Findings from the 2008 Na-

tional Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (US Department of Health

and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration,

September 2010)

“Advanced degrees and specialty certifications do increase your earning powers,” Talley says. “But they also increase your ability to make change hap-pen in health care. They make you an expert in your particular field, and they put nurses on an equal footing with other health professionals.”


“Some nurses are confused about advancing their educa-tion. They think they all have to be PhDs,” says Paniagua. “Well, if you’d like to be a nurse researcher, then a PhD is fi ne, because it’s primarily a research-focused doctorate. But then there are other avenues. You can get a doctorate in nurs-ing practice (DNP), which is a professional practice degree, or you can get an EdD, which is an education-focused doc-torate. So if you’re planning to have a career in academia, you should pursue either an EdD or a PhD. If you’re plan-ning to practice or to work in the clinical setting, you should

get your DNP. Or you can just get a master’s degree [in your specialty area of interest, such as an MBA or an MSN in nurs-ing informatics].”

Above all, the most impor-tant thing to consider when shopping around for a grad-uate program is fi nding one that’s the right fi t for your spe-cifi c needs—both academic and personal.

“You need to make sure that your value system is in sync with the mission and vision of the institution,” Lyder says. “For example, here at UCLA we are a research-intensive school of nursing. Our pro-fessors infuse research and evidence-based practice into every course, every lecture, everything they do. If that’s not the type of learning envi-ronment you want, then this

isn’t going to be a good match for you.”

Louie recommends investi-gating different program for-mats to fi nd options that will

accommodate what she calls “your life needs.” For instance, if you have to keep working at your job while going to school, or you have young children or other family ob-ligations, the traditional full-time, brick-and-mortar cam-pus model may not work for you. “You need to know that there are online programs, there are blended online/on-campus programs, there are part-time and weekend pro-grams,” she says.

Another alternative worth exploring is the accelerated (fast track) format. These pro-grams include RN-to-MSN—also known as a Master’s Entry Program in Nursing (MEPN)—which bypasses the traditional BSN degree, and BSN-to-PhD, which bypasses the master’s. Their greatest advantage is that they enable nurses to earn graduate degrees more quickly and earlier in their careers. However, because the accel-erated time frame makes the academic workload extreme-ly intensive, these programs aren’t for everybody.

Taking the PlungeAchieving the advanced de-

grees and certifi cations that will boost your career to a higher level can be an ardu-ous process. But all the nurse leaders interviewed for this article agree that the rewards are worth it. In fact, with the right preparation, the right program, and strong support networks (family, friends, faith, colleagues, mentors, and minority nursing associa-tions), it might just be easier than you think.

Talley offers this advice: “Don’t be afraid to take the plunge. I think sometimes we [minority nurses] doubt our-selves, and there’s no reason to. Believe in yourself, have faith in yourself, and don’t let anyone interfere with your dreams.”

Pam Chwedyk is a freelance health care writer based in Chi-cago. She is a former editor of Minority Nurse.

But Alejandro believes that perhaps the hardest hurdle for minority nurses to clear is the surprisingly common “fear factor.”



The country is changing, with one-third of the population represent-ing a historical “minority.” In this increasingly diverse world, you can confidently say your workplace actively fosters diversity, inclusiveness, and cooperation. For these reasons and others, you’re proud to be a part of it—and we want to hear from you.

Minority Nurse is looking for nominations for health care’s diversity MVPs, from the magnet hospitals to nursing schools to local hospice care centers. Nurses can nominate their workplaces based on the facility’s efforts to improve and maintain inclusiveness and diversity.

Think about what makes for a diverse institution. What does a “commitment to diversity” mean? And what does it mean to you? At Minority Nurse, it’s not just about a visible variety of skin tones seen in the halls. It’s . . .

• Faculty and staff recruitment and retention efforts aimed at underrepresented populations

• Collaborative hiring practices• Diversity initiatives and accessible organizations on site• Cultural competency training and resources,

such as diverse foods, translators, etc.• Partnerships with other diversity organizations• And so much more

When hiring groups devoted to minority recruitment and retention not only exist, but are consistently used, it shows a commitment to diversity. When hospital administrators take the time to include their nursing staff in development, they exhibit a commitment to diversity. And you, in taking the time to recognize your workplace for its com-mendable practices and diverse work environment, are showing a commitment to diversity as well.

It’s not necessarily a numbers game—we don’t require applicants to produce statistics or quotas, though you are welcome to do so if you wish. We’re simply looking for readers who take pride in their workplaces’ commitment to diversity.

A PDF of the Take Pride Campaign application is also available on our website, www.minoritynurse.com. Applications must be received before July 1, 2014. We will then reach out to our nominees to deter-mine our winners!

Questions? Let us know by e-mailing [email protected].

The Take Pride Campaign Application Form(Please print clearly. All fields required. The 250–500-word nomination can be attached separately.)

Your name __________________________________________________________________________________________Your place of employment (must be a health care facility or institution employing nurses*) _______________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________Location of facility ___________________________________________________________________________________How long have you worked at/for this facility? _________________________________________________________ Preferred e-mail _____________________________________________________________________________________Preferred phone number _____________________________________________________________________________

In 250–500 words describe why you are nominating this facility—what makes it a model of diversity and inclusivity? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

MINORITY NURSE2014 Take Pride Campaign Application

* All nominees must be health care–related workplaces that employ nurses, such as hospitals, nursing schools, nursing homes, hospice facilities, etc. Those work environments falling into nontraditional territories will be considered according to the discretion of the editors, staff members, and advisors of Minority Nurse.


New to NursingJoining the Profession from Divergent FieldsBY LEIGH PAGE

www.minoritynurse.com Minority Nurse Magazine @MinorityNurse 33 www.minoritynurse.com Minority Nurse Magazine @MinorityNurse 33

Two years ago, Evelyn Javier was working in a research lab in Maryland and was unhappy with her career. “I liked the job, but it did not fulfi ll my purpose,” she says. “I felt like there was more I could do.”

What she really wanted to do, she decided, was to help people. In

2011, she quit her lab job and entered nursing school in New Jersey. Javier, now age 29, just received her RN degree and is about to launch her new career.

Many young minorities,

after making false starts in other fi elds, discover that a career in nursing is actually the best fi t for them. These career-changers—usually in their mid-20s—are attracted by the opportunity to help others, get out of an offi ce set-ting, and interact with many different people. They also like the wide variety of nursing jobs they can choose from.

Nurse educators say these more seasoned students are generally more intense, get higher grades, and have a clearer idea of their career goals than their younger counterparts. After trying out something else, “they know what they want,” says Debo-rah A. Raines, PhD, RN, ANEF, a professor of nursing at the University at Buffalo School of Nursing. Though Javier had good grades, Raines says some latecomers to nursing were initially poor students

who worked for a few years in low-paying jobs and then became more serious about their careers.

Raines, who authored the 2011 study “What Attracts Second Degree Students to a Career in Nursing?” in OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, says nursing tends to be something these second-

careerists always wanted to do, but they were sidetracked into careers like teaching, business, or marketing for a few years. These students often bring skills from the previous jobs. Javier, for instance, says she brought a knowledge of asep-tic techniques and teamwork skills from her lab job.

A Career Change From the Heart

While traditional nursing students often cite salary and job security as key reasons for going into nursing, Raines says career-changers tend to have “intrinsic” motivations—reasons that come from the heart. “They really want to help other people,” she adds.

Javier switched to nursing after she took a career apti-tude test, showing the fi eld was her real calling. “I real-ized I wanted to go back into the community,” she says. “I

wanted to be the person pro-viding the extra care for those in need.”

As with many second-career nurses, Javier already had a college degree and could shorten her nursing educa-tion. Since she had already taken all the science courses she’d need for a bachelor’s in nursing degree, she was able to jump right into clinical train-ing at the Muhlenberg School of Nursing in Plainfi eld, New Jersey. To help support herself as well as decide whether she wanted to be in clinical care, she took a job as a patient care technician at the same hos-pital where she was training. “I wanted to see if the hospi-tal environment was right for me,” Javier says. It turned out to be a good fi t.

Having just earned her de-gree, Javier now plans to work for about a year and start a bridge program for a master’s in nursing degree next spring. Ultimately, she wants to be a nurse practitioner specializ-ing in family health with an emphasis on women’s health. And as a member of the New Jersey Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), she wants to focus on helping Hispanic patients. “I’m concerned about the cul-tural and language barriers that Hispanics face,” she explains.

Overcoming Family Expectations

Raines says second-career nurses often have to overcome family expectations about an-other line of work. “They were

These career-changers—usually in their mid-20s—are attracted by the opportunity to help others, get out of an offi ce setting, and interact with many different people.


directed a certain way by their parents, and then they found out that nursing was what they really wanted to do,” she says.

She recalls a second-career student from Haiti whose par-ents insisted that she should work at a law firm. The student did so for a while, but “she al-ways wanted to be a nurse,”

says Raines. She earned her nursing degree, worked for a year as an emergency medi-cal technician, and then went back to graduate school. She is now in a doctoral program.

Jade Curry, an African Amer-ican nurse, also had to over-come the expectations of some family members who thought she should be a doctor. To see if she’d like it, she even worked in a dermatology office for a year and attended a mini-med-ical school at the University of Michigan, where she majored

in biology. But she didn’t like it and instead considered a ca-reer as a science teacher or in public health.

Her career path took anoth-er turn when, as an under-graduate, she began working for a program to help boost minority participation in cer-tain health care professions,

including nursing. She became a strong propo-

nent of the profession. “There are so many things you can do with a nursing degree,” says Curry. “You can go into

teaching or practicing. You can work in multiple settings, like the ER or the ICU. You can get into a specialty like pedi-atrics or oncology. Or you can

do research. Every discipline needs a nurse because we are the gatekeepers.”

After graduating college in 2003, Curry briefly consid-ered taking another minority recruitment job at the Univer-sity of California in Los Ange-les, but instead she enrolled in the University of Michigan’s

School of Nursing. “Basically, I recruited myself,” she says.

After earning a nursing de-gree in 2006, Curry received a master’s of science in nursing degree from the University of

Pennsylvania in 2009. Now married with a one-year-old son, she is a nursing PhD can-didate and is working at a teen health center. Her research in-

terest revolves around how parents with teenagers com-municate about sex.

Raines says many second careerists are “very focused about where they want to go.” She recalls a nursing student who came from a human re-sources job. “She wanted a nursing job in a certain unit, with a certain number of beds,” she recalls.

Helping Others Vaneta Condon, PhD, RN,

served as director of the Pipe-line to Registered Nursing pro-gram at Loma Linda Universi-ty in California, which recruits underrepresented minorities into nursing. She says about 30% of the students already had a college degree in areas such as science, business, and teaching, and some already held jobs before they switched to nursing.

“The biggest reason they give for going into nursing is wanting to spend more time helping people,” she says. Since they already had some life experiences, “they start off as better nurses. They can adapt more readily to a nurs-ing program and working with other people.”

Helping people has been the life work of Suleima Rosario-Diaz, RN, who has been a min-ister in the American Baptist Church in New Jersey for many years. A few years ago, she decided to get a nursing

degree with the goal of per-forming health care mission-ary work in other countries.

Rosario-Diaz entered an ac-celerated nursing program at

“There are so many things you can do with a nursing degree,” says Curry.


the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Now age 30 and married, she works as an admissions and discharge nurse at Palisades Hospital in Edgewater, New Jersey, and is working on a master’s degree.

She is still a minister as well as vice president of the New Jersey Chapter of NAHN. “Be-ing a minister helps me to be a better nurse, to show love to people,” she says. “I want to be a calming presence.”

Rosario-Diaz wants to com-bine her therapeutic education with pastoral counseling. “A lot of religious folks do chap-laincy work in the hospital, but that does not interest me,” she explains. “I want to be hands-on, to be a presence when you are in pain. I am task-oriented, so it’s a great fit.”

Other Experiences Minorities have entered

nursing from all kinds of walks of life. From the loss of a loved

one to an unfulfilling job, in-spiration can strike just about anywhere—and the smallest trigger can ignite that spark to become a nurse. Here are four examples to encourage you to make the leap:

Losing a Loved One. Chrisp-ina Chitemerere was a school-teacher in Zimbabwe before immigrating to the United States.1 She got a teaching job but didn’t like the work, she said in the May 2013 issue of the Elms News. Chitemerere said she found a new calling while taking care of her moth-er, who was dying of cancer. She became a licensed practical

nurse and then enrolled in the Accelerated Second Degree in Nursing Program at the Elms College School of Nursing.

Combining Passions. For nine years, Randi Simpkins taught fifth and sixth grades

in elementary school.2 “While I absolutely love the field of education, I knew that there was more for me to learn,” she wrote in an essay that won a Robert Wood Johnson Founda-tion New Careers in Nursing scholarship last year. “Daily I encouraged my students to pursue excellence and reach beyond their limits. Upon re-flection, I was forced to ac-

knowledge that I, myself, had not attained my own goals of academic accomplishment.” She “stumbled upon the op-portunities in nursing” and enrolled in the Duke Univer-sity School of Nursing in Janu-ary 2012.

Encouraged by Others. When Christine Hernandez’s mother was dying of cancer, a hospice nurse came into their home to care for her and sparked Hernandez’s in-terest in nursing.3 “She was amazing,” Hernandez told RN Builder.com. “It wasn’t just my mother she was helping but all of us. She was a strength that we just couldn’t have done without.” A few years later, Hernandez worked as a nanny for a dual-physician couple. They encouraged her to get an RN degree, so she enrolled in an RN program at Salt Lake Community College in Utah. Her goal is to work in pedi-atrics, oncology, or hospice.

While traditional nursing students often cite sal-ary and job security as key reasons for going into nursing, Raines says career-changers tend to have “intrinsic” motivations—reasons that come from the heart.


Divine Intervention. In In-dia, Binny Varghese earned a bachelor’s degree in human genetics and worked as a re-searcher in the biosciences.4 But as a child, “I gained a pas-sion to serve others,” he told the Kansas City Nursing News in 2012. After immigrating to the United States for an arranged marriage with an Indian Amer-ican woman, he decided that nursing was his real calling and entered an accelerated nursing program at MidAm-erica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. “When God wants you to do something better, he shows you the way,” he told the paper.

Leigh Page is a Chicago-based

freelance writer specializing in

health care topics.

References

1. Elms College. From Africa to Chicopee, Two Students Earn Second Degree in Nursing. Elms News. May 15, 2013. www.elms.edu/elms-news/from-africa-to-chicopee-two-students-earn-sec-ond-degrees-in-nursing.xml.

2. Randi Simpkins. “I believe this about nursing...” essay. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Careers in Nursing. August 2012. www.newcareersinnursing.org/scholars/essay-contest/winners/randi-simpkins.

3. G. Jones. Nursing Student In-terview with Christine Hernandez. RN Builder. April 11, 2013. www.rnbuilder.com/blog/education/nursing-student-interview-with-christine-hernandez.

4. Nursing is second career for MNU student. Kansas City Nursing News. 2012. prewww.kccom-munitynews.com/kc-nursing-news/30992401/detail.html.

11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, New York 10036 | P: 212 431 4370

A Man’s Guide to a Nursing Career

Chad O’Lynn, RN, PhD

$30.00 | October, 2012232 pp | Softcover

ISBN: 9780826106858

Academic Forum


An American Journey: From Constipation to Colorectal Cancer

BY ED JAMES, MD

In my work as a radiologist, every day I see a whole lot of poop, well, actually images of poop. One of the most common emergency room patient complaints is abdominal pain and, too often, particularly in children, the cause is simply constipation. This is evident on imaging studies, and I believe this is a symptom of a much larger problem, our Standard American Diet, which is generally very high in animal-based foods and processed foods, and quite low in plant-based whole foods (e.g., fruits, leafy vegetables, and whole grains).

Unfortunately, constipa-tion is just the begin-ning for many of these youngsters. Here are

just a few of the problems they are likely to encounter later in life without significant dietary changes:

Hemorrhoids. These are vas-cular structures in the anal canal that help with stool control. They become patho-logical when swollen. They are composed of arterio-venous channels and connective tis-sue. Internal hemorrhoids usu-ally present with painless rec-tal bleeding, whereas external hemorrhoids may be asymp-tomatic or, if thrombosed, may cause significant pain and swelling related to the anus region. Factors that increase intra-abdominal pressure (e.g., chronic constipation) contrib-ute to hemorrhoids.

Diverticulosis/Diverticulitis. Diverticulosis refers to divertic-ula in the colon, which are out-pocketings of the colonic mu-cosa and submucosal, through weaknesses of muscle layers in

the colon wall. These are more common in the sigmoid co-lon, which is a common place for increased pressure (e.g., chronic constipation) and are uncommon before the age of 40. Diverticulosis often results in painless rectal bleeding. Di-verticulitis results when one of these diverticula becomes in-flamed, may cause pain and fever, and can be complicated by abscesses, which occasion-ally require drainage procedures or surgery.

Colorectal Cancer. Cancer is an uncontrolled cell growth, which in this case occurs in the colon or rectum. Symptoms of colorectal cancer typically include rectal bleeding and ane-mia, which are sometimes as-sociated with weight loss, pain, and changes in bowel habits. Results of The China Study showed that high fiber intake (e.g., plant-based whole foods) was consistently associated with lower rates of cancers of the rectum and colon.1,2

Constipation and hemor-rhoids used to be personal is-

sues for me. However, since adopting a whole food, plant-based diet, neither has been a problem and I sincerely doubt they ever will be. I consider myself fortunate that I did not progress to diverticulitis or colorectal cancer before mak-ing my dietary changes.

It is noteworthy that recent studies seem to suggest that the environment within our colon may be a predictor of our risk of many chronic diseases. A chronic failure to expeditiously eliminate waste/toxins through our bowel seems to have rever-berating consequences through-out our body. Furthermore, it has been my anecdotal obser-vation over the last 15 years as a practicing radiologist that adults in whom I diagnose con-stipation on imaging studies are much more likely to have cancers (e.g., breast, prostate, and colorectal) and visible ath-erosclerotic disease.

Yet, relatively few dollars are spent on research and educa-tion related to the benefits of a plant-based diet to promote colon health. Instead, like other cancers—including breast and prostate—most expenditure in the United States is toward screenings for early detection and implementing treatment regimens following diagnosis. Why do we not place more val-ue on nutritional prevention in our US health system? Why do we generally prefer only to diagnose/screen and to treat?

As health care professionals, we can and should educate our patients and encourage them with regard to plant-based foods as the most comprehen-sive and effective way to pre-vent the diseases that result in most American deaths. By start-ing with our children, we can give them each an opportunity

for a healthier, longer, and more productive life, free of many chronic diseases.

Dr. Ed James is an editorial ad-visory board member of Minority Nurse and the founder and presi-

dent of Heal2BFree, LLC (http://heal2bfree.com)

References

1. Li JY, Liu BQ, Li GY, et al. Atlas of cancer mortality in the People’s Republic of China. An aid for cancer control and research. Int J Epidemiol. 1981 Jun;10(2):127-33.

2. Junshi C, Campbell TC, Junyao L, Peto R, eds. Diet, Life-style and Mortality in China: A Study of the Characteristics of 65 Chinese Counties. Oxford, UK; Ithaca, NY; Beijing, PRC: Oxford University Press; Cornell University Press; Peoples’s Medical Publishing

House; 1990.

Academic Forum


Keeping Back Pain at BayBY TERAH SHELTON HARRIS

Nurses are at a greater risk of back pain than many other occupations. According to a study by the University of Alberta’s faculty of rehabilitation medicine, 65% of orthopedic nurses and 58% of ICU nurses develop debilitating lower back pain at some point in their careers. Due to the nature of the job, it isn’t hard to see why. Nurses often work with poor posture (repetitively leaning and bending over bedridden patients, lifting and transferring heavy and slumped patients), so it’s no surprise that they have the greatest incidence of back pain.

Todd Sinett, a chiroprac-tor and author of The Truth about Back Pain, says back pain sends

more patients to the doctor than every other condition except the common cold and is the leading cause of job dis-ability in people under 45.

“Nurses often suffer from back pain more than other professions because they are susceptible to many triggers that can cause back pain,” he says. “Standing for long hours, reaching over patients, and doing heavy lifting are all con-tributing factors to structural

causes of back pain.”He adds that back pain

affects all ages and demo-graphic groups, so all nurses, not just minority nurses, are equally at risk of getting lower back pain.

Work-Related FactorsMichael Ho, a chiropractor

and acupuncturist, adds that nurses’ high stress levels often causes chronic muscle fatigue and strain, which can lead to the eventual hardening of muscles, loss of range of mo-tion, and early degeneration of the lower back structure.

“The subluxation of spinal joints over time causes pre-mature degeneration of the facet joints and spinal disc,” he says. “Over time, degenera-tion of the disc causes hernia-tion and irritation of spinal nerves. This, with the combi-nation of tight muscles, joint restrictions, disc herniation, and nerve impingement can cause local back pain as well as radiating hip and leg pain.”

Poor dietary practices are the most overlooked causes of back pain, Sinett adds. Nurses tend to have long shifts that can make eating right difficult.

Diets filled with caffeine and sugar elevate the body’s cor-tisol levels. Elevated cortisol levels often raise the inflam-matory factors in the body, which can result in back pain.

“We are what we eat, so make sure that you are eating good, healthy, wholesome foods,” he says. “Plan ahead and make healthier eating choices [and] your back will thank you.”

Avoid Back Pain During Long Shifts

Even though back pain is quite common, it doesn’t make it normal. Sadly, some

Academic Forum


nurses have resigned them-selves to living with some level of discomfort. But they don’t have to.

David Simpson, a chiro-practor and owner of Gotham Healing Arts, believes a few simple changes such as proper posture and body usage may prevent nurses from sustain-ing injuries. He recommends the following tips for nurses:

Don’t slouch. The lower back or lumbar spine joints

are like moist sponges, he says. Healthy joints contain a lot of fluid, and sitting for an

hour squeezes most of the wa-ter out of this spongy tissue; quicker if you slouch. With-out the water, your joints be-come brittle and susceptible to wear and tear.

Lift with your legs. “In spite of this advice, most lift im-properly,” says Simpson. “Most people bend their knees first, but only for about 30 degrees, then they involve their back, and they start to bend at the waist, especially if the object

is not directly under them.” Ideally, the back should nev-er round like that of a low-

humped camel. This body posi-tion puts pressure on the spinal joints, which leads to damage over time and will eventually turn into pain at some point in your life, he adds.

Erect, good posture. At best it is a bad habit, but there are practical biomechanical rea-sons for standing up straight, Simpson says. Proper standing helps you keep your normal spinal curves, reduces the com-pressive forces on those joints, and reduces the likelihood of painful episodes of back pain.

Sinett says stretching is one of the best back-pain-relieving exercises and suggests nurses stretch at least for 3 sets at 12 petitions each day. “Stand up straight, raise both arms above your head, and gently lean back approximately 35 degrees,” he says. “Extending

the spine will counteract the forward hunch that nurses do by sitting in front of the com-puter and being hunched over patients.”

Overall, Ho stresses the im-portance of nurses taking care of themselves first. He recom-mends all nurses exercise, rest, and eat properly every day, and more importantly, get the treatment they need to relieve any minor problems in their back before it gets more se-vere and becomes more chron-ic in nature.

“It’s important to remember that it’s better to get rid of a mild back problem before it becomes a serious degenera-tive problem that can lead to disability,” he says.

Terah Shelton Harris is a free-

lance writer based in Alabama.

Sadly, some nurses have resigned themselves to living with some level of discomfort. But they don’t have to.


Second Opinion

Honesty and Ethics in NursingBY JEBRA TURNER

The latest Gallup Poll of Honesty/Ethics in Professions says the most trusted profession (for an astounding 13 out of the last 14 years) is—drumroll, please—nursing. When random Americans were asked to “please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields,” more than 85% gave nurses “high” or “very high” marks.

This year’s rating is the highest since 1999 when the profession was first included in

the poll. The one year nurs-es didn’t top the list? It was 2001, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, when firefighters were included for the first and only time and scored higher. Gallup conducts the telephone survey in late November each year.

Health care professions dominated the top five most trusted groups: pharmacists came in next at 75%, medical doctors rated 70% (tied with the oddballs in this cohort—engineers), and dentists earned 62%. The lowest rankings go to car salespeople (8%) and, sadly, members of Congress (10%).

What is it that makes nurses so trustworthy? There are as many theories as respondents.

Some say intimacy. After all, we stand naked—both liter-ally and metaphorically—be-fore nurses. But would the ratings be similar for massage

therapists, say? Not likely. The Gallup data suggest that women—on the whole and on average—are seen as more trustworthy than men.

So would male nurses earn the same trust ranking as fe-male nurses? Most likely.

But can nurses count on garnering trust automatically? Definitely not.

In the end, trust is personal. Some minority nurses especial-ly feel that they must battle for respect. Here are a few ways to enjoy high regard in this very special profession—one that for many nurses is more of a “calling” than an occupation.

Embrace your role as a caregiver and patient advo-cate. “One reason for trust is that nurses have what I call the home-court advantage,” says Ramón Lavandero, RN, MA,

MSN, FAAN, senior director of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. “They’re with patients and their fami-lies more than any other pro-

fessionals. In the hospital, it’s 24/7; even with home care, nurses still have more patient and family contact than any-one else.”

Lavandero says another fac-tor is that above all else, nurs-es keep their patients’ needs in mind. “They see nurses going

to bat for them when there are rules or systems in a health care setting that aren’t effec-tive.” For example, it doesn’t serve end-of-life patients, he

says, when hospital regula-tions don’t allow visits from a lifelong pet.

Turn up the volume with stellar communication skills. “One of the things I learned as a man and a nurse and as a native Puerto Rican is that if I was comfortable in a situation, the patient was comfortable,” says Lavandero. “Ninety-nine percent of my experience was without problem, and that in-cludes the year I worked in a labor and delivery unit.”

Strong communication skills become even more important when there is perceived bias, such as a patient who believes a minority nurse may be less competent or have a substan-

Strong communication skills become even more important when there is perceived bias, such as a patient who believes a minority nurse may be less competent or have a substandard education.


Second Opinion

dard education. “That’s when your communication needs to shine,” he says, “perhaps by addressing the unasked ques-tion with a comment like ‘Did you know, when I was a stu-dent at Columbia University …’” A skilled communicator learns that direct confronta-

tion is only one way to ad-dress barriers such as mistrust, he adds.

Nurses must communicate with many parties besides pa-tients, including families, ad-ministration, and other health care staff members. It’s not easy to speak to (and on behalf of) multiple constituencies, espe-cially when a nurse isn’t fa-miliar with a patient’s desires, circumstances, or cultural back-ground. “That’s why we need to learn all we can about a patient and have to determine how to be honest without creating or introducing more diffi culties,” says Lavandero.

Recognize that ethical is-sues are a cornerstone of nursing. “Nurses are also trusted because their Code of Ethics is grounded in fairness and respect for all people,” says Cynda Hylton Rushton, RN, PhD, FAAN, the Anne and George L. Bunting professor of clinical ethics at Johns Hop-kins University in Baltimore. Ethical training is part of every nursing school curriculum, and a code of ethics guides all nurses as they care for pa-tients, she says. This is not a profession that only pays lip

service to a moral ideal.Some common ethical ques-

tions that nurses must con-sider, according to Rushton, are: “How do we balance what patients or families want with what’s available? (Often there are limits.) Also, how do we balance quality care with safety and effi ciency?” One element of quality care is relationships, she says, but the “health care system is relationally depleted” and devalues relationships in favor of effi ciency.

Also, our American society and health care system “would like to pretend that death is optional,” she explains. “There is such fear and despair around aging, illness, disability, and death. Sometimes we feel that we’re doing things that are harmful or disrespectful to patients. That’s not what we’re called to do as nurses.” Nurses are often at the center of trying to navigate a broken system that causes them much distress, she adds.

Moral distress is a term Rushton uses to describe when a nurse knows the moral thing to do, but feels powerless to act on it. It’s paramount that nurses become knowledgeable about ethical issues and effec-tive ways to address quanda-ries, she says.

The future can be brighter, though, if nurses realize the public’s trust in nurses is “sa-cred” and “hard won.” She im-plores nurses to “make sure, fi rst of all, that we’re deserving of it. And second of all, uphold that trust.”

Jebra Turner is a freelance health

and business writer based in

Portland, Oregon. She frequently

contributes to the Minority Nurse

magazine and website. Visit her

online at www.jebra.com.

The future can be bright-er, though, if nurses real-ize the public’s trust in nurses is “sacred” and “hard won.”

NURSING OPPORTUNITIESThe University of Connecticut Health Center is a leading health-care, educational and research facility offering challengingnursing positions in all specialty patient care areas as well asCase Management, Nursing Informatics, and OutpatientServices. We are an equal opportunity employer with a strongcommitment to diversity and provide:

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J AC K S O N V I L L E


Second Opinion

Technology in the Workplace: How You Can PrepareBY NIKKI YEAGER

Most of us have heard the term “digital divide,” and many of us are familiar with the move towards electronic health records (EHRs) in the workplace. However, very few hospitals or medical offices are discussing the real-life implications of those two facts merging in hospitals and medical offices across the country where nurses who have limited computer experience are suddenly being asked to do electronic charting.

According to the US Census Bureau, only 56.9% of black and 58.3% of Hispanic

households had internet access in their home, compared to 76.2% of all non-Hispanic white households, in 2011. This means minority households are currently falling on the wrong side of the digital divide. That being said, 26.8% of the nursing students in baccalaureate

programs from 2010-2011 were minorities, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, which means we have a significant percentage of nurses who will be entering the workplace with the potential of having limited computer experience. In the past, that wouldn’t have been a problem, considering most medical offices used paper charts and filing systems.

However, with the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009, medical offices and hospitals are being strongly encouraged to adopt EHRs as quickly as possible.

According to the HITECH Act, medical offices that do not use an EHR in a “meaningful way” by 2015 will start to incur penalties, beginning with a cut of 1% to Medicare funding in 2015 and increasing to 3% in 2017. After that point, medical offices may also be subject to additional financial penalties.

What does that mean for today’s nurses? Based on government reports, 72% of office-based physicians used electronic medical records (EMRs) or EHRs in 2012. In

Massachusetts, that number goes as high as 89.2%. In order to qualify for funding and avoid penalties, offices must have met “meaningful use” objectives in 2012, including electronically tracking all orders, vital signs, medication allergies, medications taken, patient demographics, and smoking status.

Any of those items sound familiar? The same things nurses have been entering on paper charts for decades are now being entered electronically. In short, this means if you haven’t already begun using an EHR or EMR on the job, you will probably see one soon. And if you’re just starting out, the chance of finding a nursing position without needing to use one on a daily basis is dwindling


Second Opinion

incredibly fast. For some, that could mean using a piece of hardware or technology for the first time. But the transition doesn’t need to be scary. So, how exactly can you prepare for the change?

First of all, it’s important to understand that the EHR/EMR industry comes with support—and lots of it. If you’re currently at a job that’s implementing an EHR system like Cerner, Epic, or Allscripts, and you haven’t already done so, ask for training. Almost all EHR companies offer comprehensive training during the implementation process, and it’s expected that staff will attend those sessions.

If for any reason you cannot attend a session the first time around, don’t hesitate to ask for additional training or inquire about what tutorials and materials might be available for you to review. There are

entire support and training departments within each of the large EHR companies. Those departments are available to make your transition easier, so don’t be afraid to use the resources made available to you.

For the thousands of nursing students who will be entering a largely electronic workplace, what other preparations can be made? Many nursing instructors have decided to face

the issue head on. By providing nursing students with access to an academic EHR in the classroom, instructors can help make the transition easier for students when entering the workforce. After all, nurses have enough to worry about during their first week in the field.

Computer programs like EHR Tutor, based in Parma, Ohio, can be purchased by nursing schools and used as a daily teaching tool in the classroom. For example, when discussing vitals or medications, students can look at charts done for electronic patients and analyze that data. Students can also chart information themselves, just as they would on paper, which can then be submitted to the instructor for grading. Schools with access to iPads or laptops are also allowing students to use programs like EHR Tutor during

clinical rotations to chart real information under fake patient names. That way, by the time students are on their own, using EHRs will be just as comfortable as pen and paper.

EHRs and EMRs are here to stay. For some nurses, that may present a tremendous challenge. However, there are many tools available to nurses who may be feeling a bit overwhelmed. By using those resources (like using academic EHRs in the classroom and asking for additional training in your workplace), we can ensure that our nurses and future nurses make the transition to EHRs as painlessly as possible. That way, our nurses can spend more time focusing on the important things—the patients.

Nikki Yeager is a freelance writer

and software trainer based in New

York City.

In short, this means if you haven’t already begun using an EHR or EMR on the job, you will probably see one soon.

The New Nurse EducatorMastering Academe

Deborah Dolan Hunt, PhD, RN

$50.00 | October, 2012304 pp | Softcover

ISBN: 9780826106414

WWW.SPRINGERPUB.COM/NURSING

201 Careers in Nursing

Joyce Fitzpatrick, PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN; Emerson E. Ea, DNP,

APRN-BC, CEN

$20.00 | August, 2012312 pp | Softcover

ISBN: 9780826133823

Fast Facts for the Student Nurse

Nursing Student Successin a Nutshell

Susan Stabler-Haas, MSN,

RN, CS, LMFT

$30.00 | May, 2012200 pp | Softcover

ISBN: 9780826193247


Degrees of Success

Growing the Numbers of Diverse Nursing Faculty BY ROBIN FARMER

A chance encounter with a professor at the University of Colorado Denver changed the trajectory of Anissa Buhring’s career, transforming her dream of teaching into a goal with a deadline.

It was a summer day in 2003 when she decided to learn more about the university’s doctoral programs, recalls

Buhring, CNS, RN, a clinical education specialist at East Mor-gan County Hospital in Brush, Colorado. Buhring, who is La-tina, had always wanted to earn her PhD and teach. “[But] those were jobs that people outside of my ethnic background held. Even though that was a dream of mine...there was nobody else like me that I came across,” she notes.

But that summer day, she briefl y met Dr. Ruby Martinez and walked away inspired. “She doesn’t realize what a huge in-fl uence she had on me that day. At that moment, I real-ized [my goal] was possible and that there was someone else like me that had done it. She told me that I needed to do it and I could do it. She gave me her card, and I never ran into her until years later as part of the National Association of His-

panic Nurses. And now she’s my mentor,” says Buhring, a 2012 recipient of the Johnson & Johnson/American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars program and a PhD candidate at the University of Colorado Denver.

Buhring’s memorable expe-rience illustrates the power of diverse academic role models, which most nursing schools and programs across the coun-try lack. According to 2011 data from AACN’s annual survey, only 11.8% of full-time nursing school faculty come from mi-nority backgrounds, and only 5.1% are male.

“I believe that when students do not see faculty that look like them, they feel that it may be impossible to attain high-level career goals,” says Carolina G. Huerta, EdD, RN, FAAN, chair of the nursing department at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA), where 85% of the faculty is minority. “Stu-

dents who do not see faculty that look like them may not approach faculty for clarifi -cation on academic material for fear that they will not be understood. All of the litera-ture supports the importance of role models that look like and can relate to the students culturally.”

In 1992, when Huerta be-came chair, she decided the program would grow its own diverse faculty to better serve the majority-Hispanic student enrollment. Today, out of 27 nursing faculty, four are non-Hispanic white; six are Asian; one is mixed Hispanic; and 17 are Hispanic. There is one male, although that may change since 20% to 25% of students in the nursing programs (BSN and MSN) are male.

Located 12 miles from the Texas-Mexico border, “our uni-versity is located in an area that is poor and medically under-served, and many do not fi nd it a desirable place to seek em-ployment,” says Huerta. Not many people apply for faculty

positions or employment from outside the area. There are few jobs for spouses or signifi cant others, and the proximity to the Mexican border is not a selling point.

Many of the nursing fac-ulty were born and raised in the community or are long-time residents. Many graduated

from UTPA. Seventeen of the 27 faculty employed received their MSN through UTPA or through a UTPA cooperative program. Seven faculty members have either fi nished or are at the dis-sertation phase of their PhD/DNP. “I believe that the ‘grow your own’ philosophy has been extended by my giving them the time to complete doctoral work. The program coordina-tors and I have done as much as possible to accommodate their work schedule so that it does not confl ict with their doc-toral study,” says Huerta, who is “unaware of another program like ours.”

Culturally competent men-toring, more scholarship mon-ey, and better faculty salaries will increase diversity in nurs-ing education, says Huerta, who was named by AACN and the Robert Wood Johnson Foun-dation (RWJF) as the National Advisory Committee chair for RWJF’s New Careers in Nursing (NCIN) program. The program provides scholarships to second-career college-educated minor-

ity or disadvantaged individuals pursuing a career in nursing by enrolling in accelerated BSN and/or MSN programs.

The NCIN program has sup-ported over 125 schools and awarded $35,170,000 in schol-arships to 3,517 entry-level nursing students in the United States since it started in 2008.

understood. All of the litera-ture supports the importance of role models that look like and can relate to the students culturally.”

came chair, she decided the program would grow its own diverse faculty to better serve the majority-Hispanic student enrollment. Today, out of 27 nursing faculty, four are non-Hispanic white; six are Asian;

Buhring’s memorable experience illustrates the power of diverse academic role models, which most nursing schools and programs across the country lack.

Carolina G. Huerta, EdD, RN, FAANAnissa Buhring, CNS, RN


Degrees of Success

“I think that a program such as this that focuses specifically on preparing nursing educators could be a success,” says Huerta.

More scholarships would make a difference, especially if no major strings are attached such as having to work for X number of years in an under-served area, she says. Boosting faculty salaries would also make nursing education a more ap-pealing career.

“We need to infuse money into campaigns that high-light minority and diverse nurses making a difference, especially in nursing educa-tion. I know that Johnson and Johnson has done this and they have been success-

ful. We need more of this.”One of five recipients select-

ed for the Johnson & Johnson/AACN Minority Nurse Faculty Scholars program last year, Buhring agrees more opportu-nities are needed to develop a pipeline for minority educators. She pitches in as a mentor for middle and high school stu-dents as well as first-generation college students. Buhring looks forward to the impact she will have as an educator. “I want to pass that flame to others,” she says. “Whether it’s for nursing or just knowing it’s possible as a Latino to go to college.”

Robin Farmer is a freelance writer based in Virginia.

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Degrees of Success

Racial Disparities of Nursing Educators and StudentsBY ELISS CUCCHIARA

Due to the shortage of nurses in the workforce, many nursing schools are making an effort to increase their enrollment of students. Although there is an effort to increase the enrollment of nursing students, there are still racial disparities within the nursing student population—and this disparity correlates to the racial disparity of nursing educators.1 Without a diverse population of nursing educators, minority students are often made to feel invalidated in various situations, particularly in relating to professors culturally and receiving appropriate advice on cultural and ethnic relations in the workforce.

According to the Na-tional League for Nursing’s Annual Survey of Schools of

Nursing, only 12% of the nurs-ing student population in a baccalaureate program in 2012 was African American. That number dwindles for other mi-nority groups: 8% were Asian or Pacific Islander; 1% were American Indian or Alaskan Native; 6% were Hispanic; and 6% were “other.” When you compare that to the fact that only 12.6% of nursing educa-tors are minorities and only 6.2% are male, then you real-ize there is a dire need for di-versity within nursing school institutions to correlate with the student population.2

In addition to the academic stressors that all nursing stu-dents have to face, minority nursing students have other challenges. Those challenges include having limited access to moral and emotional sup-port, inadequate academic advising, low professional socialization, and little to no mentoring. Due to these fac-

tors, minority students have to overcome additional barri-ers that may impede on their academic success. Minority students also often feel the encumbering emotions that are attributed to isolation and discrimination. Isolation is often felt by minorities in professional settings, and it is heightened in various pro-

fessional schools.3 As a result of limited minority nursing peers and nursing educators, minority nursing students of-ten feel as though they’re not supported. Veronica, an Af-rican American woman who recently matriculated from a nursing school in the south-eastern part of the United States, noted experiencing the disheartening emotion of racism when she was told

by a nursing school admission counselor, “They don’t want your kind.” Discrimination of a minority nursing student is often felt in the classroom as

well as in the clinical setting. Minority students feel the bur-den of being discriminated against by patients who don’t wish to work with the student due to the color of the stu-dent’s skin. Additionally, too often minority students feel as though they’re going through a hazing process in school in order to be placed on the same level as their white peers.3

Men continue to be highly

underrepresented in the field of nursing, and their presence is even smaller in the class-room. Being a double minority comes with added hardships at times, and it may explain why many minority males do not choose to go into the field of nursing.

Manuel Romo is a third-semester nursing student at Northern Arizona University’s Tucson campus. He is the pres-ident of the Student Nursing Association and one of the few Hispanic male students. When asked about his percep-tion of his role as a double minority in the nursing pro-gram, he verbalized, “As I have seen, nursing is predominately white females, which in turn is probably a reason why there are mostly Anglo female in-structors. I believe that more needs to be done to attract instructors from various di-

Additionally, too often minority students feel as though they’re going through a hazing process in school in order to be placed on the same level as their white peers.


Degrees of Success

verse backgrounds in order to attract more minority groups to enter the nursing field.”

The US Census Bureau pre-dicts that minority ethnic groups will be the majority by the year 2043. With the change in our society will also come a change in the patient populations; they, too, will be predominately minority ethnic groups. The nursing profession will need to be able

to be culturally sensitive and diverse in order to provide adequate clinical care. The fundamental change of the nursing profession starts at the level of the nursing stu-dents, and it’s imperative that nursing schools acknowledge this and begin to welcome an environment that represents diversity in its faculty. Cur-rently, the National Sample Survey’s data notes that mi-

nority RNs are more likely than white RNs to obtain bac-calaureate degrees and other terminal degrees in nursing.2 The reasoning for this isn’t fully understood beyond the recognition of knowing an ad-vanced terminal degree brings about more career opportuni-ties and the opportunity to have leadership and education roles—roles that seem to be absent in nursing institutions.

The methods for recruiting and retaining minority nurse educators aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Every school is different and unique in its own way, but the methods can’t wait too long. It’s about time that nursing institutions implement a reliable and real-istic plan to promote diversity within their faculty and with-in their students. As nurses, we’re committed to being life-long learners for the advance-ment of our patients and our-selves. Cultural competence is a key factor in relating to one another, and if it’s not cultivated in the classroom, then we as nurses are bound to face problems beyond.

Eliss Cucchiara is a second de-gree nursing student at Northern Arizona University. She will obtain her bachelor’s of science degree in nursing in the fall of 2014.

References

1. National League for Nursing.

2010 NLN Nurse Educator Short-

age Fact Sheet. February 2010.

www.nln.org/governmentaf-fairs/pdf/nursefacultyshortage.pdf

2. American Association of

Colleges of Nursing. Enhanc-

ing Diversity in the Workforce.

Fact Sheet. Last updated April

17, 2013. www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/enhancing-diversity

3. Loftin C, Newman SD, Dumas

BP, Gilden G, Bond ML. Perceived

Barriers to Success for Minority

Nursing Students: An Integrative

Review. ISRN Nurs. 2012;806543.


In the Spotlight

Newsletter

MINORITYNURSE.COM

Marsha D. Thomas, RNNOMINATED BY REV. STEVEN K. WHEELER, MSN, RN

Marsha D. Thomas, RN, is a servant leader and an inno-vator. She has accom-

plished much in her lifetime: she was the fi rst Upward Bound student at the University of Cincinnati/Xavier University; she was the fi rst African Amer-ican parish nurse in the city of Cincinnati; she received a grant from the Susan G. Komen Foundation to develop a faith-based play on breast cancer; and she is the current president of the Black Nurses Association of Greater Cincinnati.

Marsha has created strong, positive programs to bring in disadvantaged students and take them through the nursing program to graduation. She has recruited nursing leaders

from diverse backgrounds that will lay a strong foundation for future nurses within the Black Nurses Association. Thomas, along with Rev. Steven K. Wheeler, MSN, RN, will insti-tute a citywide graduation cel-ebration for any/all minority students who graduated from any nursing school in 2013.

Marsha is a very passionate person, and she is constantly challenging the community to change health outcomes for the disadvantaged. She is the proj-ect manager for her church at a clinic that is currently under construction in Benin, West Africa, to help women and chil-dren. Marsha has three grown children and three grandchil-dren. She is truly a bright light in a very dark world.

What makes Marsha even more remarkable is that she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and has been under-going radiation treatment as well. But she has not allowed her disability to stand in the way of her service to others. At the community graduation cel-ebration of nurses, you could witness fi rsthand the handi-work of this great lady. One graduating nurse had fl unked out of several schools, and this student was about ready to throw in the towel on her dreams. Someone recommend-ed that she go and speak with Marsha Thomas. After speak-ing with Marsha, this student was connected with tutors and received the necessary help to make it through the program.

Marsha held on to this student all the way through the nurs-ing program, and that night everyone witnessed the success story that Ms. Thomas helped to orchestrate. Might I add that this young lady had one eye. Marsha had the student focus on her ability and not her dis-ability. As a result of Marsha’s dedication to the fi eld of nurs-ing and to humanity, Impact Christian Ministries has de-signed an award to be given away on a yearly basis in honor of this beautiful young lady. The award will be given to an outstanding individual nurse. Attached to the award will be $1,000 and an award that will be designed by local artist Jon Carter. Nomination forms will go out around the country so that this living legend will not be forgotten but emulated for generations to come. The fi rst annual “Citywide Graduation Celebration” can be seen at www.ConsciousMediaProduction-sTV.com.

Is there a nurse in your life who inspires you? Nominate him or her to be featured in our new “In the Spotlight” series by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. Or visit our blog at www.minoritynurse.com/blog to learn about outstanding nurses across the country making a difference.


Highlights from the Blog

Newsletter

MINORITYNURSE.COM

How to Tackle Nurse-on-Nurse BullyingIt’s common knowledge that bullies are mean, manipulative, and moody. But do you know what to do when the bully is your boss? Bullies exist in every workplace; but when nurses harass other nurses, their harmful behavior can also affect patient care and safety.

Should You Relocate? Three Things to ConsiderHave you ever dreamed of living in another region? Have you often wondered if your loca-tion is a career roadblock? Relocating for your career or for a desired lifestyle change is sometimes the best move for nurses and one that is frequently available to nurses specifi-cally. Nursing skills are needed in all areas, and a move can not only bring a career boost, but much needed personal change as well.

Start Now to Improve Your Organization’s ClimateAny nurse knows a well-run unit has excellent staffing and dedicated workers, but such a cohesive environment also has something not so easily defined. What can you do if you don’t feel supported by your organization or if, as a supervisor, you would like to see your unit operating more effectively?

Social Media Profile May Win or Lose You JobsLooking for a job? Before applying for a new position, examine your social media profile. Employers are increasingly searching social media sites to look for potential hires with a professional image and good qualifications. Anything less, and you may be rejected on the spot.

To read more, visit www.minoritynurse.com/blog.

SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMINORITY NURSE

Sponsored by the National Coalition of Ethnic

Minority Nurse Associations (NCEMNA) and

Minority Nurse Magazine

Nurses will always be valuable members of any health care team, regardless of their educational backgrounds. Yet, the baccalaureate and master’s degrees in nursing may offer the most professional opportunities.

That’s why Minority Nurse has teamed up with NCEMNA to co-sponsor an annual scholarship to help outstanding nurses from under-represented groups complete their studies toward a Bachelor or Master of Science in Nursing. To date, we have awarded scholarships to more than 40 students, honoring their commitment to the profession, academic excellence, and community service.

We are currently accepting applications for our 15th an-nual scholarship competition, consisting of two $1,000 awards and one $3,000 award. Scholarships will be paid in summer 2014 for the fall 2014 academic term.

Questions? E-mail [email protected] or visit www.minoritynurse.com/scholarship/minority-nurse-magazine-scholarship-program

MINORITY NURSE15th Annual Scholarship Program

Application Form(Please print clearly)

Name ______________________________________________________________________________________________Address ____________________________________________________________________________________________City/State/ZIP Code _________________________________________________________________________________Phone _______________________________ E-mail________________________________________________________Nursing school ______________________________________________________________________________________Expected date of graduation _________________________________________________________________________

Gender: ❏ Male ❏ Female

Ethnic background: ❏ African American ❏ Hispanic/Latino ❏ Asian/Pacifi c Islander❏ American Indian/Alaskan Native ❏ Filipino ❏ Other______________

Please list any nursing associations (student, minority, or otherwise) to which you belong: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Who Is Eligible (Please read carefully. Applications that do not meet the eligibility criteria will be disqualifi ed.)

To apply for this scholarship, students must meet all four of the following criteria:

Be a minority in the nursing profession

Be enrolled (as of September 2014) in either the third or fourth year of an accredited BSN program in the United

States OR an accelerated program leading to a BSN degree (such as RN-to-BSN or BA-to-BSN) OR an

accelerated master’s entry program in nursing for students with bachelor’s degrees in fi elds other than nursing

(such as BA-to-MSN). Graduate students who already have a bachelor’s degree in nursing are not eligible.

Have a 3.0 GPA or better (on a 4.0 scale)

Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident

How to Apply (Please read carefully. Applications that do not include the required documentation will be disqualifi ed.)

Complete and return this form along with all three of the following documents:

Transcript or other proof of GPA

Letter of recommendation from a faculty member outlining academic achievement

A brief (250-word) written statement summarizing your academic and personal accomplishments, community

service, and goals for your future nursing career

Important: An English translation must be provided for any documentation that is not in English.

Minority Nurse will award one $3,000 scholarship and two $1,000 scholarships in 2014. Selections will be made by

NCEMNA. Scholarships will be paid in summer 2014. Minority Nurse reserves the right to verify

community service and fi nancial need.

Deadline for application: February 1, 2014

Return application form and documentation to: Minority Nurse Magazine Scholarship,

Springer Publishing Company, 11 W. 42nd Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10036


Academic Opportunities

As you are probably aware, the de-mand for nurses continues to sky-rocket. What you may not know is

that there’s also a critical need for nurses with advanced degrees, as hospitals turn to nurses to fi ll more administrative and leadership roles.

Nursing schools around the country are jumping at the chance to fi ll this void by of-fering fl exible Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs, and you’ll fi nd many great examples in the following pages.

There truly has never been a better time to pursue an advanced nursing degree. Be sure to secure your spot in the program—and your fi nancial aid—by applying early.



Applications now open!

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Current graduate degree programs:

Doctor of Philosophy Master of Health Services — Physician Assistant Master of Science — LeadershipMaster of Science — Nurse Practitioner

Admission is competitive and space is limited!

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Faculty Opportunities

The world needs more nurses. With that comes the need for experienced, dedicated nursing faculty to train them.

There is a true shortage of nursing educators—par-ticularly minority nursing professors, who comprise a small percentage of nursing faculty overall. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing says the scarcity of professors may actually be stunting the growth of nursing programs. To counter this, nursing schools are improving the pay for nursing school faculty to increase their numbers, especially those who hold a doctorate.

This section of Minority Nurse is dedicated to open faculty positions from nursing schools all over the country. Requirements vary, but all are sure to lead to exciting, rewarding careers in nursing education and research.

NURSING FACULTY POSITIONS

The University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, College of Nursing and Health Sciences is seeking applicants for full-time tenure track faculty positions beginning in either January or August 2014. Positions are available in Eau Claire where excellent opportunities for research, leadership, clinical practice and professional development are available. The Department of Nursing offers CCNE-accredited BSN, MSN, and DNP programs, and a statewide collaborative BSN completion program. Expertise is preferred in the following areas: Advanced Practice with Adult, Gerontological, and/or Family Nurse Practitioner Certification and prescriptive authority, and Mental/Behavioral Health nursing. Applicants from other specialties are encouraged to apply. Qualifications include a master’s degree in nursing and doctorate or substantial progress toward a doctorate. Applicants must have RN licensure in the US and be eligible for RN licensure in Wisconsin, with WI RN license required by the start of the contract period. For a complete list of requirements and full position description, please refer to the following website: http://www.uwec.edu/Employment/NursingFacultyF-648.htm. For questions and information, contact:

Mary Canales, PhD, RN Chair of Search and Screen Committee College of Nursing and Health Sciences University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire

105 Garfield Avenue Eau Claire, WI 54702-4004

Phone: 715-836-5737 Email: [email protected]

Please submit letter of application, official transcripts, curriculum vita, and contact information for three references online at http://www.uwec.edu/Employment/NursingFacultyF-648.htm. Please submit PDF documents. Only applications submitted through UW Career site will be accepted.

UWEC is an EOE/AA employer

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Index of Advertisers ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE #

AARP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Carilion Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Hospital for Special Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Springer Publishing Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C2, 36, 43

UNCF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C4

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ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE #

Frontier Nursing University. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Oakland University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Johns Hopkins University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

University at Buffalo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

University of California, Davis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

University of Nevada. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

University of North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

University of Pittsburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

FACULTY OPPORTUNITIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE #

University of Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

University of Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

University of Wisconsin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Faculty Diversity Success and Support at the University of Pennsylvania School of NursingThe importance of diversity to nursing science is incalculable. In an era of increasing health disparities and lack of access to quality healthcare, it is crucial to have diverse faculty conducting research, educating future nurse leaders, and shaping practice to improve health worldwide.

SuccessPenn Nursing is one of the world’s premier research institutions in nursing, influencing practice, policy, and education. • Penn Nursing faculty consistently receive more research funding from the

National Institutes of Health than any other private nursing school.• Many Master’s programs are ranked first in the country.• The Center for Health Equity Research, directed by Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmott, and the

Center for Global Women’s Health, directed by Dr. Lynn Sommers, are international leaders in evidence-based efforts to eradicate health inequities and disparities across the lifespan.

SupportPenn Nursing is committed to a diverse faculty and student body supported by:• A dedicated Office of Diversity and Cultural Affairs• A long history of outreach programs and curricular initiatives on cultural competence• Stellar faculty conducting community-based participatory research to improve the health status

of marginalized and underserved populations• The Penn Nursing Faculty Mentorship Program which offers guidance and counsel for faculty at

all stages of their careers• An Office of Nursing Research fully supporting faculty through every stage of the grant process.

Penn Nursing faculty are internationally renowned researchers and policy leaders who create new knowledge that is reflected in cutting-edge teaching and refreshes evidence-based practice.

For faculty opportunities at Penn Nursing, see www.nursing.upenn.edu/positionsTo learn more about Penn Nursing’s commitment to diversity, see www.nursing.upenn.edu/diversity

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Minorities, males, veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Minoritynurse.coMTHE MAGAZINE IS JUST THE BEGINNING...

YOUR GO-TO SOURCE FOR NURSING NEWS ON THE WEB.WHAT ELSE WILL YOU FIND ON MINORITYNURSE.COM?

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minority nurse magazine (fall 2013)

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