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Lack of Diversity Within the Nursing Profession

Hannah Stallings
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

With numerous studies being led, it has only confirmed the obvious. Nursing is one of the
least diverse professions in the United States. The article Men Begin Breaking into Field of
Nursing states 95% of the nursing population, statewide are white females (Steffen, 2012). That
is a problem when nurses will be caring for a very diverse patient population. By expanding on
race within the profession, it will help patients to connect better with the people caring for them
especially if they share the same background and cultural values (Wilson, 2007). Also, by hiring
more men into the career it will help with the physical strength of patient care. Diversity within
the profession will only help patient care, which is the goal in this health care field.
The solution to this health care problem is to make the profession more diverse; with
gender, with race, and with culture. There are many things in the works to hopefully solve this
problem. Because of a recession and a mass loss in manufacturing jobs, it has made more men
consider nursing especially with it being one of the fastest growing careers (Steffen, 2012). Also,
many organizations are beginning to campaign to recruit new, diverse nurses. For example, the
American Assembly for Men in Nursing have already started to campaign to increase male
nursing by 20% by 2020 (Steffen, 2012). In addition, many nursing schools have hired a
recruitment coordinator to plan and promote events, create updated brochures, and use images
with diverse groups of nurses (2001). Colleges are also receiving funds to promote diversity
within the profession. With these effective strategies, they are sure to expand the employees in
this career.
Diversity in this career will help, particularly because of the drastic cultural changes our
population is facing. Campaigning and recruiting is a good way to appeal to all types of people,
to consider the profession. It is especially effective to recruit college students, because most of
them are still trying to decide which career path is best for them. Many students can still be

persuaded with a strong enough campaign. With a constantly changing world, you must reach out
to demand the highest quality of healthcare by embracing diversity (Jeffreys, 2008). It is easier
for a patient with a different background or a patient of a different race to connect with a
caregiver with those same traits (Wilson, 2007). When a nurse is unaware of a patients culture or
cultural background, it can be considered nursing negligence (Jeffreys, 2008). This is why
expanding the nursing staff across the states is important, there is no reason to be accused of
negligence when it is completely unavoidable. Also, having men in nursing offer an important
component in the delivery of public health (Steffen 2012). A varied nursing staff is campaign
enough to help draw all types of different people to the profession.
With this type of solution though, there is no sure way to know if people of different
races and gender will respond to these campaigns. Also, just because many people do respond
does not mean they are best for the job. That then brings the issue of, are you sacrificing the
quality of the employees just to try to create more diversity in the profession? Also, many times
physicians feel as if nurses of different races are incapable of doing several, more difficult jobs
(Wilson, 2007). This can lead to conflict in the work setting, which is something that is always
trying to be avoided. Another weakness in making the profession more diverse is that other race,
and male nurses are not fully accepted by the predominantly white, female nursing population.
That can be a problem when many nurses have to work so closely with each other at times. There
never needs to be conflict in a health care field, job. With every problem, comes solutions which
has its strengths and weaknesses.
Diversity has become an extremely big part in our world today. We are a diverse country,
with several different cultures and races. Healthcare has to keep up with the way things are
changing. This means recruiting and campaigning for new, culturally and diverse nurses. With

nursing being one of the fastest growing careers, it should not be hard to hire several new nurses.
Even though, campaigning is not 100% effective, it can never hurt to talk to people and answer
all questions concerning the profession. A more diverse nursing staff will only expand the
number of patients being cared for and create a more comfortable setting for patients of all
genders, cultures and races.
I chose this topic for my paper because it is a growing problem throughout the United
States that interests me. I can say, I am guilty for thinking nurses can only be white females
because that is what we typically see in a health care setting. But, after it was brought to my
attention I do think it is a good idea to expand the diversity of the employers. The research on
this topic was very easy to navigate through for me because there was so much. I was able to find
the most information on expanding on race and gender. Also, because it us such a growing
problem, there were solutions provided in hopes to take care of the problem. After researching, it
was easy for me to choose that I was pro diversity in the profession because it can really
benefit patient care. Because of the ample amount of information, I was able to find, and it was a
topic I was interested in, the paper was easier for me to write. I am passionate about this subject
because it is the future of the field I am interested in. Although I am a Caucasian, female going
into this field, I still believe a more diverse staff can only benefit the workplace setting and
patient care.

References
Wilson, D. W. (2007). From Their Own Voices: The Lived Experience of African American
Registered Nurses. Journal Of Transcultural Nursing, 18(2), 142-149.
doi:10.1177/1043659606298611
Steffen, A. (2012, April 16). Men begin breaking into field of nursing. Waterloo-Cedar Falls
Courier (IA).
Russell, R. (2014, June 16). Men rapidly joining nursing ranks. Blade, The (OH).
Effective Strategies for Increasing Diversity in Nursing Programs (2001, December). In
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Retrieved November 1, 2015.
Jeffreys, M. (2008, November). Becoming Better Nurses through Diversity in Nursing
Programs. Retrieved November 1, 2015.