| AACN
Endorses the Sullivan Commission's Report on Increasing Diversity in the Health
Professions
Download
full Sullivan Commission Report report here
WASHINGTON,
September 20, 2004 - The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has
endorsed the final report of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare
Workforce and is encouraging the nation's nursing schools to intensify their efforts
to increase diversity in programs that prepare nurses. To improve the quality
of health care available to all Americans, AACN is calling for legislators, practice
leaders and educators to implement the recommendations outlined in the report
titled Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions. "Nursing's
academic leaders recognize the strong connection between a culturally diverse
nursing workforce and the ability to provide quality patient care," said
AACN President Jean E. Bartels. "Greater diversity will strengthen cultural
competence among care providers and help to eliminate health disparities that
persist within minority populations." Though nursing
has made strides in recruiting and graduating nurses that reflect the patient
population, more must be done before equal representation is realized. As the
report notes, though 30 percent of the US population comes from minority backgrounds,
only 12 percent of nurses are from African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native
American communities. The call to attract more diverse students into nursing and
expand capacity in baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs is gaining in importance
given the government's projected need for more than one million new and replacement
nurses by 2012. "National nursing organizations, the
federal Division of Nursing, hospital associations, nursing philanthropies, and
other stakeholders within the health care community agree that recruiting under-represented
groups into nursing is a priority for the profession and an important step toward
addressing the nursing shortage," added Dr. Bartels. Established
in April 2003, the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce
was formed to synthesize information collected at regional hearings and recommend
strategies for improving access to care and dismantling barriers to health professions'
education. Chaired by former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis
W. Sullivan, the 15-member commission consists of experts from the health, higher
education, business and legal arenas, including AACN's Executive Director Geraldine
"Polly" Bednash who serves as the representative from nursing. "Though
attention must be paid to increasing diversity among nurses providing direct patient
care, there is also a great need to raise minority representation among nurse
leaders, educators, researchers and executives," said Dr. Bednash. "In
order to give minority nurses a full voice in shaping the future of the nursing
profession, federal legislators and foundations must place a high priority on
funding programs that support advanced nursing education and leadership development
for nurses from under-represented groups." Featured
among the Commission's recommendations are the following items that impact schools
of nursing: - Health profession schools should hire diversity
program managers and develop strategic plans that outline specific goals, standards,
policies, and accountability mechanisms to ensure institutional diversity and
cultural competence.
- Colleges and universities should
provide an array of support services to minority students, including mentoring,
test-taking skills, and application counseling.
- Schools
granting baccalaureate nursing degrees should provide and support "bridging
programs" that enable graduates of two-year colleges to succeed in the transition
to four-year institutions. Graduates of associate degree nursing programs should
be encouraged and supported to enroll in baccalaureate nursing programs.
- AACN
and other health profession organizations should work with schools to promote
enhanced admissions policies, cultural competence training, and minority student
recruitment.
- To remove financial barriers to a nursing
education, public and private funding organizations should provide scholarships,
loan forgiveness programs, and tuition reimbursement programs to students and
institutions.
- Congress should substantially increase
funding for diversity programs within the National Health Service Corps and Titles
VII and VIII of the Public Health Service Act.
"The
Sullivan Commission's work is a resounding call to action, and AACN will work
with our nursing schools to identify model minority student recruitment and retention
programs and share best practices with the larger health care community,"
said Dr. Bartels.
The entire Sullivan Commission Report may
be downloaded from the AACN Web site at http://www.aacn.nche.edu/SullivanReport.pdf.
The
American Association of Colleges of Nursing is the national voice for university
and four-year-college education programs in nursing. Representing more than 575
member schools of nursing at public and private institutions nationwide, AACN's
educational, research, governmental advocacy, data collection, publications, and
other programs work to establish quality standards for bachelor's- and graduate-degree
nursing education, assist deans and directors to implement those standards, influence
the nursing profession to improve health care, and promote public support of baccalaureate
and graduate nursing education, research, and practice. See http://www.aacn.nche.edu.
CONTACT:
Robert Rosseter
(202) 463-6930, x231
rrosseter@aacn.nche.edu
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