UNMC College of Nursing cited by national peers for its success in recruiting more males, minorities

The University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing recently

was cited by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) for

increasing the number of male and minority applicants and students in its

undergraduate program.

The college was one of about a dozen academic nursing institutions featured

in an article titled, Effective Strategies for Increasing Diversity in

Nursing Programs, in the latest issue of the AACNs Issue Bulletin. The

bulletin, published periodically, provides in-depth perspective on nursing

education developments shaping the national health care agenda.

The article was based on a survey of colleges in the association. The

survey asked what efforts the colleges were making in increasing diversity.

The bulletin is posted at: http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Publications/issues/dec01.htm.

UNMC is featured quite prominently in the bulletin and serves as a

model for other schools to follow, said Robert Rosseter, director of public

affairs for the association.. I commend the college on its efforts to attract

underrepresented audiences into nursing.

The UNMC College of Nursing is highlighted as effectively using a combination

of recruitment techniques with innovative twists to reach out to men and

minorities. Minorities include African-Americans, Native Americans and

Hispanics.

In 2000-01, the college had an 84 percent increase in minority applications

with a 43 percent increase in admissions. Applications of males in the

same time period were up 54 percent with 77 percent admitted.

Attracting men and minorities into nursing is essential in maintaining

the integrity of the nursing profession, said Dani Eveloff, recruitment

coordinator, UNMC College of Nursing. Nursing schools must take the lead

in launching new and aggressive recruitment campaigns aimed at diversifying

the nursing workforce.

Eveloff said some of the tactics used by the college include: hiring

a nurse recruiter, updating marketing materials to reflect diversity, developing

and mailing letters about nursing programs in Spanish and visiting Native

American reservations. The college also communicates with counselors, teachers

and elementary, middle school and high school students and has developed

a system to track potential students.

The college also created a Web site to attract future students. Children

can learn about nursing at www.unmc.edu/nursing/careers.

The bulletin reported nursing schools enroll more diverse students Though

nursing schools enroll more diverse students than medical (10.5%) or dental

colleges (11%), the overwhelming majority of students in today’s baccalaureate

nursing programs are female (91%) from non-minority backgrounds (73.5%).

The concern is the profession does not mirror the nations population —

51 percent women and almost 33 percent minority.

It also points out many reasons why men and minority groups do not pursue

nursing, including role stereotypes, economic barriers, few mentors, gender

biases, and lack of direction from early authority figures.

UNMC is overcoming some of these barriers.

This bulletin validates that were reaching out, Eveloff said. We

went from 15 undergraduate applications when we started this effort in

1999 to 26 applications this year. Our numbers aren’t where we want them

to be yet, but it is a process.

Our drive is a result of trying to increase the number of nurses in

the profession, with a special emphasis on diversity. We also are helped

by UNMCs overall focus on increasing diversity, as well as the Office

of Student Equity and Multicultural Affairs, which does a lot of follow-up

with potential students.

The Issue Bulletin series is distributed to AACN’s more than 500 member

nursing schools nationwide, as well as key congressional leaders, state

and federal agency directors, heads of academic health centers, and other

health care and higher education officials whose decisions significantly

impact on nursing education and nursing research.