Increasing minority nurses means increasing minority nursing faculty members - Editorial - Association of Black Nursing Faculty meeting

ABNF Journal, The, Jan-Feb, 2003 by Sallie Tucker-Allen

In our current war-focused society, a stealthy de-emphasis has been placed on the health care of all Americans, with an especial de-emphasis being placed on the health care of minority persons. To my knowledge, the dismal figures of the last decade which elevated minority persons to the forefront of morbidity and mortality measures of all major diseases have not decreased.

At the last annual meeting of the Association of Black Nursing Faculty, Incorporated, the members agreed that they would participate in the Call to Action agenda of the major nursing organizations to increase the number of minority nursing faculty and minority students in all schools of nursing. Towards that end, a task force was formed to determine how the Association might facilitate these efforts. As chair of this task force, I would like all ABNF members to think about how we might--in our collective efforts and wisdom--achieve this task.

Many of you have done research in this area over the past decade, so this will not be new information to you. In 1999, I published a book summarizing this research which is entitled, "Recruitment & Retention of Minority Nursing Students: Stories of Success." What seems to be missing in the literature is the piece of the puzzle which deals with recruiting and retaining minority nursing faculty.

The article by Dr. Gloria J. McNeal attempts to bridge this gap through her research looking at African American nurse faculty satisfaction and scholarly productivity at predominantly white (PW) and historically black (HB) colleges and universities.' Dr. McNeal, a noted nurse researcher, found that African American nurse faculty members teaching at HBCU were more satisfied than African American nurse faculty members teaching at PWCU. Since it has been established by numerous researchers that minority students attend schools/universities where there are minority faculty, efforts must be made to determine how majority institutions can assist minority faculty members in their quest for job satisfaction which will hopefully lead to tenure and promotion.

Drs. Betty Pierce Dennis and Ernestine B. Small address this issue in their very forthright article dealing with incorporating cultural diversity in nursing care. Majority nursing faculty members can use this knowledge to address how they might use cultural diversity knowledge in recruiting and retaining minority faculty members. My recommendation has always been that just as PWCU hire experts as consultants in other fields, they should also hire experts in the area of cultural diversity to assist with recruitment and retention efforts.

From another perspective, educators need to use newer avenues to examine health promotion behaviors of all minorities. Dr. Andrea Jennings-Sanders takes a look at using health fairs to examine health promotion behaviors of older African Americans. With more research, more knowledge will be obtained and become available for all to use in reducing the morbidity and mortality rates of our people.

I ask that you consider joining the ABNF Task Force looking at increasing the number of minority nurses. Please write, call or e-mail me of your interest.