Early in the last decade, administrators at Frontier Nursing University noticed that minority students were more likely to drop out because of a lack of family support and other issues, not academic failure. Another concern arose about the same time.
“We were concerned about graduating culturally competent practitioners,” says Dr. Susan Stone, president and dean of the school based in rural southeastern Kentucky.
This year, Frontier Nursing University launched a program designed to help address both problems. Built on more than a year of outreach and recruitment at minority-serving institutions, the federally funded PRIDE program has attracted 26 students who are training as either nurse practitioners or nurse midwives. Those students are receiving support to help them handle family pressures and feel less isolated socially and academically as students in nursing fields with few minorities.
“Nursing is not a diverse workforce,” Stone notes. “People who are minorities could provide more culturally competent health care.”
According to federal figures, about 11 percent of registered nurses are minorities: 4 percent are African-American, 3 percent Asian, 2 percent Hispanic and 2 percent mixed-race. About 11 percent of nurse practitioners are minorities, while 7 percent of nurse midwives are minorities.
Nurse practitioners provide medical care that is usually associated with doctors, such as performing physicals, diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medication. Nurse midwives treat pregnant women under a doctor’s supervision, deliver babies and instruct patients in health routines to follow before and after births.
The African-American and Hispanic students in PRIDE, which stands for Promoting Recruitment and Retention to Increase Diversity in Nurse-Midwifery and Nurse Practitioner Education, follow the same curriculum as other Frontier students. They receive most of their instruction through distance learning or in their communities, where they do a clinical practicum with a nurse practitioner or nurse midwife. The goal is for graduates to stay and work where they live.
