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A Detailed Piece On Health Promotion For Minority Nurses And Students

By Linda Stewart


A group of the population that goes against the majority is known as a minority. Such can be grouped in terms of culture, religion, sexual orientation to name but a few. The demand by health institutions and hospitals to take in diverse nursing students is rising by the day. Nurses from similar minority cultures as the patients are able to establish and maintain strong patient-client relationships with their clients. Minority populations continue to grow in most of the countries due to immigration and intermarriage with locals. This article highlights more on health promotion for minority nurses and students.

A high population of minority immigrants has poor language skills which make it hard to attend to them when they are in need of medical attention. These individuals are often unable to express themselves clearly to the practitioners. Cultural beliefs relating to treatment may also get in the way hence more the need to have nurses who understand the language and culture of such individuals.

Nursing schools are having developed interest in admitting learners from underrepresented cultures who desire to practice holistic education. This is a move that can only be fueled if they receive many applications from such individuals. The numbers however still remain low despite the campaigns to encourage minority applications.

Affirmative action helps minorities land into top-notch institutions by considering their race rather than their academic prowess. Such policies have encountered a lot of contradiction from local courts and interested parties arguing that admission should only be done on the basis of merit. Racism has also been pointed out. Diverse classrooms should, however, be considered as crucial to the health industry whichever way they are achieved.

Even with policies and tools being put in place to encourage their enrollment, the retention rate is low. Many such learners have numerous difficulties especially financial situations, family duties and even work. Nursing schools work to ensure financial aid resources for those unable to raise their schooling fees. They are also increasing accessibility of classes for students who have to balance work and education alongside family obligations.

Despite receiving a lot of support from learning institutions, some minorities still face challenges because of being in school with other learners from different backgrounds. The students experience bias when it comes to academic ability, faculty role play models and even peer to peer support.

Selective admission affects underrepresented learners both positively and negatively. Academic profiling, however, tends to leave some of them out as a big number of them are the first in their families to attend higher learning. Such learners experience overwhelming pressure as they have to deal with becoming the saviors to their parents and siblings.

Health promotions require being done at every level in the health industry, from schools to workplaces in order to encourage diversification of the nursing workforce that will be able to cater for the growing needs of the people. Although minorities may have difficulty adjusting at first, their impact cannot be overlooked.




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