| Nursing Program in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health.
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| Tuesday
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Tuskegee University received a grant to help it combat the lack of diversity in the health professions.
The Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the $1.3 million grant to the Nursing Program in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health. The grant money is to be used over the course of the next three years.
“The grant was awarded for the Nursing Workforce Diversity program,” said Anissa Riley, assistant director of the Office of External Affairs for Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health. “The purpose of the program is to increase the amount of baccalaureate degrees from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds.”
Cordelia Nnedu, associate professor and assistant director of the Department of Nursing, said nursing is historically plagued by a lack of diversity.
“Data from the Health Resources and Services Administration show that in 2000, African-American registered nurses comprised 4.9 percent; Hispanics, 2 percent; and American Indian or Alaskan Natives, 0.5 percent of all registered nurses,” Nnedu said. “We need more minorities.”
Nnedu said Tuskegee University concentrates its efforts on four areas to help disadvantaged students.
First, the project seeks to increase the awareness of minorities and disadvantaged middle and high school students of careers in health professions. Second, the project is designed to increase the retention rate of students occurring during the pre-professional and professional phase. The third and fourth objectives of the project are to prepare a culturally competent nurse and provide financial support to potential nurses.
Riley said Tuskegee University started pursuing the grant at the end of last year. The funds were put to use starting September of this year. The grant will help fund programs to raise the awareness of younger audiences.
“One of the goals of the grant is to help encourage students even at the high school level to consider careers in the health care profession,” Riley said. “The grant’s pre-entry objective is designed to raise the awareness of middle school students of health profession careers also as well as to enhance the high school participants’ potential to successfully complete their public school education.”
Nnedu said one of the ways to raise awareness of diversity in middle school students is through pre-nursing organizations.
“We have the “Future Nurses of American Organization (FNAO) in the middle schools,” Nnedu said.”We meet monthly to discuss health topics relevant to that particular month. Also, we have the students back during in the summer for enrichment activities in math, English, reading and other subjects.”
Michele Richardson, director of Division of Nursing for the Health Resources and Services Administration, said the grant money can be used by universities for three purposes.
“The universities can spend the money for the following three areas: pre-entry preparation, scholarships and stipends, and retention programs,” Richardson said.
Pre-entry programs aim to assist students before they enter college and can be geared at anyone from kindergarten to twelfth grade, Richardson said. Usually, the money is utilized for middle school and high school students.
Schools can also use the money to award scholarships and stipends, Richardson said, but the money should not be the sole source of financial help for students. The money is designed only to augment what money is already available to the student.
Retention programs are designed to allow students who are already in nursing school access to resources and tools to help them stay in school.
“These are students that are economically or educationally disadvantaged,” Richardson said. “A lot of these students are first generation college students. We are trying to provide them with financial assistance so they can stay in school.”source
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posted by blogger @ 23:53
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