Publications

Diversifying the Nursing Workforce: A California Imperative

Author(s): 

Catherine Dower, Tina McRee, Bram Briggance, Ed O'Neil

Date: 
February 1, 2001

Today, for a host of internal and external factors, many of the health professions appear to be losing their appeal to potential workers. Nursing, nationwide and in California, has become a pressing example. The state faces severe nursing shortages, particularly in some geographic areas and within some specialty fields. This report explores the nature of these shortages and the barriers that continue to impede diversity within California's nursing profession. Future pools of potential nurses in California must include the racially and ethnically diverse population of young people in the state considering career options and allied and auxiliary health care workers, a group that is more racially and ethnically diverse than nursing, who are interested in pursuing careers in nursing. The report provides recommendations for immediate steps and long term solutions to these issues.