Survey says minority nursing bias hampers advancement

Some nursing leaders say discrimination can hamper minority recruitment.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. March 11, 2002.

A new survey about minority nurses shows that many of these nurses believe there are personal and professional barriers to their progress and that they have been denied promotions because of race.

African-American nurses were more likely than other respondents to say they were denied promotions for jobs for which they were qualified.

Such problems make it harder to attract minorities to nursing, according to some minority nursing leaders.

"It's a reality that there are a lot of barriers for promotion and retention for Hispanic nurses," said Nilda Peragallo, DrPH, RN, president-elect of the National Assn. of Hispanic Nurses. "Your capabilities are many times questioned because you are different. That turns many nurses away."

In February, the American Nurses Assn. released "Minority Nurses in the New Century: Characteristics and Workforce Utilization Patterns -- A Survey." It is based on responses from 5,284 nurses who are African-American, white, Hispanic, Asian-American/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaskan Native. About half of the sample was African-American while one-third was white. By design, racial and ethnic minority nurses were oversampled.

Respondents to the survey, sponsored by the American Nurses Foundation and conducted in 2000, answered questions covering areas such as work experience, job promotion and satisfaction, and certification.

Most nurses were certified, covering areas such as community health, home health and psychiatric/mental health. A majority received basic nursing education in the United States. Nearly two out of three worked in urban settings. [...]