Diversity in the Nursing Profession

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DIVERSITY IN THE NURSING PROFESSION

Diversity in the Workplace

Cherie Duncan Walden University Nurs3000 Issues and Trends in Nursing January 26, 2014

Diversity in the Workplace Diversity in nursing has many aspects, such as generational, ethnic, demographic, or gender. Every nurse has a responsibility to become competent in each aspect to care for their patient, and take into account the diversity of the nursing staff they are working with each day. “Having a diverse employee pool which mirrors the diversity of the population being served and being culturally sensitive to and supportive of all aspects of diversity fosters healthy communities” (Huston, page 137). The purpose of this paper is to discuss generational diversity in nursing. Summary The nursing workforce remains fairly homogeneous with the majority nursing workforce being, White, female, and middle aged (Huston 2010, page 137). The average age of RNs was projected to be 44.5 years by 2012, with nurses entering their fifties; this is expected to become the largest segment of the nursing workforce, accounting for one quarter of the RN population. With the ongoing problems with the nursing shortage and issues with recruiting new, young nurses into the field, the generational issues must be addressed (Huston 2010, page 149). The experience and knowledge that a veteran nurse can bring to the nursing unit is crucial. They often have great communication skills and established relationships with physicians and gained their respect and trust. Veteran nurses are expected to mentor novice nurses and build healthy intergenerational collaborative work relationships ( Mason, Leavitt, Chaffee, page 462). The veteran and boom generation nurse have very traditional work ethics and tend to be more willing to work longer hours at their jobs

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