Hispanic enrollments in undergraduate nursing programs continue to drop, according to a new study, even as the largest minority group in the country continues to grow.
Findings from a review of 2004-2005 enrollment data by the National League of Nursing reports a dip in overall nursing admissions, but Hispanic students represent only 5.3 percent of all nursing students, compared with more than 10 percent of the total undergraduate population.
“Culturally competent care is very important, and with the Hispanic population rapidly growing, we are very concerned that Hispanics are not choosing nursing as a profession,” says Dr. Ruth Corcoran, NLN’s chief executive officer.
Although the quality of students accepted at nursing programs is higher than ever, Corcoran says, so is the competition to get into nursing schools.
“Schools are saturated, and they don’t have enough qualified faculty,” she says. “There are not enough Hispanic role models as faculty.”
According to the Nursing Data Review, between 1994 and 2002, the total percentage of minority nursing students grew to more than 20 percent. By 2002, it appeared to have stagnated.
African-American enrollment peaked in 2002-2003 at 14.5 percent but has since declined to 12.6 percent in the past two years. Hispanic enrollment was 6 percent in 2002-2003 and slipped to 5.3 percent in 2004-2005. The undergraduate enrollment for Asians increased only slightly, from 5 percent in 2002-2003 to 5.6 percent in 2004-2005.
