Minority underrepresentation in nursing: socioeconomic and political effects.

The underrepresentation of minority nurses has been a longstanding problem in the field of nursing. Excluded from the mainstream of professional nursing, Blacks and other minorities comprise 9.8% of the total number of registered nurses in the United States (U.S.). The political and socioeconomic ramifications of the underrepresentation of minorities in nursing are reflected through increasing mortality and morbidity rates in the minority population at large. The socioeconomic disparities encountered by minorities might well be decreased if the largest number of health care providers, nurses, equally reflected America's rapidly changing demographic population. Solutions to combat the underrepresentation of minorities in nursing are mentoring, educational support, commitment, role-modeling and recruitment.