Asian/Pacific Islander American nurses workforce: issues and challenges for the 21st century.

The trend of high incidence of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, Hepatitis B, and tuberculosis among the Asian/Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) will significantly affect the increased need for culturally competent care for this particular ethnic group. There is a need to increase the numbers of Asian/Pacific Islander American nurses in the future workforce to meet the health needs of this heterogenous and diversified population. Current workforce data on the Asian/Pacific Islander American nurses is misleading, since data collection aggregates all APIAs into a single category, with disregard to the various subgroupings of this large ethnic group.