The diversity of both students and faculty poses important considerations for teaching and learning. Reflect on the characteristic differences in gender, race, and culture, as well as the differences among the diverse generations in today’s nursing education classroom. When considering your personal philosophy of teaching, discuss how you might use these characteristic differences and diverse backgrounds and experiences of today’s nursing students as a teaching tool to connect students to nursing content and increase their understanding. In other words, how might you incorporate the background and experiences of your students into your teaching methods to enhance the ability of all students in your classroom to think critically and problem solve patient-care issues?

As of 2016, the ethnic breakdown of the United States was 61.3 percent white (non-Hispanic/Latino), 17.8 percent Hispanic/Latinx, 13.3 percent black/African-American, 5.7 percent Asian, 1.3 percent Native American/Alaskan Native, and 2.6 percent reporting two or more races. In the same year, about 70 percent of all nurses were white — significantly more than the general population. African-American and Latinx populations in particular were underrepresented as a proportion of the nursing profession. The contrast was even more stark when considering nursing educators. In 19 states, the percentage of minority nursing students was at least double that of minority faculty.

This disparity can be a barrier to effective nursing education. Studies by respected organizations, such as the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce, show that educational outcomes improve when nurse educators reflect, value, and celebrate the diverse attributes of the student groups they teach. On the other hand, educational outcomes suffer when nurse educators fail to do these things. Diversity within an organization’s teaching staff is therefore a helpful tool for attracting, retaining, and training enthusiastic and skilled nursing students.