title: Racial/ethnic disparities in nursing.
abstract: The racial and ethnic composition of the registered nurse (RN) workforce in California is not at parity with the composition of the population. We find that the underrepresentation of African Americans in nursing in California appears to be due to lower overall educational attainment among African Americans. Underrepresentation of Latinos is due to lower overall educational attainment and, to a lesser extent, a lower percentage of college-educated Latinos pursuing careers in nursing. Improving the overall educational attainment of minority students is critical to increasing the number of minorities in nursing.
authors.affiliation: Center for California Health Workforce Studies, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Coffman
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rosenoff
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grumbach
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003479:Curriculum; D003625:Data Collection; D004506:Education, Nursing; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009729:Nursing; D012923:Social Class; D000078329:Workforce