Improve the Diversity of a Nursing Workforce Using a Pipeline Development Program

Abstract

The Workforce Pipeline Development Program, established at a local children’s hospital, is a quality improvement initiative to address diversity in nursing, offering career-planning opportunity to underrepresented teens and young adults. The program strategy includes targeting local schools to bring in nursing assistant and medical assistant students for pediatric clinical training with possibility for employment, thus increasing the likelihood of achieving a diverse workforce and better balancing the workforce with the patient populations served. At the children’s hospital, 87.6% of registered nurses report being White, whereas the patient population is only 58.3% White.