For Carmen Garcia, being a Hispanic in the nursing profession can be both a blessing and a burden.
Garcia, a 29-year-old nursing student, often is called upon to translate so that doctors and fellow nurses can communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. The duty gives her satisfaction knowing she’s of help, but it also takes precious time away from caring for her own patients, while adding to her daily workload.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’d do anything for a patient,” she said. “But sometimes, it hinders me from learning or helping the patient I’m assigned. One day, I was the only one who spoke Spanish, and if I wasn’t there, what would they have done?”
It’s a refrain familiar to Hispanic nurses and nursing students. The demand for Hispanic nurses is at an all-time high as hospitals and other health providers try to meet the needs of America’s largest emerging minority population.
“You can feel stretched trying to meet all the demands,” said Mary Lou Siantz, president of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). “But it’s all about being responsive to the needs of our population.”
Hispanics are the most underrepresented ethnic group in the registered nursing ranks, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. And in Texas, despite its large Hispanic population, the group makes up only 7 percent of registered nurses, said Janet Allan, dean of the School of Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center.
The Hispanic-nursing saga is playing out amid a nationwide nursing shortage that is putting a serious strain on health care organizations, as well as the nursing profession. According to a study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, if current trends continue, the nation will see a deficit of 500,000 nurses by 2020.
Nearly 50 percent of undergraduates at the Texas Health Science Center’s nursing program are Hispanic, a fact that many at the conference called exemplary. The school also has instituted programs that support minority students and introduce them to opportunities such as research.
Norma Martinez Rogers, a professor at the nursing school, helped start a program that pairs minority students with mentors who support them throughout the school year. The students also learn time management, test taking, communication skills and the research process, Rogers said.
In addition to being able to break down crucial language barriers, Hispanic nurses almost act as “consultants” to the greater medical profession, Siantz said.
“It’s about understanding everything from immigration, culturalization, foods, religions, beliefs and particularly how those beliefs shape patients’ feelings about health care,” she said.
But one size does not always fit all, and being an expert in subtle cultural differences isn’t always easy for a Hispanic nurse, Martinez Rogers stressed. That is why there should be a push for recruiting more minority caregivers from all cultures, she said.
“The No. 1 complaint I hear is that there are so few of us and that we’re spread so thin,” she said. “We cannot mentor everyone. We cannot be on every committee. But at the same time we have a serious responsibility.”
