Mentoring to increase the number of black nurse scientists

(SACREMENTO)

Nursing is a field that employs over four million professionals. Less than 10% are black. in higher education, less than 1% nurse scientists are black.

Shenita Randolph knows that she is part of an incredibly small minority. As a student at North Carolina A&T State University, she didn’t see herself as a nurse scientist.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to do research outside of our research course in my senior year,” she recalls. “It was after I received my master’s degree that I wanted to do more research and find innovative solutions and strategies,” said Randolph.

Shared Experience Generates Shared Purpose

group of four headshots of scientist nurses
Clockwise from top left: Shenita Randolph, Camila Alexander, Dawn Aycock and Fawn Cotran.

In 2020, Randolph met Don Aycock, Faun Cotran And Camila Alexander, three nurse leaders with whom she has a lot in common. All four were nurse scientists and professors at universities around the country. All are members of the first class Betty Irene Moore Scholarship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators. And everyone’s done historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which they say are undeniable role in creating a more just future.

“It was only during my nursing studies course at Prairie View A&M University that I learned that nurses can be scientists, and even then I doubted if I would ever have the experience or the opportunity to become one,” Aycock said.

“I was excited about the prospect of becoming a nurse and a graduate of Howard University,” Cotran added. “I wish I knew that there are paths that naturally align with my talents and strengths. Being inquisitive, thinking, and following systematic processes are an integral part of medical science, but they are also the hallmark of a scientist.”

Mentoring Future Nurse Scientists

Driven by the urgent need to develop culturally sensitive ways to increase the number of black nurse scientists, they are working to change that. New $100,000 grant from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation helps make it happen. The Black Nursing Scholars Mentor Program partners with HBCU to train and mentor black undergraduate and graduate nursing students to prepare them for successful PhD applications. programs.

The one-year pilot program includes workshops for students from four HBCUs. Of these, one scholar from each school will be selected to receive scholarships to participate in research and monthly mentor meetings.

“I hope this mentoring program will provide participants with the resources, tools, language, networks and confidence they need to succeed in their roles as scientists,” Randolph said.

“Science is built on past scientific discoveries. If it was from a narrow perspective, it becomes more difficult to prove that there are other culture-specific ways of approaching and developing scientific questions,” explained Alexander, a graduate of Howard University.

I’m still learning and growing in my role and often think to myself maybe I should do something similar later in my career. But our communities can’t afford later – they need us now.Shenita Randolph, Nurse Scientist

Path to capital increase

Alexander says that investing in developing more nursing scientists from a black perspective expands our knowledge base. Cotran hopes this grant will help determine how and when to provide strategic support to future black nursing scientists so they can contribute to their communities and influence sustainable change.

“Health inequity cannot be addressed without adequate representation of black nurse leaders in research,” said Heather M. Young, national director of the fellowship. “Such role models allow black students to see possibilities and opportunities for themselves as future scientists and academics and foster an inclusive learning environment that ultimately promotes more equitable research to close unacceptable health disparities.”

These researchers would like to know more about nursing opportunities while in college.

“There are many paths to success, but they are not always clear and transparent. We hope to be able to pass on this information through our experience as nurse scientists, which will make things a little easier for those who follow us,” Alexander said.

“I’m still learning and growing in my role and often think to myself maybe I should do something similar later in my career. But our communities can’t afford a later time – they need us now,” Randolph added.

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