Division of Nursing’s Workforce
Diversity and Health Equity Agenda
Shanita D. Williams, PhD, MPH, APRN
Chief, Nursing Practice and Workforce
Development Branch
Bureau of Health Professions
June 13, 2013
Department of Health and Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration
Bureau of Health Professions
Division of Nursing
HRSA Mission
To improve health and achieve health equity
through access to quality services, a skilled health
workforce and innovative programs.
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Health Equity
 Attainment of the highest level of health for all
people
 Valuing everyone equally
 Focused and ongoing societal efforts to address:
 avoidable inequalities
 historical and contemporary injustices
 Elimination of health and health care disparities
• Healthy People 2020
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Cascading Strategic Initiative on
Health Equity
Achieve
Health Equity
HHS
Improve
Health Equity
HRSA
Improve
Health Equity
BHPr
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DN Structure
Division of Nursing
Nursing Practice and
Advanced Nursing
Workforce Development
Education
Nursing Workforce
Diversity
Nurse Education,
Practice, Quality
and Retention
ANE/ANEE
NAT
NFLP
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Division of Nursing Mission
To provide national leadership to assure an
adequate supply and distribution of qualified
nursing personnel to meet the health needs
of the Nation.
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Division on Nursing Goals
 Enhance the composition, skills and distribution
of the nursing workforce
 Ensure program accountability through focused
performance and outcomes assessment
 Promote effective communication with the
public and stakeholders on nursing workforce
development
 Increase diversity and cultural and linguistic
competence of the nursing workforce
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Nursing Workforce Development (NWD) Program
Legislation
Title VIII Section 821 of the Public Health Service
Act; 42 U.S.C. 296m, as amended by the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care
Act), P.L. 111-148
Legislative Definition of Diversity
Create and expand nursing education opportunities
for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds
(including racial and ethnic minorities
underrepresented among registered nurses)
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Nursing Workforce Development (NWD)
Program
• Increase nurse education opportunities for individuals from
disadvantaged backgrounds using stipends, scholarships, and
mentoring
• Achieve a culturally-aligned and competent workforce that is
reflective of the population
• Develop innovative pipeline programs to recruit, retain, and
help graduate nurses (RN programs)
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Workforce Diversity to Achieve
Health Equity
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Vision
• Leadership Role in Workforce Diversity:
 Support portfolio of next generation NWD
projects and evaluation
 Partner with other federal agencies, foundations,
and public and private organizations
• Models of Best Practice:
 Grantees/Awardees develop and rigorously
evaluate innovative NWD programs
 Clearinghouse of exemplar programs and
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evaluation methodologies
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Vision
• Incorporating Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) in
Workforce Diversity efforts
• Integrating/Coordinating diversity efforts with the DN’s
interprofessional education and collaborative practice
initiatives and investments
• Increase diversity of portfolio of grantees
• Expand outreach efforts:
• Tribal colleges and universities (TCU)
• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)
• Minority Serving Institutions (MSU)
• Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI)
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Vision
• Expand definitions of diversity
• Cultural and linguistic diverse
• Economic and educational disadvantaged
• Persons with disabilities
• Men
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Towards Health Equity
• Multi-focal program evaluation
• Detailed portfolio assessment
• Prevalent strategies
• Effective (non-effective) interventions
• Prior investments
• Identifying best practices
• Diversifying nursing workforce
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Health Resources and Services Administration. (2006). The rationale for diversity in the health
professions. A review of the evidence.
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Health Resources and Services Administration. (2006). The rationale for diversity in the health
professions. A review of the evidence.
Health
Equity
Reduce
Health
Disparities
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DN’s Diversity to Health Equity Model
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Social Determinants of Health
 Conditions in which people are born, grow,
live, work and age
 Shaped by the distribution of money, power
and resources
 global, national and local levels
 influenced by policy choices
 Responsible for health inequities
 unfair and avoidable differences in health
status
 observed within and between countries
 World Health Organization
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Move from individual-level to
multi-level approaches and
strategies…
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Nursing Workforce Diversity
 Multi-level strategies are needed to:
 address the larger social and structural forces
that impede efforts to diversify the nursing
workforce
 increase access to quality care
 reduce health disparities
 improve health equity
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The Nursing in 3D Summit
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Nursing in 3D Journal Supplement
• Public Health Reports
• Integration of the 3D’s
• 15 invited manuscripts
• 3D Summit presenters
• HRSA staff
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Towards Health Equity
NWD 2013 Funding Opportunity Announcement:
• Develop innovative workforce diversity strategies
that would facilitate the entry, retention and
graduation of racial and ethnic minorities from
Schools of Nursing
• Create “new” partnerships/alliances
• Integrate diversity, disparities, and social
determinants (3D)
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What’s Next…
• Engage stakeholder groups
• NACNEP
• Professional Associations etc.
• Continue to shape the vision
• Develop “new” partnerships
• Nontraditional
• Multiple disciplines, sectors
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Contact Information
Shanita D. Williams, PhD, MPH, APRN
Chief, Nursing Practice and Workforce
Development Branch, Division of Nursing
Bureau of Health Professions
Office: 301-443-1253
Email: swilliams3@hrsa.gov
www. http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/nursing/index.html
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