Area Faces Shortage of Hispanic Nurses

With only 71 registered Hispanic nurses now, Northwest Arkansas needs another 287 by next year.

That’s according to a September study from the University of Arkansas’ Center for Business and Economic Research.

“I think there is a great deal of concern nationwide,” said Jeff Collins, director of the center. “But in Northwest Arkansas, in addition, the underlying shortage issue is the Hispanic population. There is some reason to think that the health care system is adversely affected by the lack of bilingual nurses.”

Besides language barriers, Northwest Arkansas needs Hispanic nurses for cultural reasons.

Collins’ study indicated that the four-county area’s Hispanic population is expected to reach 16 percent of the total population by 2025. The second-largest minority group, Asian and Pacific Islander, will only account for 2.4 percent of the population by 2025.

“You are looking at a series of adverse affects of the provision of health care services to the minorities of Northwest Arkansas,” Collins said. “There are real costs to society, in terms of limited health care resources.”

In 2003, the study indicated the estimated number of registered nurses in Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties combined was 2,905. That number is expected to climb 14 percent to 3,323 by 2010.

The estimated number of minority nurses in the same area is expected to increase to 576. Although that’s a 38 percent jump from the estimated 415 in 2003, by next year the demand for Hispanic nurses in the minority segment far outweighs the supply. (Other ethnic categories such as Asian/Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic have an oversupply of nurses versus projected demand.)

The study indicated only one other ethnic group, Native American, had projected shortage of 67 percent, or 26 nurses short of its current estimated 2005 supply of 13.

In April, the Northwest Arkansas CommunityCare Foundation issued a $15,000 planning grant to the Northwest Arkansas Nursing Education Consortium to address the problem. As a result, Collins was hired to conduct a demographic analysis-type study to show projected need. CommunityCare awarded the Nursing Education Consortium an additional $60,000 in July to fund recruitment and education efforts of bilingual nurses.

Jan Hunneycut-Lightner, program officer with CommunityCare, said the organization came up with the Bilingual Nursing Initiative after a year spent researching community needs and interviewing local health care leaders.

Linda Harwell, director of the Har-Ber School of Nursing, is one of five nursing directors involved in the initiative. Harwell said the group is hosting several open houses for interested Hispanic/Latino students.

“Many of our capable bilingual students graduate and go immediately into the job market,” Harwell said. “Even though they are interested in other things, they don’t think they can get there.”

Harwell said the group made an additional discovery at its open house in September: a number of people who were certified nurses in another country wanted to practice in the United States, but couldn’t fulfill the U.S. licensure requirements.

Harwell said the cost of nursing school varies on the type of certification, but she estimates the average person will pay $12,000 to $15,000 in tuition to become a registered nurse.