UC Davis

Nationally, across the United States, the nursing workforce does not represent the populations it serves. The University of California Davis Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing has prioritized the recruitment, retention, and graduation of diverse groups of students who have the skill, knowledge, and desire to ameliorate health disparities and promote health care equity. Attracting a diverse student body begins with outreach and pathway programs. The school approaches admissions to its degree programs holistically. Graduating equity-minded nurses and health care providers requires dynamic student support and curriculum reform. Here, we address some of the challenges encountered in these efforts, including overcoming assumptions and implicit biases of those with decision-making power. The school has focused its health care equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts on pathway programs, holistic admissions processes, student success, and curriculum reform. We describe how academic institutions can start their own equity-driven nursing student programs.