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Wharton’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative

Aug 13, 2021

In partnership with Deloitte, the Center for Leadership and Change Management at Wharton’s School of Business is launching an initiative to fund research on under-represented minorities in the workplace. This initiative has a particular focus on women of color (WOC). CHEA is proud to announce that Jaya Aysola, in collaboration with Larissa Morgan, MSN, RN, NPD-BC and Rebecca Trotta, PhD, RN, will be conducting a study on the path for WOC to ascend in healthcare, with a particular focus on the nursing profession thanks to this initiative.

Over 53% of women that held CEO roles had a clinical background, and 43.9% of them were nurses. Yet, this pipeline from bedside nursing to executive leadership has not effectively included WOC. BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) make up 23.6% of the nursing workforce, but only 19% of first- and mid-level managers 14% of hospital board members and 11% of executive leaders.

This pilot study will build upon prior work, with a focus on advancement of WOC along the nursing pipeline. The project seeks to understand the pathway for advancement along this trajectory from pre-nursing positions to executive leadership of WOC by gathering the stakeholder perspectives of four key groups: (1) WOC in healthcare support positions (e.g., nursing assistants, medical assistants, and technicians), (2) nurses practicing clinically at the bedside; (3) nurses in middle management; and (4) nurses in executive leadership roles with varying scopes (e.g., roles in executive clinical nursing leadership, operations, finance, human resources, or strategy). We hope that the results of this study will inform interventions to mitigate barriers and create opportunities for advancement of WOC into leadership positions.

Stay tuned!

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