White paper on the health status of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and recommendations for research.

A literature review of various reports sponsored by federal governmental agencies and proceedings of conferences of Asian Americans' and Pacific Islanders' health organizations provides data of health disparities among and between these diverse ethnic groups. Specifically, demographic and socio-economic data, as well as health care issues, are reported. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders exceed other groups in health disparities in the area of tuberculosis and hepatitis B, whereas cancer and cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of death within the Asian American and Pacific Islander populations. Recommendations for areas of research are provided.

Asian/Pacific Islander American nurses workforce: issues and challenges for the 21st century.

The trend of high incidence of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, Hepatitis B, and tuberculosis among the Asian/Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) will significantly affect the increased need for culturally competent care for this particular ethnic group. There is a need to increase the numbers of Asian/Pacific Islander American nurses in the future workforce to meet the health needs of this heterogenous and diversified population. Current workforce data on the Asian/Pacific Islander American nurses is misleading, since data collection aggregates all APIAs into a single category, with disregard to the various subgroupings of this large ethnic group.

Implementing career development in a drug prevention program.

This article describes an innovative school and community based drug prevention program aimed at high risk urban youths. It is the result of the collaborative efforts of the nursing faculty of Lehman College-CUNY and the assistant district attorneys of the Office of the District Attorney of Bronx County. In the program, children learn first hand about career opportunities in nursing and law, and gain incentives to remain drug free.

RNs and DAs collaborate to prevent drug abuse.

Two unique disciplines have come together in a large urban community to provide a community-based drug prevention program for children--Pupils, Lawyers, and Nurses (P.L.A.N.) Against Drugs. This unique relationship brings two sets of expertise to better respond to the complex problem of drug abuse. The program approaches drug abuse prevention by focusing on law enforcement and nursing as career options for inner city children. Cooperation was emphasized from the initial planning stages through project implementation. Other contributors to this program include school district leaders, teachers, community leaders, representatives from the state division of substance abuse, nursing faculty, and district attorneys. The program has received international and national recognition for its efforts. This paper describes the advantages of the collaborative approach to a complex problem.