UD School of Nursing alumna Margaret LaFashia works as the Director of Workforce Partnership Development for Nemours Children’s Health, where she leads efforts to diversify workforce pipelines in nursing.

Promoting diversity in nursing

Article by Amy Cherry Photos by Ashley Barnas Larrimore March 13, 2024

UD nursing alumna leads Nemours efforts to increase diversity in nursing workforce

For over a decade, Margaret LaFashia worked on the business side of healthcare. After getting her master of business administration, she worked for health insurers, building provider networks internationally.

When her mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and ultimately placed into hospice care, she was buried in paperwork, showing claim after claim being denied.

“That’s when I realized I was on the wrong side of healthcare,” LaFashia said.

She sought to change careers, enrolled in the University of Delaware School of Nursing’s accelerated bachelor’s in nursing program, and graduated in 2015.

“It’s been very rewarding,” she recalled. “I love being on this side of healthcare, and the support I received transitioning to a new career has been wonderful.”

With a twin sister and parents with backgrounds in psychology, LaFashia intended to enter psychiatric nursing. That is until she stepped foot into Nemours Children’s Health, where her final clinical rotation introduced her to the world of pediatric nursing.

“I loved the family-centered care piece,” LaFashia said. “With pediatric patients, you are taking care of the whole family — not just the patient in the bed — and that was a great skill set to learn; it gave me great exposure applicable to so many aspects of life well beyond medicine.”

As she walked to her car in the Nemours Children’s parking garage on the last day of her pediatrics rotation, LaFashia promised herself she’d be back there someday. That may have never happened without her exposure to that rotation by UD.

“I wasn’t from Delaware, and since I don’t have kids, I may have never stepped foot in a children’s hospital, so this rotation set up by UD’s School of Nursing charted my new career path and makes me hold being a Blue Hen near and dear to my heart,” LaFashia said.

Shortly after graduation, LaFashia made good on that promise to herself. She embarked on a new career path, working in clinical outreach, partnerships, and nursing professional development at Nemours.

She went on to obtain her doctor of nursing practice (DNP) studies at the University of Indianapolis, where her studies focused on diversifying the field of nursing. Research published in Nurse Leader last year found that nearly 88% of registered nurses at the children’s hospital report being white, while the patient population is just 58% white. Those trends look similar across the nation.

UD School of Nursing alumna Margaret LaFashia, director of workforce partnership development (left, standing), poses with Nemours Children’s Health colleagues (L to R standing) Jennifer McGrath, nursing professional development and clinical educator; Norine Watson, AVP nursing excellence; and (sitting) Pamela Jenkins, clinical nurse educator and coordinator of nursing orientation, nurse residency and the Student Nurse Advancement Program.

After completing her DNP studies, LaFashia transferred into her most rewarding role yet: director of workforce partnership development at Nemours. In 2021, LaFashia launched the Workforce Pipeline Development Program (WPDP) at Nemours, which aims to address diversity in nursing by offering career-planning opportunities to underrepresented teens and young adults. The program also provides clinical rotations in pediatric acute care and ambulatory settings for nursing and medical assistants.

“Their demographic aligns more with our patient population, so our goal after these six months is to retain them and offer them tuition reimbursement to return to school to get their nursing degree, and then we’d hope to hire them as nurses,” LaFashia said.

Nemours has also teamed up with vocational-technical schools in Delaware to get students interested in nursing careers sooner.

“We’re intentional about identifying students to bring into this career pathway, and we invite them on shadowing rotations in our healthcare facilities so they can see themselves working in healthcare,” she said.

UD’s School of Nursing has implemented a similar program with the Brandywine School District. Now in its third year, Brandywine Lifesavers brings middle school students to UD, where they participate in a series of simulated experiences that give them a hands-on opportunity to practice vital signs, administer CPR, and participate in a mock disaster drill during their final session.

“Pipeline programs like Brandywine Lifesavers at UD and the WPDP at Nemours led by UD SON alumna Margaret LaFashia are pivotal to diversifying the field of nursing and addressing the workforce shortages we see in healthcare across the nation,” said Elizabeth Speakman, senior associate dean of SON.

UD’s College of Health Sciences also created the Health Sciences Pipeline Program, which aims to combat workforce shortages in healthcare by recruiting future health leaders. The program includes mentoring and summer camps on STAR Campus for underrepresented high school students in Delaware, made possible through a partnership with the College Readiness Summer Institute run by UD’s Undergraduate Admissions Office.

Had programs like this existed when LaFashia was in high school, she feels she would’ve been on the “right side” of healthcare sooner. Her doctoral research also identified several additional barriers that help perpetuate inequities in the nursing field, including lack of transportation and finances.

“Nemours isn’t all that accessible to people without a car, so we’re trying to work with DART and vocational schools to set up specific routes or fund Uber rides for clinical rotations,” LaFashia said. “These inequities that exist right now are hurdles and barriers that we’re trying to tackle that will go a long way towards diversifying the nursing field.”

LaFashia was recently recognized in Women We Admire’s Top 50 Women Leaders in Delaware.

“This recognition is about my work; it’s vital work, and I hope it continues gaining traction,” LaFashia said. “I may not see the trend shift in my lifetime, but I’m hopeful we'll see a positive trend shift through the work we do at Nemours and the work of my alma mater.”

She was also recently appointed to the Delaware Workforce Development Board.

“If I can touch just one student and pique their interest in a career in nursing, then that means I’m making a difference,” LaFashia said. “I don’t have kids, so I find a lot of passion in this work because it’s my way of influencing the next generation.”