Generation Diversity In Nursing

A generation is a group of people that shares age, years, location, and special life events. Each generation has markers, such as historical events, that affect the entire generation (Phillips, 2016). Generation diversity in nursing helps to create an entire, complete team by bringing together people with various moral and ethical perspectives. The current generations that make up teams in nursing today include Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. Although bringing together these different generations creates a blend of clinical expertise and experiences, conflicts and challenges often arise because each group holds diverse outlooks and considers different qualities important or admirable. By understanding the diversity

They tend to respond well to authority and adhere to the rules, as a result of their loyalty and dependence on the government during the Great Depression for jobs and during WWII for reassurance and leadership. This generation expects to be rewarded for their hard work and contributions as they experienced after WWII when the G.I. Bill was passed that awarded veterans low interest rates and other opportunities to start a life after war. The nurses in this generation, because of their age and skill level, often hold senior-level management positions. They are also rapidly approaching retirement age (Hendricks & Cope,

The beginning of this generation marked the economic growth and an expansion of the middle class post WWII. Families could afford to own houses, cars, and newfangled appliances because of the GI Bill and booming industry. Children were afforded luxuries their parents could have only dreamed of. Families could not only provide a comfortable middle class lifestyle for their Baby Boomer children, but also save their money and send their children to college. As a result, Baby Boomers were more educated than their mothers and fathers, and were often first generation college graduates. They were raised with values that reflected their Traditionalists parents’ values: money equals security, work hard equals success, and loyalty to employers were all important qualities (Money et al., 2014). As nurses, Baby Boomers are very committed to the organization, a trait enforced by their parents. They are also strong willed, competitive, and tend to challenge authority, perhaps a result from the political and civil rights turmoil they were raised in (both from the Cold War and the Vietnam War). They want to be valued and noticed by their employers, and strive for promotions and job opportunities because these are characteristics that their parents instilled in them. The motto for this generation is “living to work” (Hendricks & Cope, 2012), and they seek validation of their hard