Nurse educator Larider Ruffin.
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - Stockton University Assistant Professor of Nursing Larider Ruffin of Egg Harbor Township has been selected for induction as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. He is one of 225 distinguished nurse leaders in the world to be recognized this year for their contributions to health and health care.
This is an elite group, and it is a well-deserved and impressive honor, said Stockton Associate Dean for Nursing and Chief Nurse Administrator Sheila A. Quinn.
Ruffin is the chair of the Master of Science in Nursing and Post-Master's Certificate programs at Stockton. He is also chairman and CEO at Ruffin Associates Healthy Housecalls where he maintains clinical practice as an adult gerontology primary care nurse practitioner and certified tobacco treatment specialist.
As chair of the National Black Nurses Association Substance Use Disorders Committee, he spearheaded the annual NBNA No Tobacco Day to advocate for increased awareness of the negative impacts of smoking and vaping. The committee also developed an evidence based toolkit for nurses to educate the public that is currently implemented in 95 NBNA chapters across 35 states. He also teaches a course on smoking and vaping at Stockton.
A native of Haiti, Ruffin was inspired to become a nurse as a child of 10, when a male nurse took care of his mother while she was in the hospital.
That was when I learned a boy could become a nurse, Ruffin said. That gentleman was the subject of so many conversations in our home as my mother recovered. He was so important to my family, so I wanted to become important in other people's lives.
He decided to become a nurse educator when he became aware of the need for faculty to train nursing students. He said the nursing population is aging, and more nurses are needed.
The nursing shortage is severely driven by the shortage of nursing faculty, Ruffin said. There are millions of qualified students interested in becoming nurses who could easily replace the aging nursing workforce, but their applications are being rejected every day because of the faculty shortage.
Ruffin was also the first male president of the Northern New Jersey Black Nurses Association and he advocates for more Black men entering the field.
As the American society becomes increasingly diverse, so as has the field of healthcare, leading men and minorities to shift to the nursing workforce, Ruffin said. As the population diversifies there is a greater need for patients to be cared for by those who look like them. The demand for male nurses has significantly increased over the years and this trend is expected to continue.
Ruffin earned a bachelor of science in nursing from Rutgers University, master of science in nursing and tobacco treatment specialization from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (now Rutgers), and doctor of nursing practice from Wilmington University.
