Racism in Nursing Education and Practice

[Amyela Adarlo]

This article expands on racism in nursing education. BIPOC nurses face racism even before being in a clinical setting. The article mentions how BIPOC nurses are usually discouraged from pursuing the nursing field altogether. Another article focuses on racism in nursing practice. When the pandemic started in 2020, there were more deaths in African American patients compared to any other ethnic group. With this being said, it is vital to educate institutions and patients on stereotypes and racism.

[Alyssa]

This article was extremely informative and enlightening! Thank you so much for sharing it on this platform. It is disheartening to learn that inequalities stemming from race are still so prevalent in nursing education today. It is shocking to learn that only 1% of university deans and chief nursing officers come from diverse backgrounds. As someone who is interested in being an educator in the future, I will make sure to discuss ethics, history, racism, and how that impacts nursing today. I will also be sure to include diverse populations in my lectures. Often times in textbooks the picture of the condition is shown only on light skin. I would like to show examples of multiple races so nursing come out educated but also aware of health inequities, social determinants of health, and systemic racism. 

[Anonymous]

It is shocking to say that with so many advances, the one thing that we have yet to overcome is racism. Coming from an immigrant family, I grew up with this preconception that my parents told me that we are looked at differently than others. One of the reasons I chose healthcare is because of the lack of Latino-Spanish-speaking providers. I grew up seeing my mother struggle to find a provider she could speak with and would understand her frustration without the need for a third person to translate. Although translators help bridge this communication gap, they do not bridge all the gaps, including comfort and reliability. At times, this deterred my mother from going to seek medical attention and getting by with home remedies until she could not. Racism is still a factor; however, as a current nurse, I see more and more diversity at least in the area I practice in. I know there is still a long way to go, but we have also made huge strides as a society. Thank you for sharing your article and touching on this sensitive topic.  

[Anonymous]

The articles you posted are very enlightening. It is disheartening to see such prevalence of this intolerance and the gaps in wages/opportunities/employment. It has been long known that BIPOC communities have been discriminated against and shown to have poorer health outcomes, along with having more limited access to healthcare, and it should go to figure that the challenges would also extend to the employment sphere. I agree that it is absolutely vital to educate institutions on the stereotypes presented in the media. The second article mentions good tools such as the Harvard implicit association test that can help us all understand the biases that we’ve integrated into our lives, both consciously and unconsciously. Creating committees in our institutions that work to serve the staff in developing awareness and knowledge of implicit bias and racism could go a long way to creating a more harmonious and inclusive environment that should improve not only staff morale and cohesiveness, but extend to patients and improve outcomes.

[YeEun]

It is very unfortunate to still see racism nowadays. Just as the first article mentioned, racisms assaults the human spirit in the form of biases, prejudices, and an ideology of superiority which persistently causes moral suffering and perpetuates injustices and inequities. I understand that racism was critical back in the day, but I think it’s time that we all understand that every human being is the same. Yes, white people constitute the majority of the population in this country. However, there are many other races living in this country as well. I am one of them. When COVID first broke out, many Asians despite whatever race had to be criticized just because of the fact that the virus started in China. There were many rages and protests regarding anti-Asian. But that wasn’t our fault. I believe that nobody in this world has the right to discriminate anyone just because of their race. As people who work in healthcare, we should treat everyone the same. We shouldn’t forget that the patients are not any different from who we are. I agree with you, Amyela, that it is vital to educate others regarding the seriousness of racism.

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