Building Solidarity with Black Nurses to Dismantle Systemic and Structural Racism in Nursing

Abstract

Systemic and structural racism in nursing have profound impacts on Black People, Indigenous Peoples, and People of Color. They contributed to underrepresentation in faculty, senior nurse executives, and presidents’ positions in academic and healthcare organizations, physical and mental health issues in racialized groups. This quality improvement study described ways in which the Black Nurses Task Force of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario can build solidarity with nursing and government organizations to dismantle systemic and structural racism in nursing. This study used a structured online survey, comprised of quantitative and qualitative questions. The qualitative data were analyzed using interpretative thematic analysis and the quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Findings showed that 88% of participants experienced racism and 63% said racism affected their mental health. Three themes emerged from the qualitative data: Social support for Black nurses, accountability of leaders and solidarity with Black nurses. These findings demonstrated the urgent need to dismantle systemic and structural racism in nursing.

An integrative review of racism in nursing to inform anti‐racist nursing praxis in Aotearoa New Zealand

“…Indigenous and racially minoritised nurses are critical to the health workforce, although racism continues to marginalise and silence them and their contributions (Bell, 2021;Talamaivao et al, 2021;Wilson et al, 2022). The lack of urgency and commitment from apathetic nursing leadership holds racist structures in place (Brockie et al, 2023;Cooper Brathwaite et al, 2023). By developing critically reflective practices and openly examining beliefs, unconscious biases, and stereotyping provides the opportunity to attend to the challenges of racism and discrimination (Bell, 2021;Hickey et al, 2022;Kelly & Chakanyuka, 2021;Kidd et al, 2020Kidd et al, , 2021McFadden et al, 2023;Talamaivao et al, 2021;Weitzel et al, 2020;Wilson et al, 2022).…”

“…Identifying racism is vital to prevent inequitable access to healthcare for Indigenous and racially minoritised populations (Cooper Brathwaite et al, 2023;Kelly & Chakanyuka, 2021;Kidd et al, 2021).…”

“…ensured Indigenous processes remained central throughout the abstraction and analysis. All authors (of whom four were Māori) were involved a et alHunter & Cook, 2020a, 2020bHuria et al, 2014;Kidd et al, 2020Kidd et al, , 2021Van Bewer et al, 2021), one (5%) was quantitative(Cooper Brathwaite et al, 2021), one (5%) was mixed methods(Cooper Brathwaite et al, 2023), and the rest were discursive papers (55%)(Bell, 2021;Hickey et al, 2022;Hunter, 2019; Iheduru-Anderson, 2020; Iheduru-Anderson & Wahl, 2022; Kelly & Chakanyuka, 2021; McFadden et al, 2023; Oda & Rameka, 2012; Talamaivao et al, 2021; Weitzel et al, 2020; Wilson et al, 2022).Three (15%) articles were informed by Kaupapa Māori approaches, two (10%) were literature reviews, seven (35%) were case reports and critical commentary, one (5%) was a case study, and one (5%) was a clinical experience. Nine (42%) articles had at least one author who was Māori, six (30%) articles had at least one Indigenous author, four (20%) articles had a sole author who identified as Black, and in one (5%) article the author identified as non-Indigenous.…”

“…(Hickey et al, 2022;Hunter, 2019;Kelly & Chakanyuka, 2021;Talamaivao et al, 2021;Van Bewer et al, 2021;Weitzel et al, 2020; minoritised nurses reported on the paralysis and fragility of white nurses to respond to racism, leading to the silencing of Indigenous voices and a culture of avoidance(Iheduru-Anderson & Wahl, 2022;Kidd et al, 2020;Van Bewer et al, 2021).Culturally safe practice is fundamental to addressing inequity yet has failed to be effectively implemented(Came et al, 2022;Cooper Brathwaite et al, 2023; …”

Incentivizing an exodus: The implications of recruiting nurses from low-middle income countries to high-income countries

“…High-income countries are buying into and incentivizing a perpetual cycle of high nursing turnover, thereby divesting from sustainable solutions making their own nurses want to join nursing or come back and stay at the bedside. Nurses from LMICs enter a healthcare system plagued with longstanding systemic problems, and their own experience is compounded with the systemic racism they face at every turn; from barriers to obtaining their nursing license to racist violence from patients, colleagues and management [ 13 ].…”