“I can't breathe”: A call for antiracist nursing practice

Abstract

Highlights Nurses are positioned to respond to the epidemic of racism in our healthcare system and communities. This call to action highlights ways that nurses can adopt antiracist practices. Actions include recognition of personal biases, confronting systemic inequities, policy and political action, new approaches to research, and using antiracist pedagogy.

Childhood obesity within the lens of racism

“…Antiracist practices must be developed and implemented in care delivery, research, education, and policy to reduce health outcome inequities 57 . To develop anti‐racist practices, educators must be outspoken about the need to diversify our students, faculty, and leaders including healthcare professionals.…”

“…55,56 Antiracist practices must be developed and implemented in care delivery, research, education, and policy to reduce health outcome inequities. 57 To develop anti-racist practices, educators must be outspoken about the need to diversify our students, faculty, and leaders including healthcare professionals. Healthcare curricula must be revised to be culturally responsive and inclusive in dismantling the 'status quo' of systemic racism and discrimination.…”

NCSBN’s Environmental Scan COVID-19 and Its Impact on Nursing and Regulation

“…Reflecting the nation over the past few years, nursing and higher education in the United States have been increasingly focused on identifying and eliminating structural systemic racism (DeWitty & Murray, 2020;Koschmann et al, 2020;Ritter & Raphael, 2020;Villarruel & Broome, 2020). DeWitty and Murray provide statistics elucidating the problem in higher education: Although White people make up 60% of the U.S. population, they hold 81% of the full-time professorships.…”

“…They call on leaders in nursing education to change policies, practices, and traditions that diminish people of color in nursing programs and challenge leaders to move from simply naming racism to dismantling it. Likewise, Koschmann et al (2020) call on nursing education to increase diversity in the nursing workforce by providing financial and academic resources to support student retention and success. Additionally, faculty must confront their own biases by intentionally incorporating difficult conversations into the classroom.…”

Confronting racism in nursing

“…There can no longer be any question that, "We must face the epidemic of racism head-on by applying rigorous changes to nursing practice, research, and education, and, as is always true with our profession, do this with empathy and respect." (Koschmann et al, 2020) The time has come to move from words to action, from debate to engagement, and from "not racism" to antiracism. As the conscience and core of health care, nursing must play a central role in any serious attempt to deal with racism.…”