Racism and The Black American Experience: Nursing Care Regardless of Race

"One of the notable signs that appears in all of the protests says “I see you, I hear you.” For me, this is a key to meeting the challenge before us. It starts with our interactions among our own colleagues."

"Black Lives Matter. These three words have been used countless times in protests and in the media. As a result of the protests, more people are talking about racism and how it affects people who are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)."

"In a collaboration between STAT, WebMD, and Medscape, 59% of 822 physicians surveyed reported hearing an offensive remark about a personal characteristic from a patient; the majority of these remarks centered around race, gender, ethnicity, and religion. Another 49% had patients request a different doctor based on some of these characteristics."

"If you face racial discrimination from patients on the ward or in a surgery, there are several things you can do."

"Healthcare professionals typically don't view themselves as being biased. Because healthcare professionals are human, they have an unintentional "disconnect" between their desire to provide equal treatment and the way their clinical decision making is influenced by patients' race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other social group membership traits, all of which are tenets of disparity.
Managing unconscious bias is difficult due to intrinsic blind spots. These blind spots may be the result of confirmation bias, which causes people to recognize information that reinforces their prior beliefs and disregard information that doesn't reinforce those beliefs. Trying to control this kind of bias requires constant vigilance and commitment to make a difference. When unconscious bias isn't recognized and managed, it may lead to healthcare disparities."

"Following reports of a growing racial disparity in COVID-19 deaths, National Nurses United today called on the federal government and states to provide full reporting on the demographic breakdown of the effects of the pandemic and what actions are being taken to protect historically medically under-served communities."

"In the United States and around the world, racial inequalities in health have been and continue to be well-documented in academe and public discourse. Yet there are markedly few empirical studies examining the root causes of these inequalities, with ongoing resistance to identifying racism as a key determinant of racial health inequalities.

"The medical community largely avoids talking about how systemic racism affects our Black and brown patients individually. We are more comfortable talking about the social determinants of health for marginalized people, collectively, rather than discussing how we disenfranchise the patient under our care. Often, the few minority trainees and providers hold the burden of addressing these issues; they are constantly tasked to speak up for themselves and their communities."