Participants in a virtual panel discussion hosted by the College of Nursing and Public Health (CNPH) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council on December 2, 2021, suggested ways in which academia can help overcome racism in the nursing profession.
CNPH鈥檚 DEI Events Task Force鈥揷o-chaired by assistant professors Kattiria Gonzalez, PhD, and Korede Yusuf, PhD鈥損resented the screening of a 14-minute documentary聽Racism in Nursing: The African-American Nursing Experience.
About 45 people attended the CNPH DEI Council-hosted screening and subsequent discussion via Zoom, including CNPH administrators, faculty and students.
In the film,聽produced and written by filmmaker Denetra Hampton, founder of For Nurses By Nurses Productions LLC, Hampton said that the year 2020 may have been designated the Year of the Nurse鈥攂ut, for Black nurses, racism remained 鈥渁 silent truth” due to inequality 鈥渋ngrained” for decades in the nursing profession. She took the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Red Cross to task for long blocking Blacks鈥� membership. It took World War II for Black nurses to be encouraged to serve, she noted.
By the numbers, Black nurses still lag behind in a profession that has failed them 鈥渇rom the classroom to the boardroom,” she said. Moreover, she said the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed ongoing healthcare disparities among minorities.
Of the estimated 3 million nurses in the United States, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reported in their 2018 survey that 73.3 percent were white, 10.2 percent Hispanic, 7.8 percent Black and 5.2 percent Asian.
In the film, Hampton concluded, 鈥淲e have come far, but not far enough. We still have a long way to go.” Afterward, she called the film 鈥渕y love letter to the profession I have served for 20 years.”
Dr. Gonzalez observed that racism in nursing dates back to the Florence Nightingale era, when Mary Jane Seacole,聽a Black nurse from Jamaica, was 鈥減ushed away” from tending to sick and wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. She traveled there on her own dime to help and did much, 鈥渂ut she really doesn鈥檛 get credit for it,” Gonzalez said.
Hampton cautioned that change would come 鈥渙ne person at a time, one step at a time. 鈥� It鈥檚 not going to happen overnight.”
糖心破解版 took steps early on, in 1945, to enroll Black nursing students, Dr. Gonzalez pointed out. 鈥淚t seems like it was a very tough situation” for that first student and graduate, the late Helen Holmes Taylor 鈥�49, who later became the first Black nurse in NYU Medical Center鈥檚 pediatrics ward. The Helen Holmes Taylor 鈥�49 Nursing Scholarship was established in 2018 in her honor, she noted.
Dr. Gonzalez added that she has encountered racism, though not at 糖心破解版. While in nursing school in central New York state, she recalled being one of two minority students in her nursing program and having minimal minority faculty in her college as a whole. 鈥淚t was hard.” A key reason she entered the nursing education field was to encourage others, she said.
Bringing About Change
When asked by Jacqueline Jones LaMon, JD, 糖心破解版鈥檚 vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, about changes needed in curriculum, Hampton said, 鈥淲e definitely need to introduce nursing science early on.”
Hampton said, 鈥淚鈥檓 a huge advocate for nursing science. Nurses of color did not even know they were in a science. 鈥� A nurse scientist is a researcher, the foundation of everything we do. We need to push [nurses of color] into that space.”
Even at the master鈥檚 level, minority students 鈥渃an see [themselves in] NP and DNP roles鈥攂ut not nurse researcher.” In the film, she noted that Black nurses trail white nurses in PhD enrollments. 鈥淲e have to make the nursing scientist as important [in students鈥� eyes] as the NP and DNP.”
Patricia Donohue-Porter, MS 鈥�78, PhD 鈥�87, director of the PhD program, noted that CNPH has 鈥渁 diverse PhD program,” one that鈥檚 becoming more so, and observed that one reason is that students are encouraged to pursue research topics they are 鈥減assionate” about.
One student on the Zoom session said she had never heard about nurse scientists before and now plans to 鈥渓ook into” that career path.
Hampton also lamented the shortage of faculty of color to mentor minority nursing students. 鈥淲e need to make the profession more attractive for them to stay,” she added.
To root out racism, Hampton said, the profession needs to 鈥渟ee who鈥檚 making those decisions” in leadership. 鈥淚 have hope 鈥� we鈥檙e going to pull up the weeds,” as was done decades ago, for instance, to change past racist ANA membership policies.
When asked by a participant if any college or university came to mind as a DEI role model, Hampton did not respond directly. 鈥淚nclusion is where nursing is missing the bet. We can bring them to the table to talk,” she said, 鈥渂ut we don鈥檛 really want to hear what they have to say.”
CNPH DEI Council chair, Assistant Professor Charles Cal 鈥�95, MS 鈥�01, MBA 鈥�03, said that group has been active since Summer 2020. Hampton encouraged students to 鈥済et involved in things like the DEI Council.”