Racism In The Healthcare Field

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Since the era of slavery, discrimination towards people of color has been at the forefront of our society. Racism has created endless barriers that have stopped our nation from reaching equality in many areas that affect each one of our daily lives. One field, healthcare, has become consumed by the effects of racial bias and as a result has seen many racial disparities. From nurses of color to patients of color, the delivery of and access to healthcare in our society has turned an environment meant for healing, into an environment of distrust and neglect. Through this paper, impacts on nurses, patients, and how this issue can be resolved will be addressed. To begin, what is racism and how has it negatively affected our nation’s healthcare system? …show more content…

On the other end, nurses of color often receive poor treatment from coworkers and patients, unequal opportunities to advance their careers, and are generally underrepresented in the healthcare field. Nurses of color face systemic racism and challenges within the healthcare system because of deeply instilled discriminatory practices. According to statistics, nurses of color only make up 30.4% of all nurses in the United States (Zauderer, 2023). This disproportionate number of nurses of color has severely impacted their voice, resulting in worsened treatment by their superiors and coworkers. One study states that “the nurses in this study described discriminatory practices that thwarted upward mobility. Over time, these practices escalated from petty harassment to outright conflict and hostile maneuvers from superiors, leading them to file formal complaints or grievances because they were being subjected to excessive supervision and punitive reprimands” (Hagey, …show more content…

Furthermore, this persistent level of racism has been shown to not only be due to the racist practices embedded in our society, but also the inability of nursing schools to prevent discriminatory practices in this field. A study on nursing schools stated that out of 1,000 nurses, “44% believe racism or discrimination was part of their nursing school’s culture” (Watkins, 2023). The first step in creating a more equal and representative environment for nurses of color is to create a learning environment for nursing students of color to feel confident in their career path and give them the ability to advance their career. One student from Watkin’s article stated that while “going through nursing school, [she] never heard or learned about one Black nurse in history that contributed to anything”. Later, the same student stated that “many African American nurses who are very qualified in terms of degrees and experience do not get the opportunity for promotion” (Watkins,

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