As we move into February, we take a moment to celebrate Black History Month and the diversity we see in our own lives, in our communities, and in nursing. In my life, I had the opportunity to grow up in a diverse community in Flint, Michigan. At the time, Flint was made up of many blue-collar workers in the auto industry, healthcare workers at the local hospitals, and college students at Mott, UofM Flint, and Kettering University. During my time in public high school at Flint Southwestern Academy, I learned from the different groups I was part of. I played basketball and volleyball all four years, participated in the Careers in Health vocational program, and was part of the student council. Each of these teams or groups was made up of different students, and I learned how to collaborate with a variety of people from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. My experiences in high school had a big impact on my view of the world going into college and my nursing career.
As a nurse, I have worked in Chicago, Denver, and now Ann Arbor (back in Michigan). Working as a nurse in a big city gave me the opportunity to care for the diverse patient population that made up my community. As a new graduate nurse in Chicago, I learned the different backgrounds of my patients and had to work through any bias I might have had coming from a smaller city in Michigan. Also, I worked with nurses from many different ethnicities who were part of my work group, and I learned from them the importance of teamwork. Looking back, I can see how having a diverse team of nurses helped to make our unit stronger, which in turn helped our patients’ outcomes.
There is still work that needs to be done in many organizations and schools of nursing to improve the diversity of our nursing workforce. Through the years, we have not treated all nurses equally. The ANA put forth “Our Racial Reckoning Statement” in 2022, which apologizes for the negative impact it caused to nurses of color and past actions that contributed to systemic racism. The ANA started a journey to reconcile the past and take action moving forward and started the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing. This commission, which I am privileged to be part of as the AMSN Representative, has been moving forward with an agenda to inform and educate on racism in nursing.
AMSN started a journey to address diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2018. We created a DEI Steering Committee, a DEI task force of AMSN members, and enlisted a subject matter expert, Dr. Susan Swayze, to create DEI modules for nurses and healthcare teams. At the AMSN Annual Convention in 2022, we held a town hall to discuss DEI and are continuing our journey, as we know there is more that needs to be done. This year, we have completed a six-module e-learning course that includes the DEI needs of patients as well as our team members. The first module is free to our AMSN members. Click here for more information.
As we celebrate Black History Month, take a moment to honor those who have come before us and paved a way for nurses of color. Consider how we can impact our generation of nurses of color by working to end systemic racism in our schools of nursing and our organizations.