Challenges Faced by Black Nurses in the Profession: Q&A With an Advocate

The healthcare profession serves a diverse population, and there is a need for representation of all the different cultures we serve. In the healthcare profession, we must consider each patient's gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, among other characteristics, in order to help better care for and treat the patient holistically.

Diversity is important in the nursing profession because nurses interact with and care for people of different cultures. Specifically, in nursing education, nursing students should have the experience of being taught by a diverse faculty. A diverse faculty can help to educate future nurses on healthcare disparities and inequalities that impact minority communities. This education will then be implemented in the workplace and would have a direct impact on the patient population.

Sadly, the main challenge Black nurses face in the nursing profession is racism. Workplace discrimination and abuse from patients still occur. Black nurses face issues with being promoted into leadership positions in the workplace, and this can be directly linked to racism.

There is a long history of mistrust among the Black community and the healthcare system. To repair this trust, there must be better representation of Black and other minority healthcare professionals. Patients usually prefer healthcare providers whom they can easily identify and communicate with.

To increase diversity in nursing and nursing education, we must be intentional. Healthcare systems and universities must seek out minorities. Recruiting candidates from historically Black colleges and universities is a great example of being intentional.

Walden University provides opportunities for graduates through the Postdoctoral Teaching and Research Fellowship for Diversity and Inclusion. This fellowship provides recent doctoral graduates from varying backgrounds with mentoring, teaching, professional development, social change, and research experience as they compete for faculty positions. It helps to make a direct impact on a diverse faculty pool and is a pathway to increase diversity among faculty.

As Black nurses, we need to encourage others to seek nursing education as a profession and guide fellow nurses toward pursuing higher education. We need to become educators, clinicians, and practitioners, so young Black nursing students can have role models who look like them.

When I think about the Black nurses who served as pioneers in nursing, I think of perseverance, persistence, and purpose. They fought to be able to be recognized and educated as nurses so they could care for the Black community. They understood the impact they could make and stayed the course even when the odds were set against them.

Most people think of Soujourner Truth as the abolitionist who escaped slavery, but most do not know she was a nurse who promoted nursing education and training programs. Like Truth, Betty Smith also advocated for nursing education. She was the first Black nurse to be hired as an educator in the college setting in California.

The impact these women made in the profession of nursing forged the way for me to become a nurse educator. There is still much work to do to increase diversity in nursing and nursing education. As our pioneers did in the past, we must continue to strive toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.