Black Nurses Research Articles

Countering Structural Racism Through Alternative Approaches to Baccalaureate Nursing Education.

The baccalaureate degree has been touted as the preferred minimum entry into professional nursing practice in the United States. Although the number of Black registered nurses is increasing overall, Black nurses are disproportionately represented at the associate degree level. This article describes how structural racism and Eurocentric gatekeeping have historically created barriers in nursing education. We propose alternative pathways to diversify nursing education that promote equitable access to the profession.

Experiences of U.S. Nurses Compared With Nonnurses in the First Year of COVID-19: Findings From a National Registry.

Nursing professional organizations and media sources indicated early in the pandemic that the physical and psychological effects of COVID-19 might be distinct and possibly greater in nurses than in other types of healthcare workers (HCWs). Based on survey data collected in Healthcare Worker Exposure Response and Outcomes (HERO), a national registry of U.S. HCWs, this study compared the self-reported experiences of nurses with other HCWs during the first 13 months of the pandemic. Nurse responses were compared to responses of nonnurse HCWs in terms of viral exposure, testing and infection, access to personal protective equipment (PPE), burnout, and well-being. Logistic regression models were used to examine associations between nurse and nonnurse roles for the binary end points of viral testing and test positivity for COVID-19. We also examined differences by race/ethnicity and high-risk versus low-risk practice settings. Of 24,343 HCWs in the registry, one third self-identified as nurses. Nurses were more likely than other HCWs to report exposure to SARS-CoV-2, problems accessing PPE, and decreased personal well-being, including burnout, feeling tired, stress, trouble sleeping, and worry. In adjusted models, nurses were more likely than nonnurse HCWs to report viral testing and test positivity for COVID-19 infection. Nurses in high-risk settings were more likely to report viral exposure and symptoms related to well-being; nurses in low-risk settings were more likely to report viral testing and test positivity. Black or Hispanic nurses were most likely to report test positivity. Differences were identified between nurses and nonnurse HCWs in access to PPE, physical and mental well-being measures, and likelihood of reporting exposure and infection. Among nurses, testing and infection differed based on race and ethnicity, and type of work setting. Our findings suggest further research and policy are needed to elucidate and address social and occupational disparities.

The lasting effects of historical racial divides in nursing education: A case study examining holistic admission policies development

BackgroundHistorically, in the United States, nursing programs reflected practices that systematically discriminated against Black students and nurses. ObjectivesThe authors investigated historical nursing school admission policies to determine if racist practices existed that impeded Black students' ability to access formal nurse training programs. This study further examined whether those historical discriminating practices continue to exist in schools of nursing today and if admission policies in a Southern School of Nursing contributed to inequitable admission of students. Current recommendations for increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in nursing schools will be addressed. MethodsThis study combines social-historical archival research with a case study of the racial breakdown of applied versus admitted nursing students at a Southern university. ResultsSchool of Nursing admission data (2019–2021) demonstrate discrepancies in the distribution of admitted students by race, reflecting the ongoing effects of systematic discrimination. ConclusionsIn the United States, the nursing profession is pursuing strategies to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, the lingering effects of policies that systematically built barriers keeping underrepresented groups from earning a nursing education persist. Holistic admission is one way that nursing programs can address this inequity.

Black Women Slaves Who Nourished a Nation: Artistic Renderings of Wet Nurses in Brazil

The Black wet nurse remains to this day one of the most romanticized representations of Brazilian slavery. Common to other slave societies, such as those in the US South, the idealization of the motherly, affectionate devotion of Black enslaved women not to their own children but to their white charges is inextricably linked to the forging of the symbolic figures of “Black mothers” or “mammies,” central to the imaginary of racially harmonious postslave societies.The importance of this topic to understanding past and present race and gender social dynamics makes Kimberly Cleveland's book a timely contribution to the growing field on the intersections between race, visuality, and other social markers. Cleveland aims to analyze Black wet-nursing historically from the point of view of visual culture, centering images rather than taking them as complements to other discourses and sources. The author openly adopts a transdisciplinary approach in order to investigate paintings, photographs, and sculptures from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that depict Black wet nurses and thus reveal changing racial standards and politics in Brazil.Such an ambitious project would certainly be of great interest to historians and other scholars studying slavery, abolition, postabolition, and African diaspora. However, the project comes up against some obstacles. First, the magnitude of Cleveland's goals are somewhat diminished by the fact that, for a book that delves into visual culture, she uses a rather small sample of images to build an encompassing argument. For instance, in the book's second chapter, dedicated to representations of wet nurses in the second half of the nineteenth century, Cleveland chooses to work with four photographs of Black women from one single imperial province, Bahia. In fairness, many of the known photographs of Black wet nurses and their white charges produced at that time were taken in northeastern provinces. It is difficult, however, to see how a few images from a single locale could reveal a comprehensive scenario in which visual conventions of photography are intertwined with market practices, photographers' aesthetic choices, and the agency of those who are photographed—women who, albeit probably portrayed at the orders of their masters, contributed to the photographic act with their bodies, gestures, and gazes.Notwithstanding the author's careful methodological treatment of images and her recourse to an extensive bibliography to substantiate interpretations, the limited primary source base gives readers the misleading impression that examples of visual representations of Black wet nurses are scarcer than they actually are. This also affects a deeper understanding of how images dialogue both with their historical and social context of creation and with other images and representations. A consideration of this symbolic circulation seems crucial to properly understanding the emergence and transformations of visual discourses and the role that these discourses play in the construction of social imaginaries of slavery and race relations in the Brazilian empire and republic.The author makes an interesting point about the varying names and meanings attributed to representations of enslaved women engaged in domestic work and the care of white children, identifying differences between Black wet nurses and mammies. The very important matter of how representations of enslaved domestic workers transformed into a mythic Black motherhood able to pacify racial conflicts in postabolition Brazil, however, is left unresolved.In addition, although the book focuses on gendered and racialized representations, the white male perspective is at its center. Cleveland argues that white male artists and doctors had the power to control the lives of their enslaved Black wet nurses and to determine how they would be seen and spoken of. It is a bit disappointing, however, that Black women's agency is only considered via a problematic claim that white male domination was subverted by these women when they rented out their wet-nursing services—a stance that does not consider the violent nature of the wet-nursing labor market and the many challenges faced by enslaved and freed women to get by and raise and support their families. At stake here is an understanding of agency as free will that has been overtly criticized by specialists.Nevertheless, Cleveland's work is a well-written, carefully edited book that delves into crucial matters and can attract a broad reading public interested in understanding both the historical processes that forged a complex visuality of race and gender in postslavery Brazil and the violent, unequal society that this visuality helped to create.

The voice of Black academic nurse leaders in the United States: A qualitative study.

Black and African American people make up a little over 13% of the United States population. Black nurses represent 7.8% of US nurses and 8.7% of nursing faculty. The exact percentage of Black nurses in academic leadership cannot be ascertained. Studies indicate the need to diversify nursing at every level including academic nursing leadership. The purpose of this study is to examine the everyday lived experiences of Black academic nurse leaders in the United States through the Critical Race Theory perspectives. A qualitative narrative research study design was employed for the study. Data were collected from 34 Black academic nurse leaders using unstructured interview. The findings of the study were classified under six major themes; the path to academic leadership, we need trust and support, the pressure for positive representation, uppity Black nurse, and treading a thin line. This study provides an insight into the insights into the intersection of race and gendered experiences of Black academic nurse leaders. Nursing education is in a unique position to maximize the human capital potential of Black nurses in the workplace, especially those graduating from graduate programs around the country.

Cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 and associated risk factors among healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

ObjectivesThis study assesses the cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers (HCWs) during South Africa’s first wave and examines the associated demographic, health-related and occupational risk factors for infection.MethodsMultistage...

Black Nurse Scholars' Experiences in an Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship

Postdoctoral fellowship programs play an essential role in developing future leaders in nursing by providing opportunities for interprofessional education, training, and collaboration. Nurse leaders must carefully consider the climate and design of such programs, paying particular attention to the ability to support the career journeys of more doctorally-prepared nurses from diverse backgrounds. This article describes a self-study that considered the unique, yet collective, lived experiences of 11 Black, doctorally-prepared, nurses who completed (or are completing) the same interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship. We describe the study methods, results, discussion, and limitations. Five themes across three phases of the nurse scholars’ educational journeys describe lived experiences in spaces not traditionally designed to support minoritized women, including insight into the limits and benefits of these programs specific to Black nurse scholars. Finally, we suggest implications for nursing to inform interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship programs to strengthen Black nurse scholars as emerging leaders with interprofessional collaboration skills to improve healthcare services provided to diverse patient populations.

Red, White, and Black: The Debate over the Active Service of Black Nurses in the United States during the First World War.

Red, White, and Black: The Debate over the Active Service of Black Nurses in the United States during the First World War.

Tackling discrimination and systemic racism in academic and workplace settings.

Racism against Black people, Indigenous and other racialized people continues to exist in healthcare and academic settings. Racism produces profound harm to racialized people. Strategies to address systemic racism must be implemented to bring about sustainable changes in healthcare and academic settings. This quality improvement initiative provides strategies to address systemic racism and discrimination against Black nurses and nursing students in Ontario, Canada. It is part of a broader initiative showcasing Black nurses in action to end racism and discrimination. We have found that people who have experienced racism need healing, support and protection including trauma-related services to facilitate their healing. Implementing multi-level, multi-pronged interventions in workplaces will create healthy work environments for all members of society, especially Black nurses who are both clients/patients and providers of healthcare.

Black nurses in action: A social movement to end racism and discrimination.

We bear witness to a sweeping social movement for change-fostered and driven by a powerful group of Black nurses and nursing students determined to call out and dismantle anti-Black racism and discrimination within the profession of nursing. The Black Nurses Task Force, launched by the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) in July 2020, is building momentum for long-standing change in the profession by critically examining the racist and discriminatory history of nursing, listening to and learning from the lived experiences of the Black nursing community, and shaping concrete, actionable steps to confront anti-Black racism and discrimination in academic settings, workplaces, and nursing organizations. The Black Nurses Task Force and the RNAO are standing up and speaking out in acknowledgment of the magnitude of anti-Black racism and discrimination that exist in our profession, health system, justice system, and economic system. This social movement is demonstrating, in actions, how individuals and a collective act as change agents to drive meaningful and widespread change for our present and future Black nurses. We also acknowledge the Black nurses who have gone before us.

Nursing in Brazil: socioeconomic analysis with a focus on the racial composition.

to analyze the socioeconomic characteristics of nurses and nursing technicians living in Brazil according to color/race. based on the 2010 Demographic Census sample, 62,451 nursing professionals (nurses and technicians) living in Brazil were selected. Differences in monthly income were estimated by multivariate models, stratified by color or race groups (white, brown, and black). the majority were technicians (61.9%) of white color (54.3%). The income of white nurses exceeded that of brown and black nurses by more than a quarter; among technicians, white professionals had an income approximately 11% higher than brown and black nurses. differences between incomes of nursing workers were associated with ethnic/racial background, revealing situations in which white professionals systematically presented more favorable job and income conditions than black and brown professionals.

“They Had the Brains but They Didn’t Have the Expertise”: Black Working-Class Women and the Nurse Training Program at the Taborian Hospital, 1940s–1960s

This article rescues from invisibility Black working-class women nurses who staffed the Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. In 1941, the Taborian Hospital introduced one of the state’s first nurse training programs that offered Black women economic opportunities beyond the fields of the Mississippi Delta. The article asserts that while many struggled to meet state requirements that promised higher wages and social mobility, Black women nurses introduced a health politic that defined health care activism before the 1960s. In so doing, they demonstrated that civil rights included the right to access to medical and nonmedical care that was dignified, quality, modern, and uplifting. This article expands the historical canon by placing working-class Black women nurses, who were essentially shut out of the professionalization movement because they did not redirect scant family resources to enroll in traditional nursing programs, alongside middle-class Black nurses and Black midwives.

Introduction to Andrea Levy's Selected Excerpts from The Adventures of Mrs Seacole

Introduction to Andrea Levy's Selected Excerpts from The Adventures of Mrs Seacole Michael Perfect (bio) In July 2012 Andrea Levy completed a screenplay based on Mary Seacole's 1857 autobiography, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands. In addition to using Seacole's own text, Levy also drew on Jane Robinson's 2005 biography of her as well as a number of other resources. At the time of writing, Levy's screenplay has been neither televised nor optioned, although this may yet change. Like Seacole herself, Levy's screenplay is full of warmth, energy, and wit; it offers a lively and insightful portrait of a woman who has been voted the "greatest black Briton" (Taylor) but who nevertheless remains unknown to many British people. Indeed, like other projects that Levy worked on in her final years, The Adventures of Mrs Seacole sought to increase public awareness of and interest in neglected aspects of British-Caribbean history. Two excerpts from The Adventures of Mrs Seacole are reproduced below. The first is from the beginning of the screenplay. These opening scenes cover Seacole's arrival at the British military hospital at Scutari, near Istanbul, in 1855. Having applied at the War Office in London to join the nursing contingent famously led by Florence Nightingale, and having been rejected, Seacole has made her own way to the military hospital. At Scutari she encounters Nightingale, who receives Seacole frostily. The second excerpt features scenes from much later in Levy's screenplay. They find Seacole back in London, in 1856. Despite her enormously heroic exploits in the Crimea, Seacole faces obscurity and destitution—until, that is, she encounters some of the veterans who she nursed on the battlefields. As is clear from these excerpts, Levy's screenplay takes issue with Seacole being a frequently overlooked figure and, [End Page 293] in particular, one overshadowed by Nightingale—not just in the mid-nineteenth century but in the contemporary moment, too. Bill Mayblin and I have selected and edited these excerpts for posthumous publication. For a more detailed discussion of these excerpts in particular, the screenplay as a whole, and Levy's late unpublished work more generally, see my article in this special issue. Michael Perfect Michael Perfect is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Liverpool John Moores University. His research interests are in twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature and culture. His first book, Contemporary Fictions of Multiculturalism, was published with Palgrave in 2014, and his work has also appeared in The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing, The Journal for Cultural Research, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and numerous edited collections. He has written for The Guardian's Higher Education Network and been interviewed on local and national radio. His second book, forthcoming with Manchester University Press, focuses on Andrea Levy. He was the first academic to carry out research on Levy's archive, and his ongoing work on the archive is supported by a BA/Leverhulme research grant. In addition to his work on Levy, he is currently developing a project that relates to screen adaptations of contemporary transnational novels. Works Cited Robinson, Jane. Mary Seacole: The Charismatic Black Nurse Who Became a Heroine of the Crimea. 2005. Constable and Robinson, 2006. Google Scholar Seacole, Mary. Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands. 1857. Edited by Ziggi Alexander and Audrey Dewjee, Falling Wall, 1984. Google Scholar Taylor, Matthew. "Nurse Is Greatest Black Briton." The Guardian, 10 Feb. 2004, theguardian.com/uk/2004/feb/10/britishidentity.artsandhumanities#:~:text=A%20little%2Dknown%20nurse%20who,voted%20the%20greatest%20black%20Briton. Accessed 14 June 2020. Copyright © 2022 Johns Hopkins University Press and the University of Calgary

The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement

The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement

Factors Associated With COVID-19 Vaccine Receipt by Health Care Personnel at a Major Academic Hospital During the First Months of Vaccine Availability

Several COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized in the US, yet preliminary evidence suggests high levels of vaccine hesitancy and wide racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in uptake. To assess COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among health care personnel (HCP) during the first 4 months of availability in a large academic hospital, compare acceptance with previously measured vaccine hesitancy, and describe racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in vaccine uptake. This cross-sectional study included 12 610 HCP who were offered COVID-19 vaccination at a major academic hospital in Philadelphia between December 16, 2020, and April 16, 2021. For each HCP, data were collected on occupational category, age, sex, race and ethnicity (Asian or Pacific Islander, Black or African American [Black], Hispanic, White, and multiracial), and social vulnerability index (SVI) at the zip code of residence. Vaccine uptake by HCP at the employee vaccination clinic. The study population included 4173 men (34.8%) and 7814 women (65.2%) (623 without data). A total of 1480 were Asian or Pacific Islander (12.4%); 2563 (21.6%), Black; 452 (3.8%), Hispanic; 7086 (59.6%), White; and 192 (1.6%), multiracial; 717 had no data for race and ethnicity. The mean (SD) age was 40.9 (12.4) years, and 9573 (76.0%) received at least 1 vaccine dose during the first 4 months of vaccine availability. Adjusted for age, sex, job position, and SVI, Black (relative risk [RR], 0.69; 95% CI, 0.66-0.72) and multiracial (RR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.73-0.89) HCP were less likely to receive vaccine compared with White HCP. When stratified by job position, Black nurses (n = 189; 62.8%), Black HCP with some patient contact (n = 466; 49.9%), and Black HCP with no patient contact (n = 636; 56.3%) all had lower vaccine uptake compared with their White and Asian or Pacific Islander counterparts. Similarly, multiracial HCP with some (n = 26; 52.0%) or no (n = 48; 58.5%) patient contact had lower vaccine uptake. In contrast, Black physicians were just as likely to receive the vaccine as physicians of other racial and ethnic groups. In this cross-sectional study, more than two-thirds of HCP at a large academic hospital in Philadelphia received a COVID-19 vaccine within 4 months of vaccine availability. Although racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities were seen in vaccine uptake, no such disparities were found among physicians. Better understanding of factors driving these disparities may help improve uptake.

"Black Nurses in the Home is Working": Advocacy, Naming, and Processing Racism to Improve Black Maternal and Infant Health.

1) To explore how racism-related stress impacts Black women's health, pregnancy, and parenting. 2) To explore how a culturally-specific program affects the relationship between racism-related stress and Black women's health, pregnancy, and parenting. This qualitative study uses a Black Feminist approach to center the lived experiences and perspectives of Black women. Focus groups were conducted with clients and staff of a culturally-specific program that provides perinatal care for Black families. A thematic analysis was conducted using a Reproductive Justice framework as a guide. Participants consisted of 23 program clients and staff who all identified as Black women. Four themes emerged from the analysis: 1) The pervasive reach of structural racism, 2) Shared identities facilitate trust and healing, 3) Racism directly impacts mental health, and 4) Advocacy on macro and micro levels is a vital service. Results show the chronicity and toxicity of structural racism on Black women's physical and mental health. The presence of overt and subtle forms of racism occur in multiple systems and require interventions on macro- and micro-levels. Culturally-specific perinatal care programs that prioritize racial concordance between providers and clients/patients are well-received and effective models of care. Black perinatal care should include culturally-specific approaches, advocacy on behalf of and alongside Black people, mental health support with attention to racism-related stress, and interrogation of implicit bias. Multipronged interventions guided by Reproductive Justice principles provide a holistic framework to address interpersonal and systemic racial oppression.

Black nurse scientists and the undeniable role of historically Black colleges and universities

The pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism highlighted health inequities that have existed for decades among Black communities. Nurses are positioned to address these health inequities through innovative ideas and research. More specifically, Black nurses, because of their shared lived experience, understand sociostructural factors underpinning health inequities and how to best engage with Black communities. However, only 8% of Black nurses make up the overall nursing workforce and far fewer are nurse scientists. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can offer critically important options for success in addressing the dearth of Black nurse scientists working across sectors and contributing to rich academic milieu, informing innovative national policy, and creating impactful practice. We discuss challenges and strategies to promoting research careers at HBCUs to attract Black nurse scientists as the next leaders in health inequities research.

Kidney Transplantation and South African Medical Hierarchies: Nursing Innovations and Inequities, 1960s–1990s

AbstractThis article focuses on female kidney transplant nurses, whose contributions, while often overlooked and underappreciated, were critical to the success of transplantation. It reveals that white and, from the 1980s onwards, Black kidney transplant nurses made two central contributions. First, they developed specialised skills in dialysis that were vital to transplant success. Second, through countless hours of close observation of post‐transplant patients, nurses gained confidence and knowledge that enabled them to improve medical and care procedures initially established by medical doctors. At the same time, this article recognises that nurses's contributions were powerfully shaped by inequities of gender, race and language.

'A British Problem Affecting British People': Sickle Cell Anaemia, Medical Activism and Race in the National Health Service, 1975-1993.

Recent historiography has explored a contradiction at the heart of the British welfare state—it was founded on and supported by migrant and non-white labour, whose own healthcare and broader welfare state entitlements were neglected. This article explores how this contradiction was exposed and challenged by some of the health service’s own workforce, who witnessed and contested racism in the National Health Service (NHS). This is discussed through the lens of the treatment of sickle cell anaemia (SCA), a genetic trait and disease more common in people of African, South Asian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean descent, which has been highly racialized as affecting black people in particular. By pushing for improved responses to pain in sickle cell disease, and demonstrating the need for SCA screening in urban areas, healthcare professionals within the NHS—many of whom were black or migrant nurses, health visitors or doctors—articulated the status and entitlements of Black British citizenship.

Hairstyles, hostility and the prejudice black nurses can face about their locs

Hairstyles, hostility and the prejudice black nurses can face about their locs