A three-time West Virginia University School of Nursing graduate along with a nursing faculty member recently participated in a West Virginia Nurses Association (WVNA) panel focused on strategies to be an antiracist in nursing.
The virtual panel, “Race: Recognize, Address, Change and Educate / Strategies to be an Antiracist in Nursing,” welcomed roughly 50 attendees and featured Dr. Donte Newsom, a member of the WVNA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and a board member of Fairness West Virginia.
“Racism in nursing, although not new, as with many other arenas of social change over the last few years, has become more known,” said Newsom, who received his Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2011, his Master of Science in Nursing with a Family Nurse Practitioner track in 2014, and his Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2018. “The American Nurses Association recently conducted a poll among nurses that found the majority of nurses of color reported things happening to them that they believed were because of race, from patients, colleagues and administrators.”
Newsom said the key is raising awareness and listening to people when they bring up concerns.
“A lot of times we try to ignore or deny a problem, but if you don’t acknowledge it, you can’t change your ways or become an ally to help change those around you by speaking out when something happens,” Newsom said.
He encourages the formation of diversity, equity and inclusion committees to serve as advocates and liaisons, and he advocates for better representation in healthcare administrative roles.
“You have to see people like you. That will help build trust in administration, to know you have the support of an administrator if you bring problems to them.”
The panel was moderated by Dr. Sandra “Sam” Cotton, a Clinical Associate Professor at the WVU School of Nursing and a member of the SON and WVNA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committees. Other panelists included Dr. Ernest Grant, the first male and the first Black male president of the American Nurses Association, and Dr. Sheldon Fields, First Vice President for the National Black Nurses Association and the inaugural Associate Dean for DEI at Penn State University School of Nursing.
“If we’re going to recruit and retain students, educators and nurses, you have to see diversity,” Cotton added. “As Marian Wright Edelman noted, ‘If you can’t see it, how can you become it?’ From a health equity standpoint, the data is clear. If you have a relationship with your patient population and they see themselves in you, you have better connections and better health outcomes.”
While much work is still needed, Cotton said she was pleased with the program attendance and the expertise of the panelists.
“It was phenomenal to hear the experiences of three doctoral nurses who were all persons of color, as well as what we need to do as a profession and as human beings to move this forward,” Cotton said. “The panel discussion was a good start, but we need to have a lot of conversations.”
Newsom said he’s also encouraged by the event, as the attendees could spark change among their networks.
“People who were receptive to the message, if they look more into the problem and try to understand it, then tell one or two other people, it will start to spread awareness,” Newsom said. “As we move from Black History Month, we can’t let the ball drop. We have to keep the awareness going all year, year after year, until hopefully we can look back and see things have truly changed.”
Newsom added, “Being from a BIPOC community, from the LGBTQ+ community and a male in nursing, there are several ways I’m considered a minority. I don’t want myself or anybody like me to be in a position that they’re treated less than, whether they’re male, BIPOC or identifying as LGBTQ+ in nursing. Everybody should have a level playing field – an opportunity to serve in a profession they chose and a career they love without any experiences that take away from that or drive them out of it.”
Learn more about the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing, established by the American Nurses Association and other leading nursing organizations in January 2021, as well as ways you can make a difference.
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CONTACT: Wendy Holdren
Director of Communications and Marketing
WVU School of Nursing
304-581-1772; wendy.holdren@hsc.wvu.edu