Addressing Bias In Nursing

Addressing Bias In Nursing

Stereotypes have been a part of every society since the ancient times and there is no proof to when and who started this but these have been evolving and transferring to generation after generation. These are deeply rooted into our everyday life that they are no longer considered as stereotypes such as minorities, marginalized communities, poverty, gender discrimination, religion, ethnicity etc. As far as the nursing profession is concerned also has its pros and cons, when it comes to dealing with people from different ethnic, religious backgrounds and requires for the patients to be dealt with equal care, regardless of any stereotypical biasness towards them.
Biasness in Nursing Profession:

Addressing Bias In Nursing

Biasness in nursing can be observed when it comes for a white nurse to treat a black patient and vice versa because there have been many incidents reported claiming the disparities caused by one or the other. So, it would not be wrong to say that nurses as they are human, are bias and it does influence their professional attitude and interaction with the patients.

Addressing Bias In Nursing

Enough data is available to prove the stance that racial biasness is evident in the nursing profession as well the overall healthcare system as, the document is further supported by the stance that the marginalized communities do sense the biasness in the system during treatment, which proves implicit biasness is very critical (Paradies, Truong, & Priest, 2014).
Identification of personal Bias:
It’s implicit in nature as I tend to take care and be more compassionate to those who belong to the same race and ethnic background as me in comparison to those who do not. In the beginning, I did not feel whether I am following a stereotype so after quite a lot of soul searching and self-awareness I realized that I am travelling on the wrong path.
Strategies to Reduce Biasness:
A partial requirement of the assignment was to present the strategies which can contribute to reduce the biasness individually and personally. During this course I came across with the idea of meditation training program, which helps individual to engage in mild activities with other ethnic backgrounds in order to overcome the racial biasness in them as reported in a study by (Kang, Gray, & Dovidio, 2014). In various studies by scholars such as (Parks, Birtel, & Crisp, 2014; Stell & Farsides, 2016) it is documented that white and black people involved in lovingkindness meditation exercises with each other actually helped the students to cope with the biasness and come out of the game a changed person with more tolerance and acceptance.
Self-Reflection:
Biasness is natural and man-made in every person, as it is deeply rooted in the cultural system that we find this behavior completely normal. But, in this profession of nursing, it is prerequisite for nurses to adapt to the situations and circumstances because if they don’t change their attitude and behavior they cannot be sincere to the profession and in turn their duty will be not accurately fulfilled.

References

Kang, Y., Gray, J. R., & Dovidio, J. F. (2014). The nondiscriminating heart: Lovingkindness meditation training decreases implicit intergroup bias. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(3), 1306.
Paradies, Y., Truong, M., & Priest, N. (2014). A systematic review of the extent and measurement of healthcare provider racism. Journal of general internal medicine, 29(2), 364-387.
Parks, S., Birtel, M. D., & Crisp, R. J. (2014). Evidence that a brief meditation exercise can reduce prejudice toward homeless people. Social Psychology.
Stell, A. J., & Farsides, T. (2016). Brief loving-kindness meditation reduces racial bias, mediated by positive other-regarding emotions. Motivation and Emotion, 40(1), 140-147.