Guiding definition: A written statement that reflects what the learner will be able to do as a result of participating in the educational activity. The outcome addresses the educational needs (knowledge, skills, and/or practices) that contribute to the professional practice gap and achieving the learning outcome results in narrowing or closing that gap. (UCLA, 2016)
Most nursing programs incorporate cultural competence into their curriculum, which has antiracist leanings, but does not actively participate in antiracism action (Bell, 2021; Hagopian, et al, 2018; Valderama-Wallace, 2019; Drabble & Sen, 2012). The disconnect is that whiteness is not decentred in this approach. We continue to teach/learn the "normal" - which is the white body - and then discuss "cultural considerations" if you encounter someone outside the "normal" (Hagey &Mackay, 2000).
Nursing education is known as a "safe" place politically where power dynamics and white privilege is not addressed nor challeneged, but in maintaining this safety we aren't making it a safe place for all students (Bell, 2021; Valderama-Wallace & Aesposa-Varona, 2019).
CASN - National Nursing Education Framework - Baccalaureate level Guiding Principles
Domain 1: Knowledge
1.1 Foundational knowledge of nursing, nursing history, nursing theories and other theories
1.6 Foundational knowledge of relational practice to impact health outcomes of individuals, families and communities
Domain 3: Nursing Practice
3.1 Hollistic and comprehensive assessment of diverse clients, to plan and provide competent, ethical, safe and compassionate care
3.12 The ability to promote health of individuals, families, communities and populations through actions to address health disparities
Domain 4: Communication & Collaboration
4.1 The ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with diverse clients and members of the healthcare teams to provide high quality nursing care.
4.2 The ability to self monitor ones belief, values, and assumptions, and recognize their impact on interpersonal relationships with clients and team members
4.5 The ability to collaborate with diverse clients, adapt relational approaches appropriately and accommodate varying contextual factors in diverse practice situations
Domain 6: Leadership
6.5 The ability to advocate for change to address issues of social justice, health inequity, and other disparities affecting the health of clients
(CASN, 2015)
Curriculum Competencies
Recognize the ways unconscious biases, the social determinants of health and racism, create health inequities and create ongoing challenges to closing the gap at organizational, community and societal levels (UWSPH, 2016)
Develop a comprehensive understanding of the historical influences of racism and the context of racial oppression (UWSPH, 2016)
Identify ways that Nursing students can address and dismantle systemic racism in the healthcare system (UWSPH, 2016)
Recognize they ways students comprehend and view their own biases (cultural, gender, racial, beliefs) and how these biases influence clinical decision-making and the care provided to patients (implemented by the USaskMed 2019)
Recognize that race is a social construct and apply the social determinants of health, specifically when discussing health differences between diverse populations
Recognize how pathology manifests within a person from a deep understanding of the bodily systems.
Recognzing and understanding that racism and other forms of oppression are physically, psychologically, spiritually and emotionally harmful to a person's health, wellness and livelihood (Bell, 2020)
Learning Outcomes
Understand how race science was developed to ensure white supremacy
Explain the historical context of eugenics - how it influenced the world view and shaped nursing knowledge
Understand the historical context of myths that persist in nursing education today (ex/black skin is thicker than white skin)
Discuss the influence the Indian Act has had on establishing and perpetuating health inequities
Discuss what internalized racism is and how it is used as a barrier to health equity
Describe the statisitical reality of health inequities, and the context behind the gap.