Practical Strategies to Overcome Racial Bias in Nursing

Race has long been used to classify and oppress or provide privilege to groups of people. Despite race being a construct created by White Europeans to justify colonialism and the inhumane enslavement of Africans, race is still used in health care 400 years later. Similarly, race-based clinical algorithms are used today to justify differential treatment of minoritized people, which often drives racial inequities in health outcomes. In this commentary, we provide an overview of race and discuss its relevance in health care and nursing practice. We provide recommendations for nurses to challenge their own biases and beliefs related to race and to be advocates for their clients by interrogating the unjust practices that drive inequities so that we may progress toward health equity.