“My emotions and insecurities were at an all-time high, so much so that I was no longer comfortable coming into work. Do my coworkers also joke about my culture, my skin tone? Do my patients and families feel uncomfortable with me being their nurse? These were the questions I frequently asked myself as I anxiously braced myself for my next shift. I could no longer walk the streets, sidewalks, or even the hospital lobby without believing someone was looking at me because of the color of my skin.”
This quote from Cecilia Igwe-Kalu describes her experience as a nurse confronting racism in health care. In a recent symposium dedicated to this problem, the journal Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics gives voice to what many BIPOC health care professionals already know—their work culture and environments are not diverse, equitable, inclusive, or anti-racist. Worse, they are often ignorantly or willfully hostile. Read more here.
