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Oakton Community College
Abstract
In today’s society, there are many ethical dilemmas that nurses are faced with that are virtually impossible to solve. One of the most difficult and controversial issues that society is still facing is racism. Nursing as a profession seems to avoid considering the problem of racism (Vaughan, 1997). There is, however, a need to address this topic and to evaluate its implications for nursing practice. The ethics committee has to step in when an ethical dilemma arises and a decision must be made based on application of the universal ethical principles.
Introduction
The health care sector of American society is far from immune to social injustice and the various forms of inequality that negatively impact other societal systems. The United States health care industry has been and continues to be plagued by racism. During the pre-Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras of American history, overt racism within the medical sphere was common. After the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, segregation and some of the more blatant manifestations of racism dissipated. More subtle forms of racism, however, continue to pervade the health care industry.
Historically, the American Association of Colored Graduate Nurses united with the American Nurses Association (ANA) in 1952, before the general Civil Rights movement
in the United States. There have always been prominent nurses of color, such as the past president of the ANA, Beverly Malone; the current president of the National League for Nursing, Rhetaugh Dumas; and the current president of Sigma Theta Tau, May Wykle. These women are all African-Americans who have been leaders for all nursing throughout their long and distinguished careers. They are just three of the many ethnic/racial minority nurses who have made significant contributions to Nursing (Shaha, 1998).
This is a real situation encountered on a post partum unit by a
References: Corley, M.C. (2002). Nurse moral distress: A proposed theory and research agenda. Nursing Ethics, 9, 636-650. Labunski, A. (2003). Addressing educational racism. The Journal of Nursing Education, 42(11), 481 Shaha, M. (1998). Racism and its Implications in Ethical-Moral Reasoning in Nursing Practice: a tentative approach to a largely unexplored topic Vaughan, J. (1997). Is there really racism in nursing?. The Journal of Nursing Education, 36(3), 135-139