TEACHING Toward a More Inclusive Classroom
by Elena Britos
In an era marked by the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic, awareness of the inequities within health care is steadily growing. Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that structural racism is a fundamental driver of health disparities. Following the murder of George Floyd and worsening pandemic conditions in 2020, Nursing Outlook published an editorial by nursing school deans at the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University calling out racism as a disease that nurses and nurse educators must address to improve patient outcomes and create better workplaces. To meet its goal of creating classrooms where students learn how to promote health equity, the Connell School of Nursing (CSON) has been working to develop on-campus resources for students of color, and to make sure that both classroom content—what is taught—and pedagogy—how it is taught—equip all students to address health disparities in their careers.
6 voice | spring 2022
