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The coronavirus pandemic has come to expose the ugly reality of racism that thrives in the healthcare sector. African American nurses are battling a double plague, namely racial injustices at the workplace and the risk of getting coronavirus infection. For most African-American nurses, this is the most trying moment of their career. The nurses feel oppressed, dejected and unrecognized. The current situation is best captured in the old saying that, “When white Americans suffer a cold, the Black population is bound to suffer pneumonia.”

African American nurses have been transferred from their designated units, and they are forced to work in COVID-19 units. Black nurses are apprehensive since they view this act as a form of racial discrimination. What makes matters worse is that these heroes and heroine frontline workers are not equipped with the right protective gear. For instance, direct contact with COVID-19 patients require N95 masks, but nurses are equipped with ordinary surgical masks. In one of the testaments given by a nurse in an online platform, healthcare administrators force nurses to clean and recycle their masks. In the worst scenarios, the administrators fail to supply the nurses with masks and tell them to use bandanas. The online expose’ revealed that nurses attending to COVID-19 patients in some states have to recycle gloves and gowns.

For long, nursing has been considered a vocation rather than a career. However, the vital role played by nurses in the healthcare sector cannot be underscored. The coronavirus pandemic has thrown things out of proportion at the healthcare sector. Nurses in the U.S. have been overstretched. Currently, America is experiencing a shortage of registered nurses (RNs). The shortage implies that the demand for registered nurses exceeds the supply of the nurses in service. Questions have been raised regarding how bad the situation of shortage of nurses in the U.S. can become. The situation is projected to get worse as years go by, owing to the fact that the American population is aging, and consequently, the demand for nurses.

The recommended ratio of nurses to patients is 1:5. However, most nations of the world have failed to hit the set target ratio. According to a report by the World Health Organization, the world has a shortage of 6 million nurses (Nightingale College, 2020). In the U.S., there is a regional imbalance in the distribution of nurses. Some regions boast of surplus registered nurses, while others face a serious shortage of registered nurses. A study conducted by Nightingale College exposed that California has the highest shortage of nurses. They predicted that, by 2030, California will have a shortage of around 44,500 registered nurses. The other states experiencing acute shortages are Texas, New Jersey and South Carolina. Contrary to the shortages, there are states that enjoy a surplus of nurses. Among the states that are projected to have excessive nurses by 2030 are Florida, Ohio, Virginia and New York.

The nursing shortage has created a burden in an already hostile condition. The statistics show that currently in the United States there are approximately 4 million registered nurses. Of those nurses in the U.S., less than 10% are African American. This poses a heavy burden in the African American community. Statistics also show that the community hit hardest during this pandemic has been the African American community. As a nurse of 20 years, I’ve seen the differences made in our communities. I’ve seen the mistreatment of African Americans in low socioeconomic areas. African American nurses have to deal with both the racial implications of their jobs as well as the health disparities that exist in their communities.

Although the African American nurses are working under hazardous conditions, some have gone without pay, others have been subjected to pay cuts, while others have been laid off. The ratio of nurse to patient is overwhelming, and the working hours have increased. African-American nurses are experiencing fatigue and burnout, which has lowered their efficiency in service delivery. Ironically, the frontline workers that deserve protection, recognition and promotion have been subjected to oppression, rejection and segregation.

Dr. Sylette Debois, DNP, MSN-Ed, RN

Writing since February 2022 · 1 story contributed