The Justice System isn’t the only thing failing Black Americans. The current nursing curriculum is doing an extremely poor job at educating nursing students on health care discrepancies against minorities. Many nursing students have no idea that racial health care disparities exist. This can lead to major consequences such as injury and death. 

 The healthcare community has proven to have biases against people of color. Here are some alarming statistics that are not talked about in classroom, textbooks, or the hospital setting:

• Black Americans are dying of COVID 3x the rate than white people
• Black women are 3-4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women.
• One study showed that 40% of first-and-second year white male medical students believed the stereotype that black people have thicker or less sensitive skin 
• 1 in 5 patients experience health care discrimination 
• 22% of black patients are less likely to receive any pain medication. 

It is evident that not all individuals receive the same care. Signing this petition will allow change to occur in nursing curriculum. Health care professionals need to be held accountable for treating and advocating for ALL of their patients. As nursing students that will soon enter the healthcare profession, it’s important to instill change to make a difference in future upcoming nurses. There are many factors that create racial healthcare disparities, but holding schools responsible is a step in the right direction. 

Nursing students at Grand Canyon University are demanding change to be implemented. 

For more information on healthcare disparities please read the articles listed below: 

http://voice.ons.org/news-and-views/nurses-must-understand-health-disparities-to-provide-effective-patient-education​

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/racial-ethnic-minorities.html ​

https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-inequality-health-care-african-americans/?agreed=1​

https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/how-we-fail-black-patients-pain​

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-state-of-healthcare-in-the-united-states/racial-disparities-in-health-care/​

https://www.endofound.org/the-disparities-in-healthcare-for-black-women​

https://aapf.org/healthdisparities​

https://newsroom.heart.org/news/racial-disparities-continue-for-black-women-seeking-heart-health-care