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6 Working Nurse l WorkingNurse.com February 22-March 29, 2021 ON THE QUICK Nursing & Healthcare News Challenging Systemic Racism ANA-led commission to meet monthly T he ANA and other nursing organizations have launched a new commission to address issues of racism in nursing, which ANA President Ernest J. Grant, RN, Ph.D., FAAN, calls "a persistent stain on our profession." A Long History In January, the ANA, the National Black Nurses Association (NBNA), the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Association (NCEMNA) and the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN), along with more than a dozen other nursing organiza- tions, held the inaugural meeting of the newly formed National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing. The Commission will focus on what NBNA President and CEO Martha A. Dawson, RN, DNP, FACHE, describes as the nursing profession's "long history of institutional inequities, classism and racism." Daniela Vargas, RN, MSN, MPH, M.A., PHN, a mem- ber of NAHN's Policy and Advocacy Committee, says that history "has left lasting impact on generations of nurses and continues to manifest as structural, insti- tutional, systemic and interpersonal racism in nursing and our society." Lived Experience One of the Commission's central premises is that efforts to increase nursing diversity have not been enough. "For too long, our profession has treated racism as a small, localized abnormality when it is an open wound," adds Dawson. "It is not enough to be the most 'trusted'; we must become true healers and heal ourselves." The Commission will meet monthly to develop pri- ority recommendations for addressing complex issues of systemic racism in healthcare, emphasizing, in Grant's words, "the diverse perspectives and — most importantly — the lived experiences that we all bring to the table." WN Financial Impact Revisited Nurses of color disproportionately affected by COVID-19 W orking Nurse has previously reported on the American Nurses Foundation survey on the financial impact of COVID-19. Additional data released since that report reveals that nurses of color have been hit especially hard. Pandemic Blues The financial impact survey, conducted in July as part of the Foundation's "Pulse on the Nation's Nurse" COVID- 19 series, found that more than half (56 percent) of nurses are worse off financially than before the pan- demic began. A breakdown of the survey results by race/ethnicity reveals that the impact has been even worse for nurses of color. Sixty-one percent of Black nurses and 66 per- cent of Hispanic/Latino nurses said the pandemic has made their financial situation worse. Thirty-eight percent of Black nurses and 30 percent of Hispanic/Latino nurses reported that the financial challenges had forced them to stop paying student loans, compared to 22 percent of white nurses. Black and Hispanic/Latino nurses were also over three times as likely as white colleagues to report receiving charity assistance, such as using food banks. Greater Health Risks, Too The survey breakdown also reveals that nurses of color have faced significantly greater health risks during the pandemic. Sixty-two percent of nurses of color said they were providing direct care to COVID-19 patients, and 10 per- cent had been diagnosed with COVID-19 themselves. For comparison, 49 percent of white respondents were directly caring for COVID-19 patients and only 5 percent had been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. "These findings are troubling and help us understand the true impact of this pandemic across all aspects of nurses' lives," says ANA President Ernest J. Grant, RN, Ph.D., FAAN. WN