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Henry
Nursing has a long history of health advocacy and social justice (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021). The American Nurses Association (ANA) has long supported efforts to end discrimination in healthcare and states that accomplishing this begins at the level of individual nurses (ANA Center for Ethics and Human Rights, 2018). First, nurses have the duty to remain educated regarding how to recognize bias or stereotypes in their everyday practice. They can accomplish this by taking time to reflect on their own actions and thoughts about the people for whom they are caring. Second, nurses should support and strive to develop environments that promote inclusivity, civility, and respect among coworkers and patients alike. Again, remaining informed of current methods to develop such a culture in their environment is a crucial first step. For nurses to embrace the concepts of social justice and equity nurses have a responsibility to remain educated on these subjects. Nurses can ensure that health promotion activities are culturally competent by advocating at all levels that practices and policies that promote equity and eliminate bias. Nurses are needed not only in clinical settings but in political settings so they can advocate for the development of and sustaining of healthcare policies that promote equity and social justice. One factor that is shown to increase the incidence of bias is a high patient load (Vela, et al., 2021). Research shows that when emergency departments are overcrowded and patient loads are high, healthcare workers are more likely to uphold racial bias when compared to departments that had staff with a lower cognitive load (Vela, et al., 2021). Knowing this, nurses can remain vigilant in monitoring their own attitudes in times of high stress and take action to provide just care and not uphold stereotypes that are harmful to their clients. Additionally, nurses can also watch for signs of bias and/or injustice in their coworkers and hold them accountable when they recognize it.