How Environmental Health Education Empowers Minority Nurses
Minority nurses are uniquely positioned to leverage their influence to help combat racial disparities in the healthcare industry. As climate change increasingly and disproportionately affects people of color, empowering minority nurses through environmental health education is becoming imperative.
Through educational initiatives, minority nurses can help counter environmental racism and its associated adverse health outcomes. In this article, we’ll examine racial disparities in climate change, why environmental education is important, and how minority nurses can take action to affect greater change.
Disparities in the Impact of Climate Change
Numerous studies and research on racial disparities have made it evident that climate change disproportionately affects people who suffer from socioeconomic inequalities.
Air pollution poses the most significant threat to children of all races, but it’s particularly problematic for racial and ethnic groups in poor communities who face higher exposure to pollutants. Children in these communities are at higher risk because they’re lower to the ground and thus more likely to breathe the toxic air that stays close to the Earth’s surface. Babies are also at higher risk because they have weaker immune systems and need clean air to develop and grow in a healthy way.
As a whole, 75% of African American people are more likely than white people to live in communities with higher odor traffic, carbon emissions, and other harmful pollutants, which can cause numerous health problems, including asthma and cardiovascular disease.
Ocean acidification is also an issue due to increased CO2 levels, disproportionately affecting indigenous coastal communities whose diets rely on seafood. An increase in natural disasters as a result of climate change also has a more significant effect on minorities in lower-income communities due to fewer resources and inadequate infrastructure.
Recent reports from the EPA have also shown that Black people are 40% more likely to suffer higher mortality rates due to living in places that are more affected by extreme temperatures driven by climate change. The study also analyzed various American cities, revealing that Black people are 41-59% more likely to die due to poor air quality.
Education Is Key to Environmental Stewardship for Minority Nurses
As climate change worsens, incorporating environmental awareness in nursing education will be vital to improving minority patient care and community outcomes. Minority nurses play an essential part in representing and speaking for these communities, so they must educate themselves to ensure they’re empowered to serve their community through diverse healthcare initiatives.
Many nursing programs already recognize the need to increase environmental health literacy to empower future nurses and improve public health outcomes. Nurses are in a powerful position to act as environmental stewards to help reduce the healthcare industry’s carbon footprint and improve patient care for minority communities disproportionately affected by climate change.
Though only 16.8% of the RN workforce is from minority backgrounds, many voices still have the power to push for change, especially if they’re more educated on environmental issues and how they affect minority health outcomes.
Education on environmental laws is paramount, as these can affect how medical facilities are run and impact patient outcomes. For example, the Clean Air Act (CAA) regulates air emissions in healthcare facilities, and the Clean Water Act (CWA) regulates the discharge of pollutants into local bodies of water.
Nurses must ensure that these laws are being followed, especially in minority communities that are already disproportionately affected by pollution and air and water quality.
How Minority Nurses Can Take Action
Healthcare doesn’t happen in a vacuum. When engaging with patients, nurses should consider additional factors that could affect their health, such as their race and where they live. Minority nurses, in particular, can advocate for patients of color, especially if white practitioners overlook the disparities they face.
This is the intersection of nursing and justice. Nurses and even other healthcare professionals are responsible for educating themselves and understanding how various factors can heavily impact communities.
Nurses must proactively educate themselves and raise awareness to promote a more culturally responsive healthcare system. Likewise, educators must promote environmental awareness and understanding of racial disparities by expanding learning opportunities, recruiting support for more diverse nurses, and strengthening diversification in health education programs.
However, minority nurses can also act by joining organizations like Health Care Without Harm and the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. Many local communities also offer sustainability and public health advocacy groups that provide numerous resources and opportunities for continuing education. Joining these groups and organizations can help minority nurses become better advocates in their communities and practices.
Final Thoughts
As a minority nurse, it is important to seek opportunities to improve patient outcomes. This includes asking patients about the disparities they may be facing and listening to what they have to say. Nurses should also be aware of culturally insensitive workplace practices so they can speak up if something happens.
Getting involved in advocacy groups and supportive organizations helps, but a critical part of enacting change is being proactive in the workplace to address racial disparities as they occur. This obligation applies not just to minority nurses but to all practitioners who recognize when a patient is being affected or mistreated.
