Racial bias has been a health disparity that I have encountered in the psychology nursing practice. It has created a barrier to access of better health care for the discriminated communities. The Black community, for example, has been prone to racism for a long time, making some of them lack the required attention in health care. The issues that make the Black community vulnerable and the policies that address this disparity are discussed.

The Black community is made vulnerable because of their low socioeconomic status. Most of the members of the community have also not been exposed to awareness of the need for primary care (Cheatham, Barksdale & Rodgers, 2008). Their ethnicity is looked down upon by the other citizens, who think that the Black community is less intelligent. The influential communities also think that the Blacks have a preference of living out of welfare and that they are violent.

Healthcare providers are also prejudiced towards the Black people. The healthcare providers lack confidence while dealing with the patients from the Black community. They are not willing to interact with patients who are socially dissimilar (Burgess, Ryn, Dovidio & Saha, 2007). The psychological bias has become an obstacle to the provision of quality healthcare to the patients from the Black community, making them vulnerable.

In order to address this disparity, policies have been developed that require the nurse practitioners to improve health care access for the Black community. They have included a public service that announces to the community about available healthcare services, and billboards that raise awareness of health care to the members of the Black community. The nurse practitionershave raised the need of developing positive provider-patient relationships. Programs that help in provision of an environment that is not threatening to the patients in the health care field have been provided (Burgess, Ryn, Dovidio & Saha, 2007). The environment also helps in avoiding to make health care providers ashamed of their racial stereotypes. The policies help in reducing racial bias in healthcare, and improve the quality of health care o the vulnerable communities.

References

Burgess, D., Ryn, M., Dovididio, J., Saha, S. (2007). Reducing racial bias among health care providers: Lesson from socio-cognitive psychology. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22(6), 882-887.

Cheatham, C., T., Barksdale, D., J. & Rodgers, S., G. (2008). Barriers to health care and health-seeking behaviors faced by Black men. J Am Academy Nurse Practice, 20(11), 555-562.