CPR RACISM: A Guide for Health Care Providers to Safely Address Racism in a Health Care Setting

Racism is a form of violence that results in poorer health outcomes for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) Peoples and is a barrier toward achieving equitable healthcare. There is growing recognition that FNMI Peoples experience racism in health care and with the highly publicized deaths of Brian Sinclair and more recently the death of Joyce Echaquan in Canada, there has been an outcry to end racism in health care. With the growing numbers of nurses and nursing students learning about the impact of racism on health outcomes there is a need for a concrete, practical, and visual guide to assist with teaching an intervention for when racism is witnessed. As part of creating and supporting a speak-up culture to address unsafe care related to racism in health care, the writer offers the following guide - CPR RACISM. Health care providers are all familiar with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), capable of saving a life during cardiac arrest — when the heart stops beating or is unable to effectively circulate blood to the brain and other vital organs. CPR instructors advocate for everyone to be prepared for moments that matter by taking a CPR class to help save a life. Similarly, there needs to be a plan to save lives lost related to racism. The writer selected the name of this guide, CPR RACISM, as a way to underscore the urgency to address racism in health care as FNMI Peoples’ lives are at risk. Just as CPR is meant to be a set of actions to save lives when the heart stops beating, CPR RACISM is a guide to prepare healthcare providers to save lives when they witness racism in healthcare. The CPR RACISM guide was created in response to the common questions the writer has heard from nursing students and colleagues: Where do I begin? How can I address racism in healthcare? How do I teach my nursing students to effectively intervene when they witness racism? To address this gap in praxis, the writer suggests CPR RACISM as an additional resource to disrupt and dismantle racism in health care. Key Words: racism, health care, advocating, teaching, equity, Indigenous, First Nation, Métis, Inuit, Aboriginal, intervening.