Abstract
Happy New Year! As we start a new year, we are all ambivalent about getting out of the COVID-19 pandemic: the increased work hours, the stress of caring for patients, families, and communities, the political discussions around whether you should or shouldn’t vaccinate, mandatory laws for vaccination—the list goes on. Is it getting better or are you waiting for the “other shoe to drop”? After a long stressful pandemic, the nursing profession is hurting. The pandemic has not only hurt the profession but differences in opinions has hurt all our relationships. How do we heal as a profession, a friend, a family member, or a community?
Our TCNS members diligently work to fight for diversity, inclusion, and equity. We know that this pandemic has impacted all of our own communities. We are dealing with COVID-19 within the societal norms of our geographic lives. We continue to recover as the COVID-19 cases are dropping (to date of this writing). We have learned that health disparities are real as evidenced by the disproportionate numbers of underrepresented groups with higher morbidity and mortality diagnosed with COVID-19. We saw how treatment of these groups differ—whether they have health care access or delayed diagnosis because they lack a health care provider and put off health care till the disease has progressed. We have learned that there are big gaping holes in public health related to minorities and under-represented populations.
This brings me to asking the members of TCNS and the Journal of Transcultural Nursing (JTCN) readers, authors, and reviewers to commit to a Call to Action to examine how COVID-19 has impacted your life and your cultural groups you are passionate about. How do we do this?
We must continue an awareness of the health disparities in under-represented groups a priority.
We must realize that SDOH may differ by culture.
We must be advocates and work on health policies in our professional organizations as well as through our communities.
We must collaborate with allies and stakeholders.
We must work on increasing the visibility of the Transcultural Nursing Society with our abundant skill set and experience.
We must send a unified message to all constituents, especially other nursing organizations.
We must work to develop solutions.
We must be “influencers” in health care—promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in everything we do.
We must be visible to our government officials—participating in Hill Day either independently as TCNS or with ANA or other professional organizations.
Unfortunately, I feel like we are just beginning, again but we have some experience in our back pocket that we can use. I would ask all of our members and readers: where do we stand to make an impact on COVID-19 and other health disparity issues? What is the image of TCNS in the nursing community? How are we actively and visibly participating in the conversation? Now more than ever, our organization is in a position to be a leader in health care. Do you think we are doing our best?
