Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov;77(11):4511-4524.
doi: 10.1111/jan.14965. Epub 2021 Jul 10.

Pressure injuries and skin tone diversity in undergraduate nurse education: Qualitative perspectives from a mixed methods study

Neesha Oozageer Gunowa  1 , Marie Hutchinson  2 , Joanne Brooke  3 , Helen Aveyard  4 , Debra Jackson  5
Affiliations

Pressure injuries and skin tone diversity in undergraduate nurse education: Qualitative perspectives from a mixed methods study

Neesha Oozageer Gunowa et al. J Adv Nurs. 2021 Nov.

Abstract

Aims: To, firstly, explore student and academic nurse perceptions of classroom content about the assessment and identification of pressure injuries across skin tone diversity and, secondly, to describe the impact of classroom content on student nurse understanding of pressure injury in people with dark skin tones.

Design: Qualitative case study employing focus groups and semi-structured interviews.

Methods: Five higher education institutions in the United Kingdom were purposively chosen. At each of the five-case sites, one focus group with student nurses and one semi-structured interview with a nurse academic were conducted between May 2018 and April 2019. The participants' narratives were transcribed verbatim and analysed via thematic analysis.

Results: Classroom learning was predominately framed through a white lens with white normativity being strongly reinforced through teaching and learning activities. This reinforcement of white normativity was evidenced through two main themes: (i) dominance of whiteness in the teaching and learning of pressure injuries in undergraduate nurse education and (ii) the impact and implications for student nurses of whiteness as the norm in pressure injury teaching.

Conclusion: Nurses responsible for the design and delivery of teaching and learning experiences for nursing students need to ensure meaningful teaching and learning experiences. This learning should assist future nurses to interrogate their complicity in a system of white dominance.

Impact: Nurse education delivered today influences and shapes nurses of the future. Nurses are the cornerstone of healthcare and play a significant role in the delivery of equitable healthcare. Nurse academics have a duty of care to inform and highlight health inequities in nursing and ultimately to enhance equity in care.

Keywords: healthcare inequalities; nurses; nursing; nursing education; pressure injury qualitative research; pressure ulcer; racism; skin tone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

REFERENCES

    1. Advance HE. (2020). Race Equality Charter. Available from: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/equality-charters/race-equality-charter Accessed: 16 November 2020.
    1. Anthony, D., Alosoumi, D., & Safari, R. (2019). Prevalence of pressure ulcers in long-term care: a global review. Journal of Wound Care, 28(11), 702-709. https://doi.org/10.12968/jowc.2019.28.11.702
    1. Baptiste, D. L., Josiah, N. A., Alexander, K. A., Commodore-Mensah, Y., Wilson, P. R., Jacques, K., & Jackson, D. (2020). Racial discrimination in health care: An “us” problem. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29, 4415-4417. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15449
    1. Bell, B. (2020). White dominance in nursing education: A target for anti-racist efforts. Nurse Inquiry, 00, e12379. https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12379
    1. Black, J., & Simenden, A. (2020). Ten top tips: assessing darkly pigmented skin. Wound International, 8-11. Available from: https://www.woundsinternational.com/journals/issue/624/article-details/t... (Accessed: 20 February 2020)

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources