In this preparation of a self-inventory on personal biases held, the selected specialty track is that of a nurse educator. In this regard, a nurse educator usually has the role and responsibility of preparing and teaching registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to facilitate their entry into positions of practice. A nurse educator may also be involved in teaching about various settings of patients care intending to provide continuous learning opportunities to licensed nursing staff (Williams, 2016).
There are several ways through which biases are capable of impacting the outcomes of the role I play as a nurse educator. In impacting the role of a nurse educator, cultural bias tries to alter my belief and understanding of what culture proposes regarding various issues. Some of my students coming from diverse cultural backgrounds may hold the belief that the kind of training they are obtaining from the nurse educators can have negative effects on their culture. Besides, culturally competent training by a nurse educator may be associated with a culturally diverse group of nursing graduates and students coming together to reflect a diversity of the population of patients.
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Another bias that may significantly affect the role I am expected to play as a nurse educator is unconscious bias where his or her judgment may be compromised in one way or another. According to Pinotti (2018), a nurse educator who operates and discharges his or her duties and responsibilities under the influence of unconscious bias has a higher likelihood of showing tendencies resulting from subtle cognitive processes such as implicit stereotypes and implicit attitudes. In that respect, unconscious bias influences the teaching role of a nurse educator by causing him or her to operate unintentionally and at a lower level compared to his or her conscious awareness.
While discharging my roles and responsibilities as a nurse educator, I may experience a higher likelihood of being influenced personal biases and towards individuals with various cultural, gender, sexual orientation, age, weight, and religions that are different from mine. Essentially, one of the personal biases that I have and which is capable of considerable influencing how I discharge my duties and responsibilities is cultural bias.
In reducing this personal bias impacting my role as a nurse educator, I would follow a strategic approach that begins with the creation of personal awareness. In this respect, it is important to consider looking inward to recognize values and beliefs that are attributable to the holding of cultural bias against others. The second consideration in this particular strategy involves the acknowledgment of the existence of the problem and accepting the responsibility of working to make a difference (Pinotti, 2018). For instance, as a nurse educator, I would be expected to suppress contribute to the suppressing of cultural bias by fostering positive culturally diverse behaviors through the initiation of appropriate responses.
The other element of this strategy is advocacy which involves being at the forefront in providing adequate support to patients and other nurse educators as they try to navigate the health care system and addressing the issue of cultural bias among others. In playing my advocacy roles, I would be expected to demonstrate professionalism and compassion to aid in the realization of safe outcomes. Finally, it would be critical to consider enhancing knowledge by focusing on the existence and sensitivity of cultural bias against others in my setting as a nurse educator. In this regard, it would be necessary to develop empathy by making conscious efforts in understanding the various cultural backgrounds and situations of patients. Most individuals have a natural sense of empathy, but higher levels of cultural bias are capable of raising a barrier to empathy (Williams, 2016).
References
Pinotti, P. (2018). Trust and Regulation: Addressing a Cultural Bias. SSRN Electronic
Journal , 4 (8), 134-137. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1523626
Williams, R. (2016). Addressing Implicit Bias. Academic Medicine , 91 (2), 163. doi:
10.1097/acm.0000000000001039
