Are you educationally biased? - Editorial

AORN Journal, Feb, 2003 by Nancy J. Girard

Following are comments I have overheard at AORN Congresses. Do any of these comments sound familiar to you? Have you ever heard a derogatory statement about your educational preparation? What is going on here?

* Heard from a nurse with an associate degree (AD): "She's a BSN [bachelor of science in nursing] graduate so I'm not going to precept her in my OR--let her learn it on her own."

* Heard from a nurse with a BSN: "He's an AD graduate--they are little more than technical nurses."

* Heard from a nurse with an AD and a nurse with a BSN degree: "I'm not voting for her for AORN President. She's got a PhD and doesn't know anything about what we in the real world do, want, or need."

* Heard from a hospital-prepared diploma nurse: "So what if he has a masters' degree? I'm the true clinical specialist, and I'm the one who knows patient care."

* Heard from an individual with a master of science in nursing degree: "I don't see any professionalism in AD and diploma nurses."

* Heard from a individual with a doctorate: "AORN members are mostly undergraduates--don't publish research articles because they won't understand them."

BIAS

We read about bias every day. Everything and anything can lead to bias, and it usually is identified when someone perceives that his or her own interest is being promoted or ignored. (1) There are six forms of bias, including bias based on

* invisibility or omission,

* stereotyping,

* imbalance and selectivity,

* unreality,

* fragmentation and isolation, and

* linguistic differences. (2)

In individuals with perioperative education bias, language is not the problem. We all speak the same language (ie, nursing). Other forms of education bias may be seen, however--when we omit people who could help us further the profession or our Association because of their educational preparation, when we stereotype the abilities of a person because of education, and when we as a profession or an Association become unbalanced because of the preference and force of a group of similarly educated people.

I believe education bias is one of the most detrimental and corrosive biases affecting nurses in general and AORN members in particular. We all know there are multiple education routes to becoming an RN. Why then do we constantly attack each other? Is it fear, anxiety, competition, or something else, such as human nature?

HUMAN NATURE

When I was little, my father read science fiction stories, so one day I picked up a book and read a story that has stuck in my mind all these years. Through the years my mind may have changed the actual story, but as I remember, it went something like this.

Many years in the future, there was a civilization that had overcome every difference between people. Race had blurred and blended during thousands of years so race was not even thought of. The crowded world had become one nation, under one law, speaking one language, with one money system and one culture. There was nothing that made individuals stand out; thus, all biases had been wiped out. It was a peaceful but boring world, so one day, the leaders decided to brighten things up. They decreed that people now could wear either red or green scarves--their choice. They had the best of intentions, but you guessed it. Soon the red scarves were fighting with the green scarves about differences that were minimal and inconsequential. Bias was back in full force.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Have we as nurses gone that route? It appears to be too late to merge our occupation under one consistent educational requirement, so we will continue to have several ways to obtain education and licensing as RNs. Will the struggle about who is best, who is prepared, who is aware of practice needs, and who is a perioperative nurse ever end? It is time for us to evaluate individuals for what they know and do as perioperative nurses rather than stereotype them into groups based on how, when, and where they obtained their education.

We need everyone in the perioperative nursing profession, and we need a rounded perspective. If you are attending Congress in March, make it a goal to get out of your educational comfort zone. Talk to people and learn what they do and who they are. You will be richly rewarded and so will AORN.

(1.) M M Byrne, "Instructional bias--awareness and reduction in perioperative education," AORN Journal 75 (April 2002) 808-816.

(2.) M Sadker, D M Sadker, Sex Equity Handbook for Schools (New York: Longman, 1982).