906 - Navigating conversations and strategies to embrace diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) through reducing racism and bias.

Inequality with respect to access, retention, and success is noted within under-represented and/or recognized marginalized groups. This presentation will describe a retrospective review of multi-level interventions that include (1) launching of DEIB initiatives at the university level and (2) incorporating DEIB into the College of Nursing program. The university made focused and conscious DEIB efforts by launching a Cultural Competence Task Force. The task force developed strategies to foster a culture of inclusion, value diversity of thought, experiences, culture, and fostering a sense of belonging. We will further discuss the College of Nursing strategies incorporating DEIB into the program.

Historically, inequality with respect to access, retention, and success is noted within the under-represented and/or recognized marginalized groups. The collective voice of various professional nursing organizations emphasizes culturally sensitive care. An example is the reported less than 1% of nursing deans and chief nurse administrators from diverse backgrounds. Since 2020, our institution has implemented a multi-faceted and scaffolded institutional strategies and processes to promote and support the initiative of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) integration into the curriculum, teaching/faculty, resources, and student services. While best practices differ from institution to institution, there are valuable lessons learned from implementing and evaluating our strategies and processes. These lessons can be used to assist other academic institutions in creating a diversified, inclusive, equitable environment and instilling a sense of belonging. In turn, this builds a stronger nursing workforce to fulfill the diverse population-centered healthcare needs of this nation.

A retrospective review of multi-level interventions includes (1) launching of DEIB initiatives led by the president of the university and (2) incorporating DEIB into the College of Nursing Core values and the curriculum. The university launched its focused and conscious DEIB efforts by building the Cultural Competence Task Force, Employee Resource Groups, the Office of Educational Equity, and the Accessibility Committee to form the Advisory Council on DEIB. The task force developed university-wide strategies to foster a community of inclusion, value diversity of thought, experiences, and culture, and lead to a sense of belonging for all. The university expanded its awareness and support of DEIB through a bimonthly Inclusive Café for Employees and faculty while launching the student inclusive café for students to share their experiences. The College of Nursing added DEIB into its core values, revised the program and course learning outcomes of all programs to include cultural diversity, community/public health nursing, global health issue, health promotion, and risk reduction for a variety of vulnerable populations. Course assignments were reviewed and revised to incorporate case studies and discussion questions which reflect DEIB values. Evaluation of these changes were measured through surveys.