Nurses’ enactment of equity-promoting practices in the emergency department: A discourse analysis

Time: 12-1:30pm PST

• 12 – 1 pm:       Dr. Slemon’s presentation (and time for questions)    
• 1 – 1:30 pm:    Q&A session with Dr. Slemon (facilitated by Dr. Vicky Bungay) about preparing for your dissertation exam [for UBC Nursing graduate students only]

Note: The presentation from 12 – 1 pm is open to the public. At 1pm graduate nursing students will be invited to attend the Q & A session in a Zoom breakout room.

Watch Recording

In this session, Dr. Allie Slemon will present an overview of findings from her dissertation research. Her dissertation responds to the significant and persistent inequities in the provision of health care, and the calls for nurses to respond to structural inequities by enacting values of equity and social justice. This study used discourse analysis to examine how nurses working in emergency department (ED) settings enact equity-promoting practices in the institutional context of the ED. Drawing on individual interviews with nurses and key nursing professional and institutional texts, this study illuminates how discourse foundationally shaped ED nursing work, including constraining nurses’ potential to enact equity in this setting. Dr. Slemon will discuss the implications of positioning equity as ‘optional’ within the nursing profession, and examine directions for supporting nurses in enacting equity-promoting practices across diverse health care settings.

Bio: Dr. Allie Slemon is a Registered Nurse and recent graduate from the PhD program in Nursing at UBC. She is currently working as a nursing instructor at the University of Victoria (UVic), and as a postdoctoral researcher on a project implementing trauma- and violence-informed care in childcare settings. In January 2023, she will begin a new position as an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at UVic. Her program of research focuses on equity and social justice in nursing practice, and further interests include mental health, research methodology, nursing education and pedagogy, and social media.

This event is hosted by the UBC School of Nursing's Capacity Research unit.