Racism is deeply embedded in nursing, harming both patients and nurses — yet many in the profession lack the tools or motivation to address it. Research from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) showed 6 in 10 nurses had experienced or witnessed racism in their workplace or school, and nurses of color often carried the burden of advocacy alone.
SHIFT Nursing’s Everybody’s Work was created to change that. Our goal: disrupt nursing’s culture of racism by making inequities visible, personal, and actionable through the most trusted voices in healthcare — nurses themselves.
We set out to:
- Ignite awareness and conversation about how racism shows up in nursing education, leadership, and practice.
- Equip nurse leaders with a powerful, shareable tool — a feature-length documentary — that could spark dialogue, reflection, and systemic change in their institutions.
- Mobilize action by inspiring at least 10% (approximately 300) nursing schools, 100 hospitals/health systems, and 50 professional associations to host screenings.
- Reach the “moveable middle” — nurses open to learning but not yet activated — and shift mindsets toward shared responsibility for equity.
Through branded content grounded in real nurse stories, we aimed not only to inform, but to build a national, nurse-led movement for health justice. Our success would be measured by screening requests, social reach, audience sentiment, and reported behavioral intentions to address racism in nursing.
The Strategy
RWJF’s research revealed that racism in nursing is both pervasive and systemic, affecting education, leadership opportunities, and patient care. While awareness was high, action was scarce — especially among white nurses and leaders with the institutional power to change systems. To shift from acknowledgment to action, we needed an approach that:
- Made inequities visible through the voices of those experiencing them.
- Positioned anti-racism as a professional responsibility rooted in nursing’s core values.
- Provided tools for nurses to lead change within their own environments.
The solution was Everybody’s Work — a feature-length documentary coupled with a movement infrastructure. By embedding anti-racist solutions into an emotionally compelling narrative and distributing it through nurse-led screenings, we created a model for both cultural and structural transformation.
Execution
- Content Creation
- Filmed across diverse geographic and institutional contexts, the documentary spotlighted nurses dismantling racism in academia, healthcare systems, and professional organizations.
- The storytelling approach balanced vulnerability with action, showing racism’s impact alongside concrete solutions — from rewriting curricula to changing hiring policies.
- Movement Infrastructure
- Host-a-Screening Program: Nursing schools, hospitals, and associations could request private screenings. Each received a turnkey toolkit with discussion guides, promotional graphics, and social media assets.
- Facilitated Dialogue: Encouraged hosts to convene panels and conversations, transforming viewership into community-led problem-solving.
- Launch & Activation
- Premiered during Nurses Week 2024 at The Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C., for 200+ nurse leaders, deans, and federal officials.
- Influencer partnerships with prominent nursing and health equity voices (@mariebeech, @shesinscrubs, @nursenacole, @joelbervell) shared personal reflections and calls-to-action.
- Targeted Outreach
- Geo-targeted paid social ads reached nursing school faculty, hospital executives, and association leaders, prioritizing the “moveable middle.”
- Direct outreach to deans, CNOs, and professional organizations framed screenings as an act of leadership and equity commitment.
- Festival Strategy
- Delayed public release to maintain eligibility for social impact film festivals, securing selection at the International Black Film Festival (winner: Best Social Justice Film) and the International Social Change Film Festival.
Challenges & Solutions
- DEI Backlash: In an environment of anti-DEI sentiment, messaging emphasized shared nursing values — fairness, belonging, and opportunity — to reduce defensiveness and encourage cross-racial engagement.
- Time-Strapped Audiences: Offered flexible virtual/in-person screenings and concise facilitation resources to remove logistical barriers.
- Festival Eligibility vs. Reach: Created a screening-first model to simultaneously build momentum and meet festival requirements.
What Made It Unique
Unlike typical DEI trainings or awareness campaigns, Everybody’s Work was not a one-off message. It was a living piece of branded content designed to be passed from nurse to nurse, institution to institution — enabling those closest to the problem to lead its solution. By merging cinematic storytelling with grassroots organizing, the campaign empowered thousands of leaders to confront racism where it lives and build a more equitable future for the profession.
Everybody’s Work transformed a documentary into a movement tool. By embedding a powerful social justice message in a shareable, nurse-led narrative, we equipped thousands of leaders to spark action where nursing culture is shaped.
- Mobilized Nationwide Action: Since launch in May 2024, 3,213 individuals have requested screenings, including 671 at nursing schools (22% of all U.S. programs), 778 at hospitals and health systems, and 223 at professional associations. These far exceeded our initial goals of 10% of nursing schools, 100 hospitals/health systems, and 50 associations.
- In-Person Reach: 12,377 have attended screenings.
- Deep Audience Impact: Post-screening surveys of 4,256 viewers (78% nurses, 49% white, 71% with 10+ years of experience) revealed:
- 95% learned new ways nurses can address social and cultural barriers.
- 96% plan to adopt new practices within a year.
- 95% believe every nurse should see the film.
- Reaching the Moveable Middle: Nearly half of respondents to our audience survey were white, veteran nurses — a key audience for shifting culture — confirming success in engaging beyond existing advocates.
- Social Engagement at Scale: SHIFT channels grew followers across all channels by 150% since January 2024 — extending broader awareness of solutions to address racism in healthcare.
- Cultural Recognition: Selected for the International Black Film Festival (winner: Best Social Justice Film), reinforcing both storytelling quality and social impact.
- Qualitative Evidence: Film has been incorporated in classrooms for teaching about racism in healthcare, and used to advocate for policies mandating racial bias training.
Video for “Everybody’s Work” – SHIFT Nursing
