Everybody’s Work: Healing What Hurts Us All is a 64-minute feature-length documentary that examines the hidden disease plaguing healthcare in the United States: systemic racism in nursing. Through the lens of nurses, the film not only exposes the biases that result in worse healthcare outcomes for people of color, but also captures the painful impact those biases have — both on patients and on nurses themselves.
It outlines a stark reality: the experiences within nursing school, at the bedside, and in leadership roles differ drastically for people of color compared to their white counterparts. Because nursing remains a white-dominated field, these experiences often go unacknowledged and unaddressed. The film challenges the notion that if racism isn’t personally experienced, it doesn’t exist — urging viewers to confront the truth that it harms us all.
Filmed in classrooms, hospitals, and communities across the country, Everybody’s Work elevates nurses who are rewriting curricula, reforming hiring practices, and building inclusive cultures. This solutions-oriented storytelling shows that systemic change is possible anywhere — and that nurses, as the largest and most trusted body of healthcare professionals, are uniquely positioned to lead it.
Our objectives:
- Raise national awareness by presenting racism in nursing as a systemic, nationwide issue.
- Educate and empower nursing schools, educators, healthcare leaders, and professional associations with actionable strategies.
- Mobilize measurable action by inspiring at least 10% of U.S. nursing schools (~300), 100 hospitals/health systems, and 50 associations to host screenings.
- Position the film as a movement tool that sparks dialogue, healing, and structural change wherever it is shown.
To shift nursing’s culture of racism, we needed more than statistics or policy papers — we needed a story powerful enough to bypass defensiveness, inspire self-reflection, and move nurses to act.
The Strategy
Our goal was to use the immersive storytelling power of a feature-length documentary to expose systemic racism in nursing and show that solutions exist nationwide. We designed Everybody’s Work to:
- Reveal inequities through first-person stories from nurses across geographies and practice settings.
- Offer solutions drawn from real-world reforms in nursing education, hiring, and leadership.
- Equip leaders to bring these conversations into classrooms, hospitals, and professional organizations.
We targeted nursing schools, educators, healthcare leaders, and professional associations — the institutions that shape nursing culture — and built an activation plan to get the film into their hands as a change-making tool.
Execution
- Story Development & Filming
- Filmed across the U.S. to underscore that racism in nursing is a national, systemic issue.
- Balanced vérité footage and intimate interviews, capturing both the emotional toll of racism and practical reforms being implemented.
- Featured a diverse cast of nurses — from students to CNOs — to reflect the breadth of the profession and amplify underrepresented voices.
- Launch & National Activation
- Teased the film in March 2024 to build anticipation ahead of a high-profile Nurses Week premiere at The Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. — chosen for its proximity to policymakers, educators, and nursing associations.
- Positioned the film for multiple audiences: as an inspirational curriculum complement for educators, and as a healing, anti-racist conversation tool for workplaces and associations.
- Host-a-Screening Model
- Primary call-to-action: request a private screening.
- Provided a turnkey “Host-a-Screening Kit” with facilitation guides, promotional graphics, and extended YouTube playlists organized by theme for continued education.
- Integrated Outreach
- Geo-targeted paid social and influencer partnerships (including @joelbervell, @shesinscrubs, @mariebeech) amplified awareness.
- Earned media and direct outreach to nursing leaders drove screening commitments.
- Festival Strategy
- Delayed public release to maintain eligibility for social impact film festivals, securing recognition at the International Black Film Festival (winner: Best Social Justice Film) and International Social Change Film Festival.
Challenges & Solutions
- Balancing Festival Eligibility with Reach: With public distribution off the table, we built a grassroots screening network that fueled momentum without sacrificing festival opportunities.
- Overcoming DEI Backlash: Framed the conversation around nursing’s shared values — fairness, opportunity, and patient care — to engage the “moveable middle” rather than polarize.
- Reaching Busy Professionals: Offered flexible virtual and in-person formats with streamlined facilitation materials to remove barriers to hosting.
What Made It Unique
Unlike traditional awareness films, Everybody’s Work was created as a living movement tool — a piece of content designed to travel hand-to-hand, sparking dialogue and action in the very rooms where nursing culture is shaped. By combining cinematic craft with grassroots distribution, the film continues to drive systemic change long after the credits roll.
Everybody’s Work transformed a documentary into a movement tool that took on a life of its own. By embedding a powerful social justice message in a shareable, nurse-led narrative, we equipped thousands of leaders to share it, sparking action where nursing culture is shaped.
- 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.
- Personal Reach: These screenings have brought the film to a confirmed 12,377 in-person attendees. Since its launch on-demand on our website after film festival season ended in Dec. 2024, the film has had 6,500 total views. Each of these views was after a form fill for follow-up content, screening survey and more information.
- Audience Impact: Post-screening surveys of 4,256 viewers (78% nurses, 49% white, 71% with 10+ years of experience) showed that after watching the film:
- 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.
- The Moveable Middle: Nearly half of audience survey respondents were white, veteran nurses — a key audience for shifting culture — confirming success in engaging beyond existing advocates.
- Social Engagement: Followers across all social channels climbed from 12,106 since January 2024 before the campaign launch — a 150% jump — fueled by film clips, extended interviews, and influencer partnerships.
- Cultural Recognition: Selected for the International Black Film Festival (winner: Best Social Justice Film), reinforcing both storytelling quality and social impact.
Video for “Everybody’s Work” – SHIFT Nursing
