Study: Most online nursing images depict women with lighter skin

Online images of nurses show a significant lack of diversity in gender and skin tone, possibly discouraging people in some population groups from entering the health care field, a study found. Published in the September 2023 issue of the American Journal of Nursing, the study explored how online images of health care workers vary by gender and skin tone and took into account how those representations could affect recruitment. Of 259 faces evaluated, nurses were overrepresented as being female (84.1%) and having lighter skin tones (85.2%), while physicians were overrepresented as being male (58.7%) and having lighter skin tones (63.5%). The authors call for health care organizations and nursing schools to address any lack of diversity and inclusivity in their online media.