Hospital Working Experience of Chinese Nurses and Racial Discrimination associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Thematic Analysis

Research Proposal

Abstract
There is an escalation of racial discrimination against Chinese population in the Novel
Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Some healthcare providers with Chinese ancestry were
racially harassed by the local Australians. Thus, during the study, qualitative study design is
followed that helps to collect in- depth research and both primary and secondary data sources has
used in order to conduct the entire research in more precise manner. Under secondary study,
relevant books and articles are chosen and also link with theories on racial discrimination that
explain the hostility may be linked with White supremacy, Social Identity Theory and Realistic
Conflict Theory. However, these theories do not address one limitation as seen in COVID-19.
While on the other side, for primary study, Chinese nurses working in a local hospital will be
recruited for an individual face-to-face semi-structured interview. Thus, results are generated
with the help of Thematic analysis to analyse the data followed by comparing and contrasting the
individual accounts of the participants.

Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Literature Review............................................................................................................................5
Theme 1: Perceived racial discrimination in nursing before COVID-19 pandemic...................5
Theme 2: Impacts of perceived racial discrimination on international nurses............................5
Theme 3: Reaction towards perceived racial discrimination.......................................................6
Rationale for Study......................................................................................................................7
Methodology....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

Topic: Hospital Working Experience of Chinese Nurses and Racial Discrimination associated
with the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Thematic Analysis
INTRODUCTION
In Australia, the Nursing population is the largest among all healthcare workers.
According to the 2015 census, there were 306487 nurses and midwifes, which was 57.6% total
number of registered and employed healthcare providers (Health Workforce Summaries, 2020).
Within this population, there were 20.4% employed overseas nurses. The recruitment does not
limit to English-speaking countries, but also nurses from Asia (Negin and et al., 2013). It is also
analysed that nonlocal nurses may experience racial discrimination, the mistreatment of a
different race, colour, or nationality. There are instances of Australian patients racially harassing
healthcare professionals with a Chinese origin during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was
revealed by a Chinese doctor who was scolded by a stranger to go back to China. Similar
instance was reported in a hospital setting where doctors and nurses with ‘Asian faces’ were
physically abused by the patients who accused them as the COVID-19 virus carriers.
These occurrences suggest that frontline healthcare providers need to prepare for any racist abuse
from the residents. However, Australian healthcare providers may also have racial discrimination
against nonlocals. This is supported by an instance that an Australian doctor refused to perform
COVID-19 testing on Aboriginal and Torres Islander patients without justification. The codes of
conducts of nurses encourages the nurses to report to a supervisor when they perceive racial
discrimination at workplace (Kawi and Xu, 2009). In the same way, current proposal will
highlight the current situation of Australia in terms of discrimination and also suggest the ways
through which the problem is minimized up to some extent. With the help of primary and
secondary data sources, investigator highlight the issues and tries to meet the define aim.
The experience of Chinese nurses working in a hospital can reveal the extent racial
discrimination may affect their working. Their experiences help in developing a more effective
strategy or training program for acting against racial discrimination in workplace. These
measures will be important to protect Chinese nurses who may be forced to work with local
healthcare team members and patients due to current nursing shortage in Australia.