Background Nursing schools frequently assert the importance of social justice curriculum, but little information is available about specifics for such a class. Purpose The purpose of this article is to describe a class that builds a foundation for the understanding of social justice and the pedagogical frameworks on which it rests. Methods The authors develop a class grounded in bio‐power and structural competency. Discussion Described are topics presented to students, the rationale for their selection along with class activities and implementation challenges. Highlighted is the use of praxis as students incorporate the components of structural competency and bio‐power. The focus is on the potential for public health and advanced practice registered nurses to recognize and evaluate structural factors in patient and population‐based care. Conclusion Faculty meet substantive challenges in teaching social justice, including lack of recognition of societal forces which affect student's ability to provide care. Focused effort incorporating newer structural and philosophical frameworks in a social justice class may improve the provision of health services. The frameworks of structural competency and bio‐power provide a critical paradigm salient in social justice pedagogy.

ObjectiveThe objective of this study is the use of structural competency (SC) as a tool to broaden the view of nursing students beyond individual, behavioral, biological, and cultural frameworks to encompass the structural determinants of health.DesignThis mixed‐methods pilot study consists of a concurrent nested strategy in which close‐ended, forced‐choice questions are the drivers while open‐ended questions are embedded therein.SampleThe sample consists of second‐year doctor of nursing practice students.MeasuresThe short‐term impact is measured through the use of a survey tool.InterventionThe 3‐hr SC educational module focuses on six learning objectives: knowledge of structural terms, identifying SC effects on population and patient health; strategizing responses to these influences, student readiness to create change at the individual, organizational, and systems‐level, identifying needed tools, and assessing empowerment and burnout.ResultsStudents understand structural terms and are willing to create systemic change but lack necessary tools which may result in burnout.ConclusionsCareful thought about curricula incorporating SC and skills to offset the potential impact of burnout is needed.

The use of traditional ethical methodologies is inadequate in addressing a constructed maternal-fetal rights conflict in a multicultural obstetrical setting. The use of caring ethics and a relational approach is better suited to address multicultural conceptualizations of autonomy and moral distress. The way power differentials, authoritative knowledge, and informed consent are intertwined in this dilemma will be illuminated by contrasting traditional bioethics and a caring ethics approach. Cultural safety is suggested as a way to develop a relational ontology. Using caring ethics and a relational approach can alleviate moral distress in health-care providers, while promoting collaboration and trust between providers and their patients and ultimately decreasing reproductive disparities. This article examines how a relational approach can be applied to a cross-cultural reproductive dilemma.

In this article, we apply Agamben's theory of biopower and other related concepts to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. We explore the similarities between the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic of racism. Concepts such as bios, zoe, homo sacer , and states of exception can be applied to understand inequities among marginalized communities in the COVID-19 pandemic. We recommend that nurses and health care workers use critical conscientization and structural competency to increase awareness and develop interventions to undo the injustices related to biopower faced by many in the COVID-19 pandemic.