Racism at clinical site...what to do?

[ybstressed]

I am currently in my last semester of clinical and I’m appalled at the amount of racism! On my first day of clinical I followed a nurse that made comments such as: Black people are obnoxious and loud! How could a nurse say such things! I also followed a nurse that made sure I knew, during report, that a patients husband was “colored”. Then to make matters worse, a fellow student and I followed a nurse who was taking care of a post-op patient (I do not want to mention what type of surgery) that spoke only Spanish. As we were cleaning the patient she talked about the patient! She made comments such as: Oh…she only speaks Spanish…GREAT... THEY need to learn English. She made other comments that I do not want to repeat. I guess she noticed the look on our faces and said “it’s OK…she doesn’t understand English.” She also provided poor care to the patient. She ignored her call light, never checked on her, and acted as if she did not understand the patient when she was asking for pain medication. Then, at discharge, she gave the patient English discharge papers, explained discharge instructions in English, and ignored me when I asked for Spanish discharge instructions.

I could go on and on! So my question is.....should I report this? I am biracial and take offense to such remarks and I feel really uncomfortable at clinical. Not only am I are uncomfortable but other students are noticing such remarks also. I am afraid if I report the incidents that I will be affected. I hate to say this but the majority of the hospital is this way (the hospital is in very small town). I just don’t know what to do. I HATE going to clinical.

[leslie :-D]

Katie5 said:

Um,...just wanted to say COLORED FOLKS?You might want to use a better and much more acceptable term.

up until very recently, I had been using aa's until I've been reading others (black others) referring to the term as "colored".

I cannot keep up with what is pc or not.

anyone that knows me, knows that I speak and treat respectfully.

let's not even go there, OK?

leslie

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

CrunchRN said:

Yes, if someone is being a racist, and treating patients poorly, then I think it is perfectly fine to use any available derogatory term that comes to mind. Excuse me for not wanting to be polite about someone that would pull that stuff on a vulnerable patient.

Two wrongs don't make a right. By your logic, if it was a black nurse talking about hispanic patients in the OP's story, it would be OK to call her...well, let your imagination run wild. Neither is right. I don't care what the offending person said or did. Both the nurse's comments and yours are based on assumptions made because of someone's race/color/background.

I just don't think you can critisize the nurses for what they did and in the same breath make a similar slur against them. You lose all credibility to me when that happens.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

I think any racism is wrong and anyone who indulges in it is a total jerk and I will call it like I see it.

No matter how hard you try you are not going to make me be "politically correct" about this.

A jerk, is a jerk, is a jerk, and if they do it around me I will tell them so.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

If you had called them a jerk, I would have agreed and high-fived you. It is the term "inbred" that I find just as offensive as what the nurses in the OP said. Will have to agree to disagree on this one :)

[Katie5]

up until very recently, I had been using aa's until I've been reading others (black others) referring to the term as "colored".

I cannot keep up with what is pc or not.

anyone that knows me, knows that I speak and treat respectfully.

let's not even go there, OK?

leslie

You've been reading, doesn't mean it was spoken to you directly-you may want to try testing it out and see:eek:.Just saying

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

You are right, we both hate the same thing really. It is a matter of semantics.

To me the terms, jerk, inbred, monster, idiot, orifice, and ,many others are all interchangeable.

When did "inbred" hit the non-pc list?

I am trying to picture all those downtrodden and inbred people I may have offended.

[jtmonique]

I am black and I have NEVER referred to anyone as being colored....My parents mabey but never in my generation has this been acceptable, People of color is often used to describe people of many ethnic and racial groups but not colored. I know being PC changes but it is important to at least try to keep up when your in a field such as this where you deal with so many different people so that you dont offend them. I know that the person who used the term said dont go there but that is the attitude that allows racism to go on and allows for people to be offended unnecessarily. Im sure that was not the intention of the poster but that is how it comes off.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

I hear ya Monique.

My dad is in his 70's and he uses that term because that was how he grew up. Makes me cringe.

The funny thing though is that my sister is in a relationship with a lovely African American man. And my dad has a great relationship with him and really likes him. He just cannot see how that term might be offensive. I can remember my grandparents also using the term "colored".

[leslie :-D]

jtmonique said:

I am black and I have NEVER referred to anyone as being colored....My parents mabey but never in my generation has this been acceptable, People of color is often used to describe people of many ethnic and racial groups but not colored. I know being PC changes but it is important to at least try to keep up when your in a field such as this where you deal with so many different people so that you don't offend them. I know that the person who used the term said don't go there but that is the attitude that allows racism to go on and allows for people to be offended unnecessarily. Im sure that was not the intention of the poster but that is how it comes off.

I am that poster, and am feeling somewhat frustrated right now.

whether I address black folks as black, aa, or colored - I am going to offend someone for sure.

as I stated, there were a couple of black members here, who referred to the black population as "colored"...

I do try to be pc, but always end up offending 'someone'.

to receive criticism is frustrating, because this is sooooo not the topic of the thread and I didn't want to "go there".

for those I've offended, my apologies.

first, was it truly necessary for another to point out that it wasn't cool for me to write "colored"?

I mean, geez, read my post with its overall message being one of repulsion towards the nurses who were berating black folks.

we sooo don't need to make this into another race debate.

if there are concerns, we should be pm'ing ea other.

that's all I have to say on that subject...

and will likely even have less to say (for around a wk) since my laptop battery died and am rushing as I sneak onto my son's computer.

good day, all.:balloons:

leslie

[allthaticanbe]

^ This post is not an attack but a heads up. As a another black poster I can echo that the term "colored" should not be used. Yes there are other blacks that use that word but it does not make it right. The term has a lot of history behind which causes many to cringe when they hear it. I bet if you referred to a patient as colored you would get some raised eyebrows and maybe a write up. So for your own stack use another term.

[rn/writer, RN]

Can we all agreed that "colored" is an outdated and undesirable term when used to refer to people of color?

Can we now return to the original topic, which has to do with what this student nurse can do about staff nurses exhibiting racist behavior at her clinical setting?

Thank you.

[neuron]

On 11/4/2009 at 12:11 PM, leslie :-D said:

up until very recently, I had been using aa's until I've been reading others (black others) referring to the term as "colored".

I cannot keep up with what is pc or not.

Understandable, but I think that we have a responsibility to know what is acceptable and what is not. In my area, many older people use the term colored, they aren't rude or mean-spirited, they just use the term. I didn't grow up with that term so it was a bit of a culture shock for me. But when I took the whole instead of the part, they are not trouble making, or rude people.