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.

[Keinia]

On 11/2/2009 at 10:22 PM, ybstressed said:

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.

YES!! You should report her! You should speak up and remind her of what her job is. Not to judge but to care for. They don’t speak English? Figure out how to communicate. You never ignore the patient’s needs. This is disgusting!

[AlwaysTiredNP, MSN, APRN, NP]

On 11/3/2009 at 9:00 PM, ybstressed said:

I informed my instructor and he told me I should not be so sensitive. I told him that I was not the only student experiencing such issues he pretty much said that we are all stressed and are being sensitive.

It sounds like your instructor may also be a racist.

[lacey499]

On 11/4/2009 at 12:00 AM, ybstressed said:

update:

I informed my instructor and he told me I should not be so sensitive. I told him that I was not the only student experiencing such issues he pretty much said that we are all stressed and are being sensitive.

since we are a small group (12) we all decided to be the best student nurses ever j, provide the best care possible to each patient, and finish our clinical while trying to avoid such remarks. we decided that this is a battle that we are not ready to take on along with the rest of all our nursing school stress (especially when our instuctor is not concerned).

when I stated that hospital was in a small town I did not mean to offend anyone. I've never experienced such behavior so I didn't know if this could be a contributing factor.

I would like to say that I have never been around such behavior. although I like to believe that I will never run into such behavior again I know I will. if it's a patient I will just provide the best care I can provide and if it's a fellow co-worker I hope I will have awesome managment that will help solve such issues.

thank you for all the replies. :loveya:

Your instructor is also racist.