Racist Patients

Nurses Relations

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Our floor is culturally diverse. We have employees from all walks of life. We recently had a patient on the floor that said that he only wanted white nurses to take care if him. I'm not sure if our manager obliged, but I think that its never ok, also I personally just wouldn't think about this when I'm in pain or in need. Its crazy. Also I have been noticing that certain patients make comments to try and relate to me or assume that I know certain things because I'm AA. A patient said to me today,"My lipgloss be poppin.." singing a song that he thought he was relating to me by singing. Or a patient said to me " Do you eat collards and fried chicken". :eek: Little comments like that. I correct them and brush it off. I have too many other problems in my day to worry about this. Also, I should say that I reside in Ga. Is it just me?

":cool:

one patient replied when i asked if i could help him,"no, i want the white nurse to give me my medicine." i said, "fine. i'll be glad to help you but since you don't want my help, i'll just sit here and put my feet up until the other nurse comes from her break." :D he replied, "no, that's okay. you can give me my medicine."

hmmmmmmm...

the thought of this african american nurse

sitting and putting

her feet up

and getting paid for it

rocked his boat.:twocents:"

this had me crackin up!!!! :D

Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.
i wish i had a dollar for every time i've been called a "white *word-that-means-female-dog*" or a "fat white *word-that-means-female-dog" or even a "racist white *bad word referring to female genitalia*". in our society, it doesn't seem to be regarded as a racist remark unless it's directed at a minority. yet in my city, whites are a minority!

i will never forget a very famous case in washington state several years ago. the "hate crimes" law had just been put into effect, upping the sentence for anyone committing a crime with racial motivations. during the fat tuesday revels that year, a young white man was beaten to death with a brick. the police had the crime on videotape, clearly revealing the victim, the assailant, and the crime. the assailant, a young black man was chanting over and over "i'm gonna kill me a whitey. i'm gonna kill me a white boy." while convincted of murder, the crime did not meet the higher standard of being a hate crime. why? because the victim was white and the convicted killer was black. it seems to me that if you're going to call a thing racist, you ought to call it that no matter what color the victim and the perpatrater. otherwise the law protects one race above another and is in itself a racist law.

in my state there was a young, white couple that was carjacked by 4 black men. they took the man to the train tracks near the leaders house and raped him, tortured him, set him on fire then shot him. they kept the girl in their house for 24 hours and gang raped her repeatedly while the girlfriend of one of them sat by and watched and cooked for them during that 24 hours. they raped her, tortured her, poured bleach down her throat, tried to snap her neck but werent strong enough so they stuffed her head first into their garbage can and left her there to suffocate to death for another 24 hours. they went out planning to carjack someone that night and had been on a crime spree for more than a week.

yet the media have refused to cover this story, it's barely heard about outside of the town it happened in and it's not considered a hate crime.

you better believe if the killers had been white and the victims black with exactly the same circumstances it would be called a hate crime and covered by every news channel in this country!

it's unbelievable to me.

Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.
Happens to be two of my favorite foods. Well, well, well.

omg me too! my nanny makes collard greens like no other. after she boils them, then she fries them in her iron skillet in fat back. oh my, i could eat my weight in those greens!

I was in charge of opening the outpatient area and a closed unit in our hospital for evacuees from New Orleans following Katrina. Some "patients" refused help from staff of other races and refused to be in shared rooms with people of other races. I don't think this was just because of the ordeal they had been through. They were racist, plain and simple. You are handling it the best you can--brush it off. Be a good example and continue to do good work. Sometimes it's not worth the fight to argue or simply disagree openly with racists in a healthcare setting where lives could be at stake.

That is too bad some one was like that, however, I get the opposite. I have been called cracker and have had patients only want AA or native American nurses or would only talk to the tech b/c she was AA or Native American. Its stupid really. It's so childish, we are all AMERICANS, if you were born in American, you're American. Who cares what color your skin is or how you talk. If you are a professional, treat your patients the same no matter what color they are.... then just ignore those other people. Maybe they just need a friend and don't know how to connect to you. I was raised in NC and have lived everywhere due to the military and people assume certain things b/c of my accent and b/c i'm from the south. Who cares..... We all eat fried chicken..... it's just the way life is/used to be... just like most Native Alaskans eat herring eggs. Just because they live there and that is how they were raised. Race will only be an issue if people keep making it an issue. I have people assume that b/c i'm white, that I voted for McCain b/c he's white, No..... I voted for him b/c I like what he stood for, not b/c he was white or Obama "black". If McCain was "black" I'd still voted for him and against Obama. If Condalessa Rice was running, I'd voted for her against McCain. People should just be people and forget all that mess. There is racism everywhere and that will be hard to get over. Not just in our culture but others too....... it doesn't matter where you live or what color you are, there are racist in EVERY country against MANY different people.....There has been racism since before Jesus........so my advice...... just ignore them and do your job the best you can and be as professional as possible and then you can hold your head up high.........

I was in charge of opening the outpatient area and a closed unit in our hospital for evacuees from New Orleans following Katrina. Some "patients" refused help from staff of other races and refused to be in shared rooms with people of other races. I don't think this was just because of the ordeal they had been through. They were racist, plain and simple. You are handling it the best you can--brush it off. Be a good example and continue to do good work. Sometimes it's not worth the fight to argue or simply disagree openly with racists in a healthcare setting where lives could be at stake.

i would have been sorely tempted to invite them out the door......

I was in charge of opening the outpatient area and a closed unit in our hospital for evacuees from New Orleans following Katrina. Some "patients" refused help from staff of other races and refused to be in shared rooms with people of other races. I don't think this was just because of the ordeal they had been through. They were racist, plain and simple. You are handling it the best you can--brush it off. Be a good example and continue to do good work. Sometimes it's not worth the fight to argue or simply disagree openly with racists in a healthcare setting where lives could be at stake.

OMG I spent a few months down in Louisiana post Katrina. I was horrified at the racism exhibited by some people -- especially people who were "educated" including medical professionals. Obviously not everyone was like that but I have never heard such awful things said about people ever before and thankfully ever since. I think that because I was white they seemed to think it was OK to talk the way they did around me -- it wasn't. It made me feel ill.

If you really want to see racism, try working with patients in jail. I worked there briefly and was called every name you can think of. The other nurse and I tried to team up when we passed meds. Both of us are white & she would giggle to herself when any of the AA inmates called her a white honky b****. She told me, "they wouldn't call me that if they saw who I sleep with every night!". She was married to an AA man for 25 years and had 2 biracial daughters! Great attitude......;)

This is what I was going by....and yes - it would be nice to have some clarification.

My grandfather, before he died last year, still referred to people of Asian decent in the manner referred to in my previous post.

Hmmm parents and grandparents! I love my dad but he seems to think anyone appearing latino is Mexican or a "Mexi" as he has said. Oh God!

Racism never had, doesn't now, nor ever will have a place in our society, and certainly not in the healthcare industry. Regardless, of how we are treated, and how we feel about it, the best we can do is point out to the offender that their remarks are uncalled for and cannot be tolerated. After that, we need to be professional, and carry out our duties to each other and our patients in the view of a "colorless" society.

Specializes in pediatrics.

I agree with the rest of the folks that responded. Most patients are not educated and just plain ignorant. Back when Dr. Phil was just starting his show and it was way better, he made a statement that I never forgot: You teach people how to treat you. Just politely correct folks, firm reminders (cause folks do not readily change), then if all that fails, reduce conversation to just business only and report the problem to whomever can help with it. I work in a poverty area and I have learned to speak the language, and I am never surprised anymore at the reverse racism I hear on a daily basis. These folks even are racist among their own. Takes all kinds. I judge folks are their behavior - you are what you do. Many have no class or manners. On the nurse ratchet...I thought she had a nice professionalism about her even if she was a lil evil;). I am always thankful that I am not like some of my narrow minded patients...I would hate to be that ignorant, it just breeds anger and that is no fun. Hang in there and correct folks one at a time. You have a right to be treated like the professional you are.

I work at a hospital in Delaware and our population is very diverse. I actually don't come across too many racist comments, but I also may not catch on to them because I have more importan things on my mind (my patients). I am white and 27, but I guess look fairly young. I do catch slack sometimes because they do not believe I'm a nurse. The other day I received an AA patient and the patient's children were with the patient. When asking them to give us a couple minutes to get the patient settled they responded to me stating ,with a little bit excitation in their voice, "Who are you?! The orderly?!" I stated my name and that I am the nurse etc etc. They actually just stared at me and looking me up and down. It was rather uncomfortable, but I just smiled and returned to the task at hand. And for the record, every single licensed nurse wears the same colored uniforms and we all have these LARGE tags on our badges depicting if we're an RN or LPN (they look like parking permits). It just never fails there will always be a comment made, but what can we do? Also, this same family gave a fellow male nurse who happened to also be an AA a hard time for touching the IV pump. They stated that he should not be touching it. In their minds they did not believe any males would be nurses.

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