Am I Biased Against Rural Healthcare?

[rvnbabe]

I am attending nursing school in a rural area where the political/social climate is very anti-urbanites. The school I am attending is a satellite school run by a major teaching hospital located about 400 miles away. A lot of people gripe about how the school administration does not understand the plight of the students/faculty/healthcare community located here in this rural area. I recently moved from an urban area. I am one of the few students in my class who wasn't born and raised in the town I am going to school in. Before living in an urban area, I had grown up in a very isolated, rural community in Alaska where people travelled by plane or boat to come to or leave town.

I understand how challenging it is to receive adequate healthcare in a rural environment. I also see how providing adequate care for people in a rural environment is really challenging.

Last quarter, I got a pretty stern lecture from my clinical instructor about how I should be more cognizant of my criticisms of rural healthcare. I had assumed that it was ok to talk about the health and socioeconomic disparities that patients experience while seeking care where I live and go to school. My instructor stated that I am "biased in my perspective of rural healthcare." I don't know how to think about this feedback. I get the sense that my instructor thinks that I don't have any basis for my opinions because I moved from a city.

Is this an issue of poor tact on my part? Has anyone else experienced what feels like "outsider" prejudice at their school? Any advice for how to use this feedback for my own growth and development? Thanks for any input.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

The question isn't whether you are right or wrong. Nor is it whether your instructor is right or wrong. The question is whether or not you wish to pass. If you do, the instructor is right. Apologize and keep your opinions to yourself until you've passed the class. And perhaps be a little bit more judicious about who you share those opinions with in the future.