Discrimination in PT care??

[xdrowe]

Have any medical professionals ever experienced a patient or family members that had a preference for who cared for them? You know.. like that episode of Grey's Anatomy when a patient refused Miranda (African-American doc) from giving them care? Is this very real? If so, can you share your story? Did it bother you? Is there a protocol for events such as this?

[xdrowe]

Is this a homework assignment?

I'll bite. I almost always bite because I love this site and I like to write. I don't have many stories about PT care, though. I'm a nurse, not a PT.

I'm white, overweight and have been a nurse for four decades or so. I also work in an area where the predominate population is Black. (Please don't make me say African American because the majority haven't been near that continent in six or eight generations, and it tends to upset the actual Africans I work with. You know, the nurses from Kenya and Nigeria and so forth.) I wish I had a dollar for every time I've been called some variation of "fat white _itch" or "you fat, ugly white _itch". I've been "fired" from being that patient's nurse more than once, in favor of some nurse that has the proper skin color. And then that nurse (who is often an immigrant from Africa or the Caribbean) is fired for having an improper accent. I remember one shift when we had a patient who fired me for being the wrong skin color, my friend Elijah for being the right skin color but having the wrong accent, Marcus for having the right skin color and accent but the wrong sexual orientation (or so the patient assumed) and Diana -- because as an immigrant from Shanghai she had the wrong everything. I ended up taking care of him for the rest of the day as he'd fired everyone else and I was the most experienced nurse there. It was a hellish shift. I discovered just how many racist names and remarks could slide off my back in a single shift.

Homework assignment? No ma'am. I just talk about interesting subjects at my own discretion. Good idea for an assignment; however. I am so sorry that you have been made fun of for your weight, that stinks. I did want to inform you that while I highly respect your choice to respect the views of African natives, I challenge you to think outside of your choice. I am African-American. I am a descendant of Africans like those you work with, and I am also American. See how that works? I am not black, just the same way you are not white. We are not crayons inside of a box, so I suggest we start thinking outside of the "color" box.

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

I would think most healthcare providers have either experienced or witnessed this. I know I have. I have had patients decline caregivers (RN, LVN, CNA, phlebotomists, etc.) based upon gender or race. I have also had patients express a racial or gender preference but not actually decline a caretaker.

[verene, MSN]

I've experienced it to a minor extent - being called "cracker" "white b*tch" and a few other terms by patients, but I find the most of the racism I experienced and observed was much more subtle. For a while I worked in a facility where I was the only white non-hispanic CNA. I walked into a patent room with middle eastern colleague and watched the family shift their bodies to direct comments to me, and to ignore my colleague. I'm not sure if it was even a conscious decision on their part, but I noticed the dynamic and I made a point of deferring to my colleague's judgement and when contextually appropriate made a comment about how fortunate I was to be sharing the shift with some one of her experience level. The family seemed a little less closed off towards her after that, though I don't know that it went that far towards actually changing their views on her heritage.

This low level stuff I witnessed and experienced all the time. It's far more insidious in my opinion than out right statements and name calling, for which the patient or family could potentially be taken to task over.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Yes I have seen it quite frequently and experiened it myself. I have had African American women request an African American IV specialist and since we do not have one on staff they are offered a staff nurse. Unfortunately, I am usually called back and must provide care knowing full well I am not wanted nor will there be any appreciation or even a thank you. I at least bring someone in with me as I find people tend to behave in a more civil manner when it in not one on one.