Does segregation exist in hospital settings

[DesiDani]

Segregation based on race, class, or religion. Do nurse supervisor unwittingly segregate patients by placing them in rooms because of factors other than medical necessities.

For example I've noticed that black patients are often roomed with other black patients

[Extra Pickles]

where I work private rooms are for isolation patients only. or if there's a dementia patient who screams, needs a sitter, they get that room. race, religion, none of that matters.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

There are places where patients still share rooms? I truly did not know that still existed in this day and age. Here, rooms aren't made to be large enough to house 2 beds.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Hmm - at times, there is a de facto 'segregation' based on religious beliefs when caring for patients with strict gender-based religious rules. For instance, when members of a very important (Middle East) royal family were admitted, the host facility ensured that all staff were of the right gender (male for male patient, female for female patient)... Their entourage & security were also were provided with rooms in the immediate vicinity of the patient as needed. These patients pay cash for everything - providing this level of service did not have a negative impact on any other patients or staff.

Many well-known hospitals have "private" wings in which high profile patients are cared for... away from the lesser beings. This is also a form of "class" segregation, I guess.

[Sour Lemon]

There are places where patients still share rooms? I truly did not know that still existed in this day and age. Here, rooms aren't made to be large enough to house 2 beds.

Oh, yes ...I've seen large rooms with up to five patients in them at a few older hospitals I've worked at.

[Ladyscrubs]

I worked years ago in a ward with six beds, curtains between, nightstand, overhead table each with a communal bathroom toilet and bathtub. The shower was down another hall. The nurses desk was off in an alcove by the utility/linen closet. Hard to believe this was only 30 some years ago. Subsequently, they tore that hospital down and I now work in semi-private.

I do recall at the Catholic hospital where I trained, we had male orderlies and they did baths, shaves, (south of the equator stuff) for all the male patients. Besides segregating the loud dementias, and those in strict isolation (TB), the infections don't go with fresh surgeries, so it's musical beds at 0300. I always feel sorry for the roomies of GI bleeds—wait, let me rephrase that…I feel sorry for the entire floor.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

There are places where patients still share rooms? I truly did not know that still existed in this day and age. Here, rooms aren't made to be large enough to house 2 beds.

Sharing rooms is out of fashion now in the US, but not every hospital can afford to tear down their older buildings and replace them with buildings that have private rooms only. I'm afraid there will still be double rooms (and triple and more) for the next hundred years or so.

[Julius Seizure]

Almost all of our rooms are private, but a couple can fit two patients if needed, which only happens if we are desperate and over capacity. When that happens, the unlucky ones to get the private rooms tend to be chosen by who is getting discharged within the next day or so, or which babies dont have families that stay overnight/have a lot of stuff because they are long-term/etc, to avoid inconveniencing families as much as possible.

[Buyer beware, BSN]

There is a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia called Grady Memorial Hospital. Many healthcare professionals are familiar with it and have survived the gauntlet-like, survival of the fittest training this inner city hospital has provided to legions of nurses and medical doctors alike.

But, still, even with the passage of time, in many circles it is casually referred to as "the Gradies." This designation is a vestigial reference as it is a throwback to a time when black and white patients were segregated for their care in different buildings and areas of the institution.

Under segregation white doctors and nurses attended to white patients and black doctors and nurses to black patients. That was the way it was and few questioned the legitimacy of this off-shoot of what has been referred to as "America's Peculiar Institution" of slavery that gave birth to the canard of "separate but equal."

So to set the record straight, again, although the black nurses and doctors were always as good as, if not better, in many instances, than the white nurses and doctors, if not for the prevailing attitude of many then and today who believe that some folks should be more equal than others, life went on.

This cultural myopia may just be human nature but I think progress can be said to have been made when "any nurse" of "any color" can say without vitriol, "Oh, yes, I work at the Gradies. It's a hell-hole but you learn a lot."

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

We don't segregate by race or religion. Males and females never share a room unless they are married. We do place patients by diagnosis, age, if they are etoh and disruptive, suicide, isolation, dementia and disruptive we will place in a private room if we can. If not we will block a private room.

Only one floor in our hospital is converted to all private rooms. But they can all be converted to double rooms if need be. Our rehab units both psych and physical rehab have some 4 bed rooms still. It is in the oldest part of our hospital. Eventually all hospitals will be private room only.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

Sharing rooms is out of fashion now in the US, but not every hospital can afford to tear down their older buildings and replace them with buildings that have private rooms only. I'm afraid there will still be double rooms (and triple and more) for the next hundred years or so.

I honestly didn't know this existed. My hospital is no where near brand new, nor are most of the facilities within a hundred mile radius. There are maybe 4-5 brand new hospitals. I live in a rapidly growing city, but I work at one of the older hospitals. Ours was founded I think somewhere in the 1800s. Now, I know certain sections have been rebuilt over the years, but with truly how outdated most of the facilities are, nobody shares rooms. It just fascinates me that sharing is even still allowed with the emergence of HIPAA. How is bedside report done with HIPAA?

The places around here that have brand spanking new units are the labor and delivery units. L&D is big mo way these days along with elective surgery, but most of those units are not new. Only L&D.

I guess i just assumed witb JAHCO and HIPAA, bedside report was a must these days and you can't do that in a semi-private room. I myself, would be upset if o entered the hospital and had to share it.

I know people preach and preach on here that the hospital is not the Hilton, and while I agree with that to an extent, if I'm the patient/customer, and I was choosing which hospital to have my baby, go to the ED, or have my elective surgery,the one where I would guaranteed a private room would be my choice. And that is where the hospital makes their money. I would not be comfortable in my vulnerable time to share it with a complete stranger. Or truly with anybody.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I honestly didn't know this existed. My hospital is no where near brand new, nor are most of the facilities within a hundred mile radius. There are maybe 4-5 brand new hospitals. I live in a rapidly growing city, but I work at one of the older hospitals. Ours was founded I think somewhere in the 1800s. Now, I know certain sections have been rebuilt over the years, but with truly how outdated most of the facilities are, nobody shares rooms. It just fascinates me that sharing is even still allowed with the emergence of HIPAA. How is bedside report done with HIPAA?

The places around here that have brand spanking new units are the labor and delivery units. L&D is big mo way these days along with elective surgery, but most of those units are not new. Only L&D.

I guess i just assumed witb JAHCO and HIPAA, bedside report was a must these days and you can't do that in a semi-private room. I myself, would be upset if o entered the hospital and had to share it.

I know people preach and preach on here that the hospital is not the Hilton, and while I agree with that to an extent, if I'm the patient/customer, and I was choosing which hospital to have my baby, go to the ED, or have my elective surgery,the one where I would guaranteed a private room would be my choice. And that is where the hospital makes their money. I would not be comfortable in my vulnerable time to share it with a complete stranger. Or truly with anybody.

I'd choose the hospital with the best outcomes that is covered by my insurance.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

How is bedside report done with HIPAA?

I believe it would be considered an incidental disclosure