Is this discrimination?

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Hello haven't posted in a while. quick background before the meat. So I work at a fairly large health system, they currently own 95% market share so options here are not many. If you look at the pictures of the board of directors, they are all white. All my charge rn, the dept director, and her four clinical supervisors are all white. I happen to not be white, and I am bilingual. I have heard comments from physicians like: "they get off the plane and want us to fix all their problems". "That pt doesn't pass the smell test, hispanics are too emotional." The second comment was about my pt who came in with acute head pain worst of her life. History of Htn among other things and geriatric. I wanted to get her cleared for a stroke...the md never even came to the room. Waited and hour. Cat wouldn't take her stat cause it wasn't ordered stat. Well I gave report went home. Next day was told she ended up having a bleed. Now md won't even make eye contact with me. So I'm asked to translate all the time and now I'm told by triage and the charge and the clinical sups that I get certain PTs cause they only speak Spanish. My one year review is coming and I'm thinking of asking for a nice raise because speaking Spanish and translating are not in the job description...I checked. If they don't give it to me is it discrimination? Should I keep my minority mouth shut and just be happy I'm getting a paycheck? I was born in the USA. Technically I'm not a minority...right?

Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.

The hospital is required to provide a medical interpreter.

If you choose, you can refuse to translate and insist that your patient get a medical interpreter.

You can report physicians who make racist comments.

You can ask for a raise.

You are a minority.

I think your mistake is in trying to string all these things together.

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So I'll gice a bit more background on me so that when people want to give their opinion they are better informed. I was raised in a predominately Hispanic community and yes I am Cuban ancestry born American with very tan skin. If that even matters lol. I grew up with friends of many ethnicities.. white, black etc. I always heard from my black friends how racism was still going on and since I was a part of the majority I disagreed and told them they were crazy. Well one month into my new town and new job I called each one of them and apologized because of what I was already experiencing at work and in the community. I was in shock things were still like this. Well 11 and a few months later it's gottwn progressively worse at work and I actually avoid going out much to not interact with the public due.. yes I agree pretty sad lol.

The big lesson learned here FOR ME.. I have no right to tell someone if a different background, orientation or any other difference that they are not being discriminated against. For those of you that have never felt racism first hand it is quite simply the worst feeling. Being made to feel less than human was a very messed up experience. What's really scary is as we all know the color of our skin is just pigmentation so anyone that thinks it determines their worth well they are just plain stupid and I would t want someone that stupid putting a needle in me or hanging a med.

I will apologize if I offended anyone with my OP and I do agree with some of your comments even though they differ from mine. I have had long conversations with my wife the past few days and have decided we will be leaving this part of town once her commitment is complete. She was a new grad rn with a contract. About 5 months to go. She has experienced similar situations in a separate hospital owned by the same health system. Yea scary right.

We feel like it's not worth the fight we are empty nesters who changed careers and both feel like nursing is a calling for us and just want to have peaceful lives and peaceful jobs. I'm even considering leaving my specialty for a cushy urgent care job and I am currently negotiating pay for a job doing sedation with an anesthesiologist at private practices throughout or soon to be new city.

For those of you that attacked me well I will say this. Next time you invite your friends over for dinner look around the table before your quick to say racism or discrimination is overstated these days. I know I don't feel guilty when I invite my mixed bag of friends over.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Hispanic/Latino is not a race, it's an ethnicity. One can be white and Hispanic, one can be black and Hispanic, etc. I am Hispanic and I'm white. A Hispanic person with very light skin, red hair, and green eyes is most likely a white Hispanic. Their race is white, their ethnicity is Hispanic, their nationality is another thing as well. Speaking Spanish and being a Mexican citizen (or having Mexican ancestors) while having white skin doesn't mean that that particular individual isn't "white."

From a redheaded, pale-skinned, green-eyed Hispanic - thank you for this excellent explanation! :) One side of my family is Spanish Jew, the other side Norwegian/Scottish. My AncestryDNA results were interesting! My grandfather's cousin was the president of Panama before Noriega, I share my maiden name with him. Sadly, I don't speak much Spanish beyond Spanglish. Haha. My dad's family speaks Ladino - bonus points if anyone knows what Ladino is.

OP, stop interpreting until you have been certified as a medical interpreter. I am sure you do a fine job, but doing it in the professional setting without certification makes you just as wrong as those who request it.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
My one year review is coming and I'm thinking of asking for a nice raise because speaking Spanish and translating is not in the job description...I checked. If they don't give it to me is it discrimination? Should I keep my minority mouth shut and just be happy I'm getting a paycheck? I was born in the USA. Technically I'm not a minority...right?

No, it's not discrimination as it does not discriminate against your ethnicity. To not give you a raise because you are Hispanic is discrimination. But not being given a raise for speaking a second language? Not discrimination.

It is taking advantage of your natural abilities though. I would ask for the raise and point out your bilingual skills. If they can't or won't want to do it, then you can handle it three ways: you can seek another position, you can accept it and continue to take on Spanish-speaking patients, or you can smile and say, "I'm sorry, I'm not a qualified interpreter and it may not be appropriate for me to translate." Then if they give you grief, you can point to the job description and show them that being bilingual wasn't a requirement, as well as point to the regulations that other posters have provided.

Best of luck.

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Sounds like a pretty hostile environment at times with people making racist comments, but no, not discrimination. Racism is alive and well in all corners of our society; it's a sobering realization when you haven't seen it and then become aware of it. Also, while I get that you feel you have no right to say that someone else is or is not being discriminated against, the behaviors you describe in your work setting aren't discriminatory as described.

Stop translating for people other than your own patients, though. Amazed that your facility lets you do it, never mind asks you to. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Great scene about translation from the movie The Terminal with Tom Hanks:

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

One other thing, OP. Contact HR and see if they do certify staff to be translators.

Kaiser is one organization that will certify staff as official translators for Kaiser and pay them a differental based on what level certification they achieve. From what I heard while I was there, the certification tests are very hard--you need to be dead-on fluent to get certified at the higher level. But perhaps your facility has something similar and you're not aware of it. It's worth checking into.

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Specializes in ORTHO, PCU, ED.

Ok so I just have a blunt question to ask, is it "racist" to note peculiarities around different cultures? Does everyone need to be expected to just ignore that some ethnicities do have possibly different values and norms??? I mean, anymore it's like you can't even say "Black's love folk music" and you're "racist."

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Ok so I just have a blunt question to ask, is it "racist" to note peculiarities around different cultures? Does everyone need to be expected to just ignore that some ethnicities do have possibly different values and norms??? I mean, anymore it's like you can't even say "Black's love folk music" and you're "racist."

Well, "black" is a race, not a culture. There are many different cultures that are composed of "black people." So no, you couldn't say "blacks love folk music," because that is such a broad comment describing many many millions of people from different cultures. If you did say it, you might well be accused of stereotyping rather than racism, but it's still probably better to not do that.

Off topic, I noticed you said "black's love folk music," so I assume you are typing on a phone. WHY does autocorrect always want to change plural to possessive? Sorry, pet peeve, because I'm always having to waste time going back to correct the autocorrect when I type on my phone. :D

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Did they get off of a plane? Medical tourism is real and I worked in a facility where this was sometimes a literal comment, as in transport would wait at the terminal. If it is factual then there is no harm and the statement itself is not discriminatory in itself.

True!!!

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Ok so I just have a blunt question to ask, is it "racist" to note peculiarities around different cultures? Does everyone need to be expected to just ignore that some ethnicities do have possibly different values and norms??? I mean, anymore it's like you can't even say "Black's love folk music" and you're "racist."

So I'm going to assume this isn't a troll post, or sarcasm.

Race and culture are two different things. So no, it's not racist to note peculiarities around a certain culture, but it's offensive to speak of it that way because peculiarities implies odd or strange and not all people of the same race share the same cuture. In Hindu culture, cows are sacred and a devout Hindi would starve before eating beef. But that makes Hindu culture only different from manstream meat eating US culture, not peculiar. And not all people from India are Hindu. See the difference?

On to racism. Racism, generally speaking, is taken to mean a belief in the superiority of one race over another based on perceived characteristics. So to say Blacks love folk music isn't racist per se unless you actually believe it's true and that makes dark skinned people inferior to those with lighter skins. It is, however an absurd, dismissive and prejudicial generalization, made absurd by the number of African Americans who don't love folk music.

In health care, it's especially important we not ignore the fact that people from some ethnicities (defined as a combination of ancestry, language and culture) have different values and traditions. For example, it's important when interacting with someone you believe may be from a Middle Eastern culture to consider they might have different beliefs around the meaning of eye contact and the role of women. But to assume any generality is true about the person in front of you is prejudicial and typically ineffective.

Racism is saying to a co-worker that maybe you should have used smoke signals because the Native American-appearing family didn't say a single word during your whole discharge and education piece. Not OK. More culturally sensitive care would be recognizing many Native Americans observe a cultural practice of not interrupting a speaker and waiting until they are offered an opportunity to speak.

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Specializes in hospice, LTC, public health, occupational health.
So I'm going to assume this isn't a troll post, or sarcasm.

In a society where people deemed to have the wrong complexion have their taco business attacked as cultural appropriation, you shouldn't assume this person is trolling. Many of us can't keep up with the ever shifting rules anymore.

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On to racism. Racism, generally speaking, is taken to mean a belief in the superiority of one race over another based on perceived characteristics. So to say Blacks love folk music isn't racist per se unless you actually believe it's true and that makes dark skinned people inferior to those with lighter skins. It is, however an absurd, dismissive and prejudicial generalization, made absurd by the number of African Americans who don't love folk music.

Agree, but she actually gave the example "blacks like folk music"; not all black people are African American.

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