First, for all that don't know, I am a Hispanic RN.
Now......
Went to my dentist yesterday. At the end of my visit I asked the hyginenist something about my dental care. She was going to go into great detail, so I stopped her to save time and said, " I am familiar with XYZ, I work in healthcare ".
The conversation went something like this:
Dental H: "Really?, (total disbelief) in what area of healthcare?"
Me: " I am a R.N"
Dental H: " Are you a diploma, 2-year RN? My niece is a four-year RN".
Me:" I have a BSN".
Dental H: "Hmmm. At first, when you said you were a nurse , I thought you were only a nursing assistant".
Me: My face: :stone
Me: (sarcastically) " I can certainly understand why mybeing a registered nurse is sooooo hard for you to believe"...
and here's your sign......
...a "I am a stupid person"sign.
Has anyone mistaken you for the cleaning lady/man, asked for the RN of patient so-and-so when, in fact,you are the RN in charge of pt. soandso?
I usually let stupid comments go ....but this, THIS, I had to share.
My MIL is insistent that I won't be a "real" nurse at the end of my 5-semester ADN program. I'll be "just an LPN because you can't get an RN in 2 years".
If your clothes are clean and neat, you're not slovenly. We all have different body shapes.
I am short and dumpy and about 100 pounds overweight. I have a rather slovenly appearance, not stinky but just dumpy looking (call it self depracating if you want, but it's the truth). I have been mistaken for cleaning lady, laundry lady, CNA...everything but a nurse. A lot of times strangers will come up to me and ask to speak to the nurse. I kind of enjoy the looks on their faces when I tell them I am the nurse.
My MIL is insistent that I won't be a "real" nurse at the end of my 5-semester ADN program. I'll be "just an LPN because you can't get an RN in 2 years".
I have a notion that your mill will be the same in other areas of your life...but she will not be doing your duty assignments and she will not be issuing your license so ignore ignorance
I was a day care Mom. I was walking to the playground with four 4 year olds and two 2 year olds. Two in a stroller, one on my back, and two holding the stroller. These kids were not the same skin color, body build, hair texture, or eye shape. A well dressed woman began to follow me angrily yelling. "Have you never heard of BIRTH CONTROL?"
We caregivers no matter the setting or education required are doing valuable work. Too bad that hygienist didn't have the pride in the education required and useful work helping people stay healthy.
Spacenurse, you're story reminds me of when I ran a daycare. I was actually only down to watching one child besides my own kids. The little girl, who is one of my dearest friends' daughter, is a little blondie with blue eyes. She is just the cutest little girl in the world. Love her!!!! Anyway, I watched her for a long time. She was just learning how to talk. Of course, she heard my kids call me Mommy so she did too. She is about the same age as my son. Whenever we would go out, people would stare at us like we were freaks of nature. Even being so rude as to walk right up to us, without speaking, and just stare. Finally, there was an older lady who worked at Walmart, who got fed up with people gawking at us. She made a general comment about how rudeness came in all colors. I can't really put into words the way it happened, but you should have seem how dumb the people looked.
One time, me, my son, and "my" little girl went to the produce store. On the way out, we stopped at the beauty supply store to buy barrettes because she liked it when I did her hair. The lady who owned the store followed us around the whole time. She finally stopped us and said, "How did that happen? Is that natural?" I'm thinking she's talking about my hair but she wanted to know how I ended up with twins, one white and one black. As soon as I got home, I called my girlfriend, and we had a good laugh.
Most disturbing though, was the time that we, along with my husband, had to run to the carpet store. When we walked into the store the salesperson greeted us and asked if he could help us. He commented about how cute my friend's daughter was.
We looked around for a bit, then the little girl wanted something, so of course, she asked her "mommy" and "daddy" if she could have it. You would not believe how quickly the salesperson's attitude changed. No lie, he even kicked us out of his store.
i get crap like that all the time. I'm young (20) and i am sure that i look it. it is very insulting for patients, visitors, ect to ask for the nurse... and i walk in and they start fussing that they want the RN. Then i turn my badge around and i say "I am the RN. Now, can I help you?"
I had one patient who's grandmother was an RN... She was a total beast to me until she found out that I was the RN.... bossy, rude. then she just was snotty after I informed them that I was the patient's RN that shift.
When I was in high school my grandfather was in the hospital and we were there visiting him. The rooms were only semi-private and he had a roomate, another old man. This man's family had just flown in and were in there visiting him when a fat old bald guy wearing filthy slouchy clothes and dirty tennis shoes came in the room and walked over to their dad and pulled the covers down and asked him how he was doing. One of the family members jumped up and yelled at this intruder who must have wandered in off the street to "get out of here!" A nurse heard the ruckus and ran in the room and when she found out what was going on she told the distraught family that this was their father's doctor. :imbar
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Hey, you can send this to Readers' Digest " Life's like that" and earn some money on that.
I remember reading about some of Dr. Ben Carson's experiences with prejudice in his book "Gifted Hands". Nurses would mistake him for an orderly, an aide or a respiratory therapist. Patients sometimes told him that they didn't want to be seen by a black doctor.
Dr. Rafael Tamargo, a Hispanic neurosurgeon, also works at Johns Hopkins and I can only imagine what kind of prejudice he's encountered.
I work in Geriatric assessment, Our consultant is a lady as is our current resident doctor. On a ward round recently, not one but three different women addressed the doctors as Sister and myself as Doctor. :chuckle
dansamy
672 Posts
My MIL is insistent that I won't be a "real" nurse at the end of my 5-semester ADN program. I'll be "just an LPN because you can't get an RN in 2 years".