Not many Black/African American nurses working in the ICU's

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Feb 12, 2012

I don't want to sound offensive, racist, or discriminatory in any way, but here it goes:

First and foremost, I don't think we should have to, "recruit" anyone into nursing simply for the sake of diversity. I love diversity, and I think that it's great, but I don't feel like the nursing profession should be out looking to recruit males, African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and other minority groups in the name of diversity (and I am a Caucasian male nursing student, so I speak as a minority in the nursing field). If minorities want to join the nursing profession, great, if not, okay. Our aim as nurses should be to ensure that we give our patients the best care possible. We should not focus on trying to recruit people to the profession based solely on gender, skin color, religion, etc.

Next, I do not feel that healthcare facilities hold African Americans and other minorities to some special standard when it comes to hiring. No hospital in their right mind would ever dream of holding a minority to a different standard than any other potential employee. With the NAACP, Affirmative Action, and other minority groups and laws, any hospital stupid enough to do something like that would soon find itself in more trouble than it would ever get out of.

I think that there is a shortage of African American nurses in critical care settings for two reasons. One: there are more Caucasian nurses than African American nurses to begin with, and, two: maybe a lot of African American nurses just don't want to work in critical care settings. Just like any other medical speciality, critical care isn't for everyone, and we can't all do it. I want to be a surgical/trauma ICU nurse when I graduate, but I know plenty of people in my class who would never do any critical care area no matter how much they were paid, or how good their benefits were.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2012

Please continue to discuss this topic with respect and dignity, Thank you

CCRNDiva, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2012

Mattrnstudent23, being a nursing student, you may not be aware of the level of disparities in healthcare and how it pertains to minorities. It is a known fact that access to healthcare is a significant problem in urban and rural communities that have a large minority population. Additionally, you may not be aware that there has been a level of distrust in the minority community of healthcare providers for some time, dating back to the time (which wasn't that long ago) when experiments were conducted upon minorities without their informed consent. One of the key ways to address the level of disparity and mistrust is to have a healthcare team that reflects the community they care for. Had there not been a concentrated effort to recruit women into medicine, women likely would not account for half of medical students. Many women, myself included, are more comfortable with a female provider for gynecological care, so it should not be surprising that many would be more comfortable with a provider who looks like them.

Also, your statement that "maybe a lot of African American nurses just don't want to work in critical care settings" is stereotypical itself. You've attached an unfounded opinion to a minority group without any facts or documentation to support it. Now, I know that you made your disclaimer at the beginning of your statement that you didn't intend to come off racist or prejudiced so I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume your comments stem from being uninformed about the topic you chose to post about. Furthermore, for future reference, when making a comment about a sensitive topic such as diversity, I find that if you have to make a disclaimer such as "I'm not trying to be racist, prejudiced, or stereotypical, but" prior to your statement, your comment is usually going to be taken as just that. But again, I will give you the benefit of doubt and assume that your opinion is based upon a lack of knowledge.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Feb 12, 2012

hello,
i have worked in the 3 different cvicu's in the past 8 years and there is always less than 5 aa nurses in the unit. why?

we have several black nurses in our sicu -- mostly new grads, but a couple of experienced nurses. none of them, however, are african american.

NCRNMDM, ASN, RN · Feb 13, 2012

Mattrnstudent23, being a nursing student, you may not be aware of the level of disparities in healthcare and how it pertains to minorities. It is a known fact that access to healthcare is a significant problem in urban and rural communities that have a large minority population. Additionally, you may not be aware that there has been a level of distrust in the minority community of healthcare providers for some time, dating back to the time (which wasn't that long ago) when experiments were conducted upon minorities without their informed consent. One of the key ways to address the level of disparity and mistrust is to have a healthcare team that reflects the community they care for. Had there not been a concentrated effort to recruit women into medicine, women likely would not account for half of medical students. Many women, myself included, are more comfortable with a female provider for gynecological care, so it should not be surprising that many would be more comfortable with a provider who looks like them.
Also, your statement that "maybe a lot of African American nurses just don't want to work in critical care settings" is stereotypical itself. You've attached an unfounded opinion to a minority group without any facts or documentation to support it. Now, I know that you made your disclaimer at the beginning of your statement that you didn't intend to come off racist or prejudiced so I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume your comments stem from being uninformed about the topic you chose to post about. Furthermore, for future reference, when making a comment about a sensitive topic such as diversity, I find that if you have to make a disclaimer such as "I'm not trying to be racist, prejudiced, or stereotypical, but" prior to your statement, your comment is usually going to be taken as just that. But again, I will give you the benefit of doubt and assume that your opinion is based upon a lack of knowledge.

I gave the disclaimer at the beginning because I genuinely did not want to sound racist or harsh. My aunt married a Black American, and my first cousin is mixed. I have nothing against Black Americans, or other minorities, and I did not want to be misrepresented as being intolerant or racist. I do not, however, feel that saying that, "maybe a lot of African American nurses just don't want to work in critical care settings" is stereotypical. I was simply making the statement that perhaps many Black Americans, and other minorities, choose not to work in critical care settings. On the same token, many Caucasian nurses choose not to work in critical care settings; this isn't stereotypical of the caucasian race, it is just a statement of fact. It is the same as saying that some nursed aren't interested in working in the OR, ED, physician's office, etc. This doesn't speak negatively against anyone, and it certainly doesn't mean they are incapable of working in a specific speciality. I was simply suggesting that, perhaps, since minorities already make up a small percentage of the nursing population, maybe the small number that choose to work in critical care settings explains the disproportionate ration of Caucasian to minority nurses in the ICU setting.

I do understand your point about ensuring that nurses reflect the community they care for, and I do see your point that minority groups may feel more comfortable with a nurse from their race, religion, etc. I do hope, however, as a nurse that I can provide skillful enough care to be able to rise above that. I am more than willing to accommodate a patient who would rather have a Black American female or a Hispanic male as their nurse, but I hope my skills and rapport can allow the patient to trust me enough to take care of them.

CVmursenary · Feb 13, 2012

Indeed no healthcare facility will formally hold any group to a different standard; but there can be a covert racism involved in hiring which cannot be proven nor questioned because so many factors go into hiring. I'm sure there are still managers out there who have a subconscious prejudice to certain people. I also agree that hiring should be totally based on experience and merit and forcing diversity is not needed.

sapphire18 · Feb 13, 2012

I have noticed that there are more black/minority techs than white ones where I've worked, usually (not always) the white ones are nursing students. There have also been less black/minority nurses than white ones but it is pretty representative of the population in the area.

I'm not really sure how someone wanting a care provider of the same race is the same as a female preferring a female for gyn care? Not saying it's wrong to feel this way, just not understanding the reason for it?

corky1272RN · Feb 15, 2012

I don't know why there are always people that think everything is about race. I know there is racism in this world but not everyone or everything is related. In my hospital, the majority of nurses and techs are either white or fillipino. If you look at the majority of nursing students that round through there, they are white and fillipino. When I was doing my pre-reqs for nursing school I rarely had black classmates. So where did the racism originate? In the hospital hiring managers, in the nursing school admissions personnel, or the admissions department to the college? I mean seriously?! :eek:

Emergency RN · Feb 15, 2012

IMHO, this is an extremely complex and vexing question that defies easy pat explanations.

Having said that, the first point I want to make is that people of color and minorities in general (talking within the US; disclaimer is I'm also a minority) have historically been identified to be at an educational disadvantage. The later life effects of this; ie. unpreparedness and or inability to easily incorporate hard sciences (the core of which nursing and medicine is reliant) then becomes evident. Unfortunately, this also translates into subtle color coded nuances and cues, especially within a technical work place, that unfortunately serves to negatively skew social perceptions regarding minorities in general. This is by no means an indictment of innate racial ability, but rather of historic inequities (educational, social) that persists in many US cities to this day.

Another point is that there are undeniable regional differences to hospitals when one compares their racial makeup across the US. In a large metropolitan area like New York, I've personally seen the amounts of people of color (AA and other non whites in the specialty care units) outnumber the "majority" white female by 2 to 1. Also, I've noticed there to be a long term shift preference by people of color to work nights rather than days (I'm sure some sociologist can have a field day with this). But, I've also seen hospitals in other areas of the US, where even encountering a housekeeper with anything darker than a tan was decidedly rare.

So there is personal preference, educational preparedness, regional differences, and indeed racism to some degree. But we shouldn't use any of the above to singularly broad brush an entire industry or profession. IMHO, we're certainly not going to change the world, but as individual professionals, we should all strive to perform to the best of our abilities, and to support our colleagues, without regard to race, color, ethnicity, culture, gender, et cetera, just as we do for our patients.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Feb 15, 2012

Must be regional, we have a good number of AA nurses on all our units where I work! But it is true that there are less numbers of AA that enter the medical field in the US.

MomRN0913 · Feb 15, 2012

I agree it is a regional thing. I was one of the only 4 "whities" as we were called in my ICU. Everyone was Philippino, or indian, a few black, a few hispanic.

I don't think it is discrimination. And you can't jump to conclusions. Unless the rest of your hospital is staffed by black nurses and your CVICU isn't.

Epic_RN · Feb 15, 2012

I think region must have a lot to do with it. My graduating class had more Hispanic students than Caucasian. The hospital where I work has more African American, Filipino and Indian nurses than Caucasians. The facilities in this area prefer bilingual employees as much of our population consists of farm workers and illegal immigrants. All that being said, the ICU where I did my rotation had only a handful of Caucasian nurses.