Racism in Nursing

Nurses Relations

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Does anyone feel like they are discriminated against because of their race? I feel like that most days at work. Favoritism given to nurses of a certain race. It is a big problem in nursing and one that nurses need to talk about. When nursing leadership discriminates based on your race, what can nurses do about it? We know it happens and we know it's against the law but why do so many still get away with it?

Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

Oh boy...bless your heart.

So you are denying a history of racism and brutality against black people? Let me guess...you are one of those people who tout on about how racism doesn't existbecause Obama was president.

And the fact that you are bringing up black men and prison rates speak volumes about your mentality. That is irrelevant to the discussion and qyite frankly is offensive. The police have a history of being extremely brutal and unfair to minorities. That is a fact.

The blacklivesmatter movement didn't start without just cause.

I simply pointed out a truth, which you live (I'm assuming), not in the south and making a judgement about how people are here. Most good mannered people do not have a problem. I am not going to believe everything a history book tells me. There is so much that one 'doesn't' know about history. I don't take what a history book says at face value.

I understand all people have pain, as the article stated, but being rude is not tolerated. The article was written by an educated professional. That is a difference than the amount black inmates (male) in prison for violent or aggressive acts. Next you're going to tell me it doesn't count? Yes it does. If you steal, you go to jail. And no one is talking about the troubled youth who steals food from the grocery store, doesn't realize their act, is repentant, learns from their behavior and moves on to live a respectable life.

Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

Admin,

Can we please shut this down? I can't deal with bigotry and blatant ignorance today!

Oh boy...bless your heart.

So you are denying a history of racism and brutality against black people? Let me guess...you are one of those people who tout on about how racism doesn't existbecause Obama was president.

And the fact that you are bringing up black men and prison rates speak volumes about your mentality. That is irrelevant to the discussion and qyite frankly is offensive. The police have a history of being extremely brutal and unfair to minorities. That is a fact.

The blacklivesmatter movement didn't start without just cause.

I didn't once belittle you for your comments. You have just resorted to insults. That appears to be your MO. I simply pointed out truths regarding the 'oppression' comments and you got offended. I don't believe everything I read. Many writings are 'over-inflated'. You go as far as to say 'police brutality'. That is a bit much for this thread. You are the one that presented the article for me (and others) to read. If you disseminate that information regarding racism, expect a response. That is fair.

Just because someone says something in 1880 doesn't mean I have to believe it. I am believing that you want to believe the horrible things. It is my experience that people do that so they can hang it over another person's head for their own benefit.

Specializes in LTC, Orthopedics.

At my current employer I have not experienced racism personally, but I have witnessed covert racism at my former employer.

Specializes in NICU.
I get tired of having to defend my experiences against so-called colored-blind people who live in some surreal kumbaya state where racism and every other ism doesn't exist. It does.

So, your opinion is that only blacks can recognize racism. Being a white male, I must not be able to see racism or sexism. I may not be an wife beater, but I can recognize when a guy is verbally abusing his wife.

I am not denying that racism exists, but I also believe that not all claims of racism are truly racism. I have seen someone fail nursing school and claim racism. I would like to know how a computer can be racist? She took the same tests as everyone else and the tests were graded by the computer and she failed due to racism?

Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
So, your opinion is that only blacks can recognize racism. Being a white male, I must not be able to see racism or sexism. I may not be an wife beater, but I can recognize when a guy is verbally abusing his wife.

I am not denying that racism exists, but I also believe that not all claims of racism are truly racism. I have seen someone fail nursing school and claim racism. I would like to know how a computer can be racist? She took the same tests as everyone else and the tests were graded by the computer and she failed due to racism?

Where did I say that "only blacks can recognize racism" ? By the way, I don't like the term "blacks" or "whites"...it is ugly and flippant to reduce someone to their race.

I believe that there are some situations when racism isn't as in-your-face and unless you are used to dealing with racism, you may not recognize even subtle signs of it. As a straight, cis-woman, I would not begin to dismiss a trans person's experiences by denying them just because *I* didn't notice covert / unobvious transphobia.

I get a kick out of all of these anecdotes of people of color supposedly making outlandish accusations of racism brought up in order to minimalize the racism in our society, as if that one accusation somehow diminishes or cancels out the struggle people of color face in this very hostile society. I have no idea what your classmate experienced in order to make such a statement, nor do I agree with her that racism is what made her fail. However, I have faced racism even in my own nursing program, and it wasn't pleasant. But I got through it and was able to graduate.

As a white woman, I didn't realize there was so much racism in the world until I became a nurse, but the majority I have witnessed was from patients. And it wasn't just towards black people, but anyone who wasn't white. I have seen to a lesser extent racism against whites. Unforunately it is a problem that some people have and all you can do really is call them out on it when you see it.

I used to think we had come SO FAR with respect to racism in our country. I have been strongly disillusioned to find that this isn't true. What enlightened me to this issue was the development of the internet and the phenomenon of anonymous comment sections. Read any news article online, then read the comments. Watch a YouTube video, then read the comments. Look at the comments section of anything online where the respondents can be anonymous, and the amount of racist, misogynist, sexist, and simply hateful, vicious points of view can be found in abundance. All those years I thought we had made headway against racism, sexism, and hatred towards people of certain religious persuasions, it was there all along, just simmering under the surface. Give people the ability to say what they want without the consequences of public censure, and it becomes obvious that what we have here is a world of mean spirited, angry, hostile, insecure, and downright hateful people. Of course, there are good people to be found everywhere, but I no longer believe that people are inherently good and that the bad seeds are the vast minority.

Age of the internet has brought me to some depressing conclusions.

However, I have faced racism even in my own nursing program, and it wasn't pleasant. But I got through it and was able to graduate.

I recently had a lovely conversation with one of my minority colleagues who allowed me to ask some questions that I was terrified to ask at the risk of being assumed a racist. What she had to say led me to a deeper understanding of her experience (and her of mine) and we both agreed if all of us would just talk to each other a lot could be accomplished. It was truly amazing. PB, I am genuinely interested in what racist behavior you experienced in your nursing program. I ask because it helps me understand yours and other's points of view. I assure you I have zero intention to debate whether I agree or not because I really have no right to do so and that's not why I'm asking. So if you feel comfortable would you share your experience?

Specializes in Pedi.

I have not seen racism towards colleagues, personally. I HAVE seen it towards patients. For example, I have found, in 11 years as a pediatric nurse, healthcare providers more likely to file reports of abuse/neglect against a minority family or label them as having "social issues"/be less trusting of parents' ability to manage their child's care. The most blatant example of this that I recall was when I was a visiting nurse. A Hispanic teenage patient of mine was s/p stem cell transplant and the hospital requested daily home nursing visits for medication compliance because they didn't trust the patient and his mother. They were the most meticulous people I've ever seen with his medication schedule. They also wanted me to fill his med boxes because they didn't think his mother could do it. No one tried to teach her, they just judged her as being incapable. I remember specifically calling to set up the first nursing visit. The patient answered, it was about 9:30 am. I asked him if he'd taken his morning meds yet and he said "no because it's not 10:00 yet." He took his meds exactly at 10 every day. When he had complications and had to start straight cathing a few months later, they did the same thing. They insisted he would need daily nursing visits at discharge because he/his mother would be non-compliant, despite the fact that they'd been compliant with his care all along and attended all follow-up appointments.

At my last job, I had a per diem nurse who worked for me who claimed that she was fired for racial reasons from her hospital job. I'd also worked for the employer who terminated her. She said that the hospital systemically discriminated against minorities on the night shift and that that's why she wasn't promoted. After she worked for me for a while, I realized that she was a problem employee. She didn't get her paperwork in and was unreliable. It didn't have anything to do with race, she was just unreliable and a pita so I started to doubt the validity of her claims.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

I am finding it interesting and not in a good way that this thread is devolving into a black vs white conversation. While I have never encountered racism, as a Caucasian in a predominantly Caucasian community I would be surprised if I did encounter it. I am not however naive enough to believe that it doesn't exist. I am also not naive enough to believe that only African Americans are discriminated against.

I have read threads right here on AN complaining about an influx of Filipino nurses taking jobs from American [read white] nurses. There are plenty of Asian and Hispanic nurses that I am sure have felt their careers are affected negatively by their race. I am also certain there are plenty of nurses that fall into the majority Caucasian group that have been discriminated against when they happen to work in a setting where they are in the minority.

As long as racism exists it exists everywhere, nursing is not an exception to the rule.

When I went to one of the nursing advisor at my school, I was told point blank that I would be better off as a CNA and not to go into nursing because I was black and nursing would be too hard for me. That professor did everything she could to try get me to change my mind and said you will be better off as the help. I couldn't believe what I was hearing I was in shock , it was so blatant I thought she would have just said my grades weren't good enough but she brought up my race. I have good grades but I did get a C in one of my classes. I also had another thing similar to this with my friend's dad she told him I was studying to be a nurse and he said " nursing is for smart people, black people aren't smart and you will never get in so maybe you should think about something else. " even though what these people said hurt I'm still going to try. I'm not shocked anymore because this is Trump's America now and the racists feel emboldened, this is our knew normal.

I will expect to see stuff like this in my nursing career in the future.

Honestly, nursing is extremely hard work. Unless a unit is over-staffed (and when does that happen?) I can not imagine that anybody working hard and willing to help out their coworkers would not get all the help they need and be extremely appreciated every single day at work. Nurses do not have the time to discriminate if they're working on a busy unit.

Now - I HAVE seen a very small sample of minorities accuse the majority of racism, when the majority (as well as the rest of the minorities) were doing all of the work. All the other nurses and aides wanted was for all of the members of the team to share in the work but these particular minorities accused the majorities of racism when they were asked to do their share.

At the place where I work, we had one aide with long talons for fingernails, hair extensions past her butt, etc. who would never consider lowering herself to provide pericare or a shower. She wouldn't want to break a nail! She spent her day passing her meds as slowly as possible and then hiding out to avoid work. She actually fell asleep while feeding residents in the assisted dining room. I received many complaints about her and when I was finally promoted to DON I looked into things and watched her. She was bullying her charge nurses. They were afraid to assign showers to her and let her get away with not doing anything. Her coworkers went home in tears many days because when she was working they never got their lunch breaks and their feet were killing them.

She's accused us of racism for firing her. Good luck with that.

Not questioning your story ,but how was she able to pass meds as a CNA did she take some extra training that allowed her to do so ? , I would really like to know .

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