Racist Patients

dnp2004 · May 31, 2009

I live in Washington State in the Seattle area and people here are very liberal and open minded. Their is no such thing as a minority because we have such a racial diverse population here. However, from time to time we get some ******** who only wants a black nurse, white nurse, asian nurse etc. We usually try to comply with the patients request and just try not to make a big deal out of it.

As long as they are polite why would you call a person who requests a nurse of a certain race/ethnicity/nationality an "********". Would you call a woman who requests a female caretaker, such a name? How about a man who requests only males to perform "intimate care", does that make him a sexist?

We have been taught a nurse is a nurse regardless of race/ethnicity/nationality/gender. However, we have to remember patients are frequently uncomfortable around certain caregivers for various reasons. My point is a caregiver request based on race should not be looked on any differently than one based on gender.

gcupid · Jun 1, 2009

As long as they are polite why would you call a person who requests a nurse of a certain race/ethnicity/nationality an "*******". Would you call a woman who requests a female caretaker, such a name? How about a man who requests only males to perform "intimate care", does that make him a sexist?
We have been taught a nurse is a nurse regardless of race/ethnicity/nationality/gender. However, we have to remember patients are frequently uncomfortable around certain caregivers for various reasons. My point is a caregiver request based on race should not be looked on any differently than one based on gender.

The point is that we as "professionals" (whether Hispanic,Black, Caucasian,Asian,green,beige) have to draw a line somewhere. For God's sake, it is a Hospital not a WHoREtel (Hotel).

Maybe we should consider doing a line-up so that the patient can choose the nurse he/she wants based on whatever various reason..... Could you imagine?

Yes, give me the nurse with the long dark hair, olive complexion, and hour-glass figure. Oh yeah there's a nurse that smells like obsession and wears nike's.

or

Can I get the guy that's like 6 "2", with broad shoulders and has taco bell- meat across his chest. (hair)

What the fill in the blank?!!! It's Whatever...

Freedom42 · Jun 1, 2009

I don't get to say whatever I want in the workplace, and as far as I'm concerned, patients don't have that right, either. I will not tolerate racist or sexist language. The notion that I would let hateful, ignorant remarks by a patient go unchallenged in the name of "customer service" is as ignorant as the remarks themselves. Failing to respond also suggests, rightly or wrongly, that I agree with those remarks.

I live in the Northeast in an area that has seen an influx of African refugees in recent years. Last month, while performing a blood transfusion, a patient asked me if I could guarantee that he would not receive "any of that Somali blood." I told him very politely that I'd be grateful to receive blood from anyone willing to help save my life. A blissful silence ensued.

I've also had two patients make offensive statements about Barak Obama while watching television. When I told them that I found their remarks distasteful, they stopped. I have a right to work in an environment that is not hostile.

BatonRougeNurse09 · Jun 1, 2009

to respond to the original post where the girl said she gets offended if a patient says her "lip gloss is poppin"....my question to you is, why? I don't think if a white person says that to you then they are assuming that you like that song or that style of music. Maybe the white person speaks like that and they like that song. I know I have said to some of my friends before when that song was popular that their "lip gloss was poppin" and my friend wasn't black and neither am I. And so I guess if I had a black friend and I say it to her, she should be offended because I am white? If you quote that song you have to be black?? or if you speak like that you have to be black?? Either of these assumptions are stereotypical in itself, and that's the only way you can find that patient saying that insulting. While some of the examples listed above describe horrific accounts of racism, I also think people sometimes want to take things to another level and be too sensitive. I am white and went to a large majority african american nursing school and wow did I have a LOT of experiences with racism being white. When I was accepted as well as about 8 other white people at the beginning of the program, I heard girls who didnt get in that semester and their mothers outside the BSN office complaining that we (being the white people) were taking "their spots" and this is "their school" and also saying we couldn't get in the white schools. Granted they weren't saying this to us but were saying it LOUD where they didn't care who heard. Honestly I can't even imagine if I was at a majority white school EVER EVER thinking that the black people accepted were taking a white persons seat. That would never cross my mind. Racism definitely goes both ways and I can give so many examples from experiences I had while in nursing school.

PeachPie · Jun 1, 2009

I encounter a kind of racism that isn't as stigmatized. I'm half Japanese, and some older people still use the racial slur used during World War II. Many don't even know that it's a racial slur, and I inform them that the word is inappropriate. Another thing that some people ask is if my Japanese mom was a war bride. War bride? My mother came to the States as an exchange student and has a degree in math and computer science! My dad didn't rescure her from anything, and she's smarter than him! It may not seem offensive, but it's tantamount to asking if your mother was a prostitute or a green card/gold digger who can't speak the language and needs a man. Usually people quickly gain understanding after quietly and tactfully telling them these things, but it's still kind of unnerving.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jun 1, 2009

I encounter a kind of racism that isn't as stigmatized. I'm half Japanese, and some older people still use the racial slur used during World War II. Many don't even know that it's a racial slur, and I inform them that the word is inappropriate. Another thing that some people ask is if my Japanese mom was a war bride. War bride? My mother came to the States as an exchange student and has a degree in math and computer science! My dad didn't rescure her from anything, and she's smarter than him! It may not seem offensive, but it's tantamount to asking if your mother was a prostitute or a green card/gold digger who can't speak the language and needs a man. Usually people quickly gain understanding after quietly and tactfully telling them these things, but it's still kind of unnerving.

iv never known this term to be derogatory.....i have known of at least two, admittedly they were English speakers, one English and one Scot......do your patients truly mean it to be disrepectful, or curious?

as a side note, both my parents were in the service for WWII, so, yes i am familiar with the term.

LEN-RN · Jun 1, 2009

Its not just nursing, its that way in all areas of life. And it happens to all of us, male, female, black, white. I see less Complaints of black/white issue but more complaints of not being able to understand someone because of a language barrier. I can sympathize with patients on that one. But if anything is said, its accused of being a racial thing AND being prejudice from people from other countries. That is so far from the truth. A service is being provided and it should be easily understood.

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Jun 1, 2009

When we have that situation, we swap nurses. I had a friend who had a trash talking redneck, using the "n" word (and I don't mean "nurse"), so we swapped patients. When he said he was so glad to have one of "us" as a nurse, I told him there was no "us" since I had nothing in common with the likes of him. I called the doc, and the doc came in early the next morning and dc'd him at 0530.

None of us are paid enough to waste a minute of our lives with creatures like that.

Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN · Jun 1, 2009

Just to add another dimension to this issue...I am white. I am from South Louisiana (with the thick Cajun accent to show for it). People assume that I am racist, and it is deeply hurtful to me. I get terribly offended when someone assumes that because a) I am white and b) I am from the South then I must be racist, this could not be farther from the truth.

As far as the issue at hand, I think for the nurse's sake if anything the patient's request should be accomodated if possible. I would hate to be the manager to assign a minority nurse to a patient who is openly biased against said minority. That is just not good for anyone involved. Honestly, it baffles the mind that the patient would have the gall to make such a request in this day and age. Hopefully requests like that are few and far between.

LEN-RN · Jun 1, 2009

I encounter a kind of racism that isn't as stigmatized. I'm half Japanese, and some older people still use the racial slur used during World War II. Many don't even know that it's a racial slur, and I inform them that the word is inappropriate. Another thing that some people ask is if my Japanese mom was a war bride. War bride? My mother came to the States as an exchange student and has a degree in math and computer science! My dad didn't rescure her from anything, and she's smarter than him! It may not seem offensive, but it's tantamount to asking if your mother was a prostitute or a green card/gold digger who can't speak the language and needs a man. Usually people quickly gain understanding after quietly and tactfully telling them these things, but it's still kind of unnerving.

PeachPie, I wouldnt take being asked about "war bride" as being disrespectful. I think its out of curiosity. Most people like to hear stories of how people met. Especially older patients. And just because someone was a war bride doesnt mean they were poor and needed rescued. Or that they were not intelligent. Just from WWI and WWII, there were several hundred thousand "war brides" brought to the U. S. from all over the world. Many smart, successful women. From ALL over the world, not just from Japan.

APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP · Jun 1, 2009

"War Bride" is not the term that was being referred to as being disrespectful.....

2BSure · Jun 1, 2009

When we have that situation, we swap nurses. I had a friend who had a trash talking redneck, using the "n" word (and I don't mean "nurse"), so we swapped patients. When he said he was so glad to have one of "us" as a nurse, I told him there was no "us" since I had nothing in common with the likes of him. I called the doc, and the doc came in early the next morning and dc'd him at 0530.
None of us are paid enough to waste a minute of our lives with creatures like that.

I see the point of this -- it prevents "harm and/or abuse" of staff. We actually do this too. Unfortunately, it is like co-signing the racist person's bull poop.