Patients and the race card

[CanadaEh]

I am a fairly new nurse and many of my co-workers have run into situations where a patient pulls the race card on them. This has not yet happened to me, but I'm sure with time it will.

Just wondering how others have handled this type of situation and how patients have reacted.

Thanks!

[fromtheseaRN, BSN, RN]

the race card?

unfortunately race still does prohibit a lot of people from certain things in life, whether you like it or not.

[Katie5]

I am a fairly new nurse and many of my co-workers have run into situations where a patient pulls the race card on them. This has not yet happened to me, but I'm sure with time it will.

Just wondering how others have handled this type of situation and how patients have reacted.

Thanks!

Please explain more dear:)

[Darjeeling22]

What exactly do you mean by the 'race card'?

Call me obtuse. But as a "minority" (I detest that term) myself, I don't want to assume that I know what this means to someone else.

[headinsandRN]

op....no one has played the race card on you but you are sure in time someone will?

are you saying racism is dead stiff and rotten?

tread lightly.this isnt the most insulting post i have ever read, but it is working on miss congenality.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

"tread lightly.this isnt the most insulting post i have ever read, but it is working on miss congenality"

I'm thinking headinsandRN meant to say "but it isn't working on miss congeniality."

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

'Playing the race card' how? Isn't a patient a patient? I don't see how race even comes into play?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

you're going to have to explain more.

i've seen patients reject certain nurses due to racial issues, but i've never seen the reverse.

[JacknSweetpea]

Perhaps the OP is meaning that he/she may come across patients in the future whom might accuse the OP of not doing this or that because they are this or that race. Who knows? The truest thing my mother has ever told me is that the general public sucks. My mother was a waitress for nearly 20 years before becoming an RN. There are some patients and their families whom are looking to cause problems with a facility and the staff, and will not hesitate to make stuff up. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

OP, being a "fairly new" nurse, I'm thinking you may learn a valuable lesson from this post and from the answers. None of us are quite sure what your co-workers mean by "pulling the race card" but I daresay that most/all of the responders so far have taken a little offense at your wording.

The lesson you learn may not be exactly the one you were expecting, but I hope that you will learn from it nonetheless.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

Perhaps the OP means a pt will say something like "If I white, I would get that XRay/CT scan/MRI faster". I have had pts say something like that to me.

I just respond that this hospital treats everyone exactly the same regardless of colour.

[brownbook]

I wanted to not dignify this post with a response. Then I thought my silence might mean acceptance of your implication.

Sick, worried, anxious, patients and their families do say mean hurtful things. They can be of any race.

You are a professional. Whatever they say you handle yourself with dignity, politely disagree, "No sir we are not delaying your treatment because of your race, the prior surgery took longer than scheduled. Would you like to speak to my supervisor." Or whatever the situation calls for.

If you are of the opinion that people of a certain race behave differently, in a negative manner, than your race, you are in the wrong profession, indeed the wrong century!!!!!