Patients and the race card

Darjeeling22 · Nov 5, 2010

think Condoleeza Rice. She did a great job, quietly focusing on the task at hand. She didn't engage in jibber jabber or field stupid questions. She was professional in her interactions. I think this is more the poster's idea of "successful", if I may say so. No Kanye moment for her.

I'm not sure who Kanye is, so the comparison's unfortunately lost. I really don't, however, see a line between a long-weary struggle with racial identity and whether people are stupid or not.

I'm in major agreement with what Julian Bond said in 1999, that the biggest social issue facing the United States in the next century would be the breakdown of racial lines. As a mixed child I was ostracized in school because of the way I was raised -- not identifying with one "race" over another so much as with the individuals of my family.

The social ramifications of not conforming to expected behaviors are stiff. It may not seem like it looking in. While I do hope one day racial lines as we know it blend away, it's going to take a lot longer than we want to demand.

Anyway, how off-topic was that. Uh, back to OP's post.

JDZ344 · Nov 5, 2010

likely because identification of either race of the pastor or the woman is not the issue, the issue is abortion and being prolife or prochoice. Not race.

I don't think the race of the woman used in the first example (not doing CPR on a Hispanic) was the issue either. The issue there was pure racism from the nursing student. Her being black should not have needed to be mentioned in the first place. Just my £0.02.

Darjeeling22 · Nov 5, 2010

I don't think the race of the woman used in the first example (not doing CPR on a Hispanic) was the issue either. The issue there was pure racism from the nursing student. Her being black should not have needed to be mentioned in the first place. Just my £0.02.

Gracious, I explained about this.

noctanol · Nov 5, 2010

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!

Funny that most of the nurses in this post seem to brush the matter under the carpet and think that it is ok and other people are not aware of what the "race card" is. It is simply racism, YES, i said it, RACISM. Has happened to me and many of my coworkers. Example, pt did not want to be bathed by black aide and actually requested a person that is not of "color," of course the issue wasn't handled as pt's have become customers and customers are always right. Another pts daughter stated her mom grew up in different times than the ones we have today so it would be best if she had a someone of same origin (mother has dementia and has never acted in any racial manner), of course people knew it was the daugher >> I rather not write down all the example i have seen or heard, i will be writting all night

Note: it is seldom nurse to pt, as the fear of losing ones licence is apparent unless they are acting as a group or as the whole unit. Pt to staff, i see it on a weekly basis regardless of how minor it might be it still is an issue

Futterwacken · Nov 5, 2010

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I'm assuming that the OP is working in Canada by their user name.
Often the cry of racism comes as the final resort for the patient to get what they feel entitled to. A family emptied out the patient nutrition centre of snacks, juice, tea. When advised that the food was for patient consumption only, they were screamed at and told it was traditional in their culture to offer visitors food, but hey the hospital was full of racist nurses because I guess it had never crossed this families thought process to bring food to the hospital, I mean we're not in Mogadishu General.
So, have you been to Mogadishu General ?

DizzyLizzyNurse · Nov 5, 2010

I'm not sure who Kanye is, so the comparison's unfortunately lost. .

Kanye West is a famous rapper and I assume this is what the person who mentioned him meant:

Katie5 · Nov 5, 2010

likely because identification of either race of the pastor or the woman is not the issue, the issue is abortion and being prolife or prochoice. Not race.

Seriously?How does being prolife or prochoice factor into a thread on "race"?

I miss the analogy.

nursejoed · Nov 5, 2010

Lets all grab our pitchforks and torches and throw her/him to the wolves! Sheesh, some of you people take 'The Internets' far too seriously. Notice how this topic snowballed before the OP had time to clarify. Retract the claws people!

Don't you know about the "Righteous Indignation Crowd" that routinely highjacks posts here to enable their addiction to being offended?

sissykim · Nov 5, 2010

:uhoh3:It is so obvious that we(nurses) are devided in every way imagined. No concensus. No agreement. It makes sence now that anyone and everyone who wants to challenge us, pay us unfairly, employ with poor conditions, make laws we don't get to vote on but must abide by, only to nurses. I say again, inmates have better rights than us. WE ARE TOAST. We can agree on one thing nurse are so mean to each other.

alias · Nov 5, 2010

It's a FACT that some minorities, in particular American blacks, do receive less care in SOME situations than whites. There has been a lot of research done on this lately:

Blacks Less Likely Than Whites, Hispanics to Get Evidence-Based Stroke Care:

Blacks less likely than whites, Hispanics to get evidence-based stroke care

Blacks, Hispanics and other groups less likely to get strong pain medications in hospital Emergency Departments:

Blacks, Hispanics and other groups less likely to get strong pain medications in hospital Emergency Departments

That's just a couple of articles I picked up in a 30-second google search.

So sometimes when people "play the race card" there is a REASON behind it.

That said, we all know people who see racism where there isn't any. People are people, some are racist and some aren't. That includes patients, nurses AND nursing students. The best we can all do is try to be objective and not let our own biases get in the way of giving good care.

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Nov 5, 2010

I can say with some certainty that if a member of a minority group were to complain about perceived racism at my hospital, his/her concerns would probably be well founded.

According to the county website, this resort community is 98.3% white, 1.5% Hispanic, .2% other. I hear the "N" word at work all the time (especially in regards to our President, along with openly wishing someone would kill him), and similarily nasty names for anyone of Latin, Middle Eastern, or Jewish background. Oh, and they also hate gay/transgendered people too. I mean really hate them. I know for a fact that known homosexuals get substandard care b/c some of their nurses cannot stand to be near them, I have seen and heard it on multiple occasions. A few years ago a very well known gay man moved here; he is a somewhat famous hair stylist to the starts and he opened up a shop here, trying to cater to the very wealthy tourists (locals cannot afford $175 haircuts). It was vandalized on multiple occasions, and eventually mysteriously burned down. It's disgusting and pervasive. I mention this in case anyone here thinks discrimination or racism is dying out. It's as bad as ever IMO. We make sure to travel often so our kids are exposed to some diversity, and we try to counter all that they hear. We can't move, it's a long story.

I have not ever heard of an instance of any person making a discrimination complaint here. I suspect they are far too intimidated. This is a small community hospital, and I did have a patient last winter transfer to our CCU, by private medi-plane service, from the tertiary care University medical center we generally transfer to. Her plainly stated reason was foreign (Indian, I gathered) physicians and African American nurses. She was very clear that she would prefer care from less qualified whites (no one would argue that our little podunk 25 bed place is a preferred treatment center for AMI) to avoid having those "dirty brown people" touch her. She was 50, not 80.

It's alive and well people, and the tension about race relations is justified. The OP sounded to me like she was looking for ways to diffuse those tensions. My advice is very simple, treat everyone like you want to be treated and leave it at that.

HappyBunnyNurse · Nov 5, 2010

If a patient accuses you of racism you just ask yourself if you are treating that patient any different than you would someone of another race. If in your heart you know that you are not being racist then just let it go. Patients will accuse you of far worse regardless of your (or their) race.