I have been working as a registered Nurse for six months now and cannot help but recognize that people consistently pre-judge me. I am a young African American female and multiple times during my shifts people assume that I am a CNA. The state came to our facility and they also assumed that I was a LPN.
There is a white new graduate nurse who got promoted to nurse supervisor a month after working at my facility. She has an associate degree while I'm attending an ivy league nursing school to obtain my BSN.
I'm just wondering if there are other nurses out there who experience prejudice in nursing.
Agree with your definition, but I must disagree with your concept of what qualifies a person to be a manager. I work with plenty of ADNs, one of whom is the boss of several BSNs. Personality as well as experience play a big part in who gets promoted and who doesn't.
For instance, I'm a BSN-prepared RN with more experience on the inpatient ward in my hospital than most of the other RNs up there. Does that mean I'd make a good manager? I'd do my job of course if that's what I was assigned to do, but I don't enjoy management, and no amount of education or work experience is likely to change that.
I'm sorry you're experiencing this, but workplaces are complex, especially when it comes to management. There may be (and likely is) more behind this scenario than you're aware.
Argh, Soldiernurse, Not only did they make a thread about the very volatile subject of race, but now we are looking at another ADN vs BSN vs MSN battle royal!! Hey, just for good measure, maybe I should bring up that time I was given orientation to a new job by an LPN, oh goodness me, and was sooo offended by this. Then sit back and watch the chaos, with a nice bowl of popcorn.
If I'm going to work Christmas eve and night, might as well create havoc and make people miserable. Muahahahahaha! Merry Christmas everyone!
Ooh, ooh, I've got another one guaranteed to bring in a few.
How unfair is it that I have to work Christmas when I've got a young child at home, and I'm young and pretty (please, people, see this as the joke that it is lol). Why can't all the single, ugly, old biddies work for me, because Lord knows they can't have plans?!
Now....dance, puppets, dance!!!
Sorry mods, since it's already derailed, thought I'd give it a good shove off the tracks altogether.
Then can you tell me what does qualify someone as a racist? It seems that most of you posters are calling these people asses or jerks...everything except racist. I personally wouldn't take it that far and call them racist. I would be using the wrong terminology. Prejudice is the correct term. Does a racist person have to hang someone to be considered a racist or can their pre-judgment qualify them as well? There seems to be a blurred line.
I would hesitate to call a person a racist unless there is an established pattern of preference or discrimination against a group of people that is ethnically or culturally based.
In the scenario you set up in your OP, there is a single event of a white ADN nurse being promoted over you. That is hardly enough to throw the race card with any certainty. Could it be a factor? Sure. Is it the reason you weren't promoted? Possibly. But to jump out and cry it was racism? Unfounded, at least until you start to see a pattern with some real evidence.
Thank you for having an open mind and not shutting out the possibility that there is a high chance that race is involved. We can eliminate knowing the right people because she just met everyone. Have any more ideas other than race?
Argh, Soldiernurse, Not only did they make a thread about the very volatile subject of race, but now we are looking at another ADN vs BSN vs MSN battle royal!! Hey, just for good measure, maybe I should bring up that time I was given orientation to a new job by an LPN, oh goodness me, and was sooo offended by this. Then sit back and watch the chaos, with a nice bowl of popcorn.
If I'm going to work Christmas eve and night, might as well create havoc and make people miserable. Muahahahahaha! Merry Christmas everyone!
Ooh, ooh, I've got another one guaranteed to bring in a few.
How unfair is it that I have to work Christmas when I've got a young child at home, and I'm young and pretty (please, people, see this as the joke that it is lol). Why can't all the single, ugly, old biddies work for me, because Lord knows they can't have plans?!
Now....dance, puppets, dance!!!
Sorry mods,since it's already derailed, thought I'd give it a good shove off the tracks altogether.
Oh uRNmyway, thank you for making my night a little more amusing! Do you have any spare popcorn?
I never used the term racist. I don't know who came up with this saying "race card" but white people seem to like to use it whenever there are accusations. No, I think you are not considering race as a possibility and you are calling me out as using the "race card" when you yourself stated that you need more evidence. If you need more evidence, you cannot determine whether me using the race card is warranted.
Oh and I see...in order to be prejudice you have to commit the act numerous times before being labeled. Makes a lot of sense .
Thank you for having an open mind and not shutting out the possibility that there is a high chance that race is involved. We can eliminate knowing the right people because she just met everyone. Have any more ideas other than race?
I didn't say what I thought the chances were--I simply said it was possible. And that said, anything is possible.
In fact, the possibilities of what could be behind this are innumerable.
I never used the term racist. I don't know who came up with this saying "race card" but white people seem to like to use it whenever there are accusations. No, I think you are not considering race as a possibility and you are calling me out as using the "race card" when you yourself stated that you need more evidence. If you need more evidence, you cannot determine whether me using the race card is warranted.
Oh and I see...in order to be prejudice you have to commit the act numerous times before being labeled. Makes a lot of sense .
Oh yes...please, in a thread about racism, generalize about what "white people" do.
I said flat out in several posts that race was a possibility, but I hesitated to say it WAS the reason. You need more evidence...plain and simple.
Unless you're in the minds of the people around you, yes--you typically need an established pattern of behavior to show that someone is racist. Unless someone's running with the KKK or doing something that's really obviously racist, most people are smart enough to cover their tracks. Otherwise, the simple act of not promoting a minority can be misconstrued as racism, and we can't have that, right?
I don't care what category the subject race falls under. I am being affected by it. I was not taught in any school to say anything about race. What school taught you that? I have been to this site but have never posted. Thanks for the warm welcoming.
Truly, you are a human being of unparalleled generosity and delightful wit, but alas, I must insist you keep at least half the popcorn for yourself as I am no longer planning to actively post on this thread but instead haunt it as a popcorn consuming, wine drinking ghost. Though I admit, I may be tempted out of phantom-hood in a display of wine-induced bravado by more of your sarcastically provocative and ironically insightful posts.
Indeed, I feel I have stated my opinion succinctly and repeatedly, only to be ignored by an alleged Ivy-leaguer whose reading comprehension skills leave something to be desired. At any rate, I think all who feast their eyes upon this tragedy of an attempted discussion will understand (ironically) that experience, education and above all, maturity, ought to be considered when promoting and retaining nurses in managerial positions.
.
uRNmyway, ASN, RN
1,080 Posts
Argh, Soldiernurse, Not only did they make a thread about the very volatile subject of race, but now we are looking at another ADN vs BSN vs MSN battle royal!! Hey, just for good measure, maybe I should bring up that time I was given orientation to a new job by an LPN, oh goodness me, and was sooo offended by this. Then sit back and watch the chaos, with a nice bowl of popcorn.
If I'm going to work Christmas eve and night, might as well create havoc and make people miserable. Muahahahahaha! Merry Christmas everyone!
Ooh, ooh, I've got another one guaranteed to bring in a few.
How unfair is it that I have to work Christmas when I've got a young child at home, and I'm young and pretty (please, people, see this as the joke that it is lol). Why can't all the single, ugly, old biddies work for me, because Lord knows they can't have plans?!
Now....dance, puppets, dance!!!
Sorry mods, since it's already derailed, thought I'd give it a good shove off the tracks altogether.