"No nurses of color....."

Nurses Relations

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What in the world are we supposed to do when a patient makes it known that they "don't want any nurses of color taking care of them"?

There was a patient on my unit last week who mentioned this (I have no idea who she told this to, administration, the doctors, I have no idea who she notified). She was in her 20s and was not on the unit for mental illness issues at all, she had an OBGYN related surgery and was not under any sedative medications, she was able-bodied with full mental capacity! Thank goodness for the patient none of the nurses (all of whom but 2 out of 50-something nurses are people of color) knew about this patient's odd request until she was discharged from the hospital.

What I really wanted to do and say were unprofessional. What are we supposed to do when someone comes to hospital with this request?

honestly, i found this to be more prevalent in the south when i worked at several facilities and mostly with the older patients. consequently, the staff never took it personally and they accommodated and respected the patients request. having said that, i'm appalled of some of the request of this nature being that we are in the 21 century. however, it is what it is.

have a rather ecumenical set of friends who happen to be rns in the nyc area and run the gamut of ages, genders, races and sexual orientations and am here to tell you they've heard it all. one guy calls such requests "there for the grace of god go i" requests after the old disco song. by that he means patients who make requests for "no blacks, no jews, and no gays" nurses.

also know of a transgender nurse whose life was made absolute heck. she ended up leaving hospital work and going over to a gay health network. my filipino nurse friends also report requests for "another" nurse or their favourite "a nurse who speaks english". and so it goes.

point is one knows we are supposed to be living in modern times where things like race or sexual orientation but to paraphrasing mammy from gwtw, what people say and what they think are often two different things. this usually comes out when they are ill and naturally feel vunerable and or afraid.

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We were getting close in the 60's then a gun shot changed the world forever.

If by "we" you mean the United States, no we weren't and still aren't by a long measure.

My parents and other adults were young during the 1960's and 1970's and tell stories of how things were even in NYC. Yes, Congress passed all sorts of laws and acts but you cannot legislate how people feel/think.

Right up and through the 1970's or so there was a serious racial problem in the United States, it was just sometimes a bit less blantant, but never the less it exsisted. You only have to watch "All In The Family" to hear Archie Bunker's often racially tinged statements reflect upon society as it was. Yes, people laughed but underneath most everyone knew that is how many people felt. Blacks faced uphill battles to get into construction or longshoremen's unions, and often their attempts were met with baseball bats. Certain sections of civil service weren't much better either.

One of the most damaging things however was often the wholesale white flight out of cities and urban areas in favour of the suburbs/countryside. Today we are still seeing effects of this in that urban school districts are mostly poor with minority children, whereas the opposite is true in the suburbs. Indeed this country is probably more divided down racial lines today than it ever was during the 1950's or 1960's.

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Specializes in Orthopaedic Nursing; Geriatrics.

We had a reverse issue at our facility a few years ago. A patient said she would not alllow anyone taking care of her unless they were black. Well... I live in a small Midwestern town. Sorry honey - it just wasn't happening here. Not that we are racist, we just don't have a lot of diversity in this area!

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"melanin deficient"!!!! I LOVE that, so hilarious!

Cause we all are of some color, are we not?:cool: (and not to dis any nurses who do have a melanin deficency, but god bless them if they have to take care of EVERY ignoramous on the floor)

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
Cause we all are of some color, are we not?:cool: (and not to dis any nurses who do have a melanin deficency, but god bless them if they have to take care of EVERY ignoramous on the floor)
So if I refuse to be taken care of by someone with a deficiency in the use of proper capitalization and grammar, does that make a bigot of some sort?
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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

So stupid that this us even an issue in this day and age, but it seems like most people realize the ones making these requests are just idiots.

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Specializes in Med/Surg,Cardiac.

I had a young, black female refuse for me to care for her. I am white and the place I worked at was in a predominantly black area. Problem was that I was the only nurse on the floor. I called my nurse manager, who was black, and she spoke to the patient. Honestly, I felt uncomfortable caring for her but I didn't have much choice.

I hate that these issues even exist. I don't care what color you are as long as you take good care of me. Unless you are jaundiced or green tinted, in which case I'll suggest you get checked out too.

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Specializes in critical care.

I believe the requests should be honored if possible. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, you can't fix stupid. Why put the staff in that position?

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I believe the requests should be honored if possible. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, you can't fix stupid. Why put the staff in that position?

Thing is it can be the start of a slippery slope. Where do you draw the line? If you start allowing patients to dictate (where possible) the race of the nurse whom cares for them where does it end? Will you allow requests based upon religion, sexual preference, nationality?

People who make such requests need to realise they are in hospital because they require care, and it is the nursing staff charged with providing that care. Sadly for them there aren't nurses of every race, religion, creed and what not hanging around on tenter hooks waiting to be summoned for duty. Long as the care is being provided by a competent, caring and professional nurse you take what is on offer or deal with two main options; transfer to another facility and let them deal with your maddness and or sign out AMA.

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So if I refuse to be taken care of by someone with a deficiency in the use of proper capitalization and grammar, does that make a bigot of some sort?

Sarcasm and dry humor don't always translate well in text.

To answer your question, no it doesn't make you a bigot, however it makes you less than a fan of my responses. Which is ok, it is what it is.

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Specializes in MDS, Home Health, Hospice, Director.

I think passive aggressiveness is always the best... assign only black clinicians to this patient and have them all explain that they are not black, but may have ancestors who may have had some black in them... but that they identify as white.

Of course I am kidding. I say that we should not honor those requests and let the patient know that we don't assign based on color, religion, or sex.

Or of course, that all of our white nurses have requested not to be assigned to this particular patient. Again, kidding.

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i am a 30 something white nursing student in the south, which is probably 75% AA. I Grew up in New England. Race does not bother me, I have a brain, and morals. I will not put up with anyone calling me a stupid white (you know what).....just as much as I would not tolerate anyone calling someone a stupid black (you know what) either. Now if they say I dont want a (race) person taking care of me, i would ask why. there could be a reason. maybe raped by someone of the opposite race. but if it turns out they are just being a bigot, They would be told to deal with it, they will get the best care with us, with it or go find another hospital/nursing home, etc. because I don't put up with bigotry/racisim from ANY race. I dont care what happened in the past....wars, slavery, whatever....it's 2012. and ALL races need to chill, and get over it, put on your grown up panties and move on!

heck i just told my 85 yr old AA neighbor to get a grip or stay the he** out of my yard, because our property line actually goes about 20 feet into what she thought was her yard....so when we had our fence and larger driveway put up to accomodate our 3 car garage, oh she came out and called us everything but white people.......and i don't care if this is a predominantly AA area....."I" pay taxes on my property....i will do as i please with MY property....and if she dont like it, tough (you know what).....but dont you dare call out racial slurs to ME.....i may be white, and her relatives may have gone through some heinour crap in the past, but its not my problem, dont you DARE take it out on me. especially since these people come eat our food and "borrow" money, ask my husband to fix things in their house....and then talk to me like that? NUH-UH! lol.

oh, she apologized a day later. lol. i dont invite her to my home anymore now, though. I wont let her speak to me like that in front of my kids.

sorry, rant over/. lol

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