Race during report.

No good reason that I can think of.

Sounds like a nurse who cannot think in terms other than checking off all the boxes on a mental or written checklist.

i can honestly not see why race/color of skin would be of importance. it's the whole person and their condition that is important. geez !

Unless they dont speak english I dont mention the race. If they dont speak English I will say for example they are spanish and have do not understand a bit of English--good luck. How odd she would insist that...

You should have said well they are 25% German 25% Italian and have mix of French and American Indian thrown in and I am guessing it looks like maybe some spanish. Brown hair but green eyes.

Maybe its information needed for their records. We usually give this information and it is recorded in our charting. For example: "This is Mr smith, 40 yo WM". I dont think anyone was trying to be rude or anything but if someone asks for information its usually because they need it for some reason or another. I dont think its right for anyone to be so quick to judge this nurse's need to know a patient's race.

Race is not simply skin color. It can aid in determining the predispositions for certain medical conditions (hypertension, sickle cell, etc.). It also commonly affects how many medications are metabolized and tolerated. African Americans are less sensitive to anti-inflammatories, ACE-inhibitors, and may display delayed metabolism of benzodiazepines. Arab and Asian Americans metabolize antiepileptics differently than other races and are more at risk for toxicity from these drugs.

So, race can make a very important difference.

I see age and race more as identifying factors than anything else. If I receive report on a 40 yo white female and then walk into a room and find a 70 year old black woman, I readily know something aint right.

It is not my intention to discriminate. Just like with age, it helps me to ID a patient.

Race is not simply skin color. It can aid in determining the predispositions for certain medical conditions (hypertension, sickle cell, etc.). It also commonly affects how many medications are metabolized and tolerated. African Americans are less sensitive to anti-inflammatories, ACE-inhibitors, and may display delayed metabolism of benzodiazepines. Arab and Asian Americans metabolize antiepileptics differently than other races and are more at risk for toxicity from these drugs.

So, race can make a very important difference.

I agree to all of that, but this was in report, the nurse was getting the new patient---she would soon see the race herself.

i never really understood reports/data that start with, 67yo wf...

i suppose they're only distinguishing characterisitics.

but to insist on knowing one's race?

hmmmm...not too sure about that.

leslie

It is very important as a patient identifier. A person's race and cultural beliefs are also important when planning the care of a patient. For example, I have read a patient's chart or their medical records stating on the paperwork they were White and entered the patients room to see they were Black. Operative report, no doubt. Different races of people react to meds differently and disease process is different. You don't want to walk into a Muslim patients room with bacon strips on the plate for breakfast! ( you can bring it in mine ) But most nurses I don't think mean anything bad by it when they ask. Just being thorough.

I've never identified a patient's race--seems irrelevant to me.

On a side note, a BIG pet peeve of mine is when someone calls a person of Hispanic descent "Spanish." Spanish may be the language spoken by Latinos but that does not make them "Spanish." That would be like calling me "English" when I am actually mostly of German descent.

Sometimes it's helpful as part of the social situation, but I doubt I would ask for it. But then....our unit is different from a lot of places because it's closed, and there are often some interesting family dynamics that take place. It's nice to have a "heads-up" beforehand. You know...something like, "the black guy with the parent wristband is the bio-dad, and the white-guy with the parent wristband is mom's new boyfriend." That little tidbit would save me a lot of foot-in-mouth potential!

But would I demand it? Nah....probably not.