Race during report.

[emnicams]

Do you give the patient's race during report? I don't, because I don't really feel it's pertinent to my care. Now I can see if there was a cultural or language issue, but just skin color, I don't mention it and neither do most nurses on my floor... some do, it's just a personal thing I guess. But yesterday I transferred a patient to non-tele, and as I was giving the nurse report over the phone, I stated the pt's age and sex and started to move on and she rather snottily demanded the patient's race. I was just wondering if there is a good reason we need to have that info before taking a patient?

[ilstu99]

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.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Now that you mention it no. Usually it's things like "Spanish speaking only", "speaks Creole only" or stuff like that, but not race.

[NeosynephRN]

I can remember one time I included it....I had a nice woman and when I was giving report her family was in the room...about 15 of them. She was an out of hospital arrest with a 30 min down time, and the family was prepared for the worst outcome...the entire family was african american and I told the nurse that the patient was white...just so she would not be really suprized when she went in. Probably was not needed, but I thought I would make a point of it, so she would know that it was really the patients family...we had so odd goings on the the previous months...it was definately situational. I never ask...or care to know the race of a pt I am getting..

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

If I've got patients in a double, and one's black and one's asian for example, I differentiate -- "Mr. J in bed 32B is a 84 year old black male, pt of dr. K, admitted with...." -- if they walk in and the B bed person's completely disoriented and trying to get into bed A, it's easier for the nurse to call the right pt by the right name when they're both squabbling over a single bed. If they're same race, then I might say one's got hair, one doesn't, something, so that they can tell quickly if they've got the right pt and can't get to the bracelet for some reason.

If the pt has a different language, or is in for a medical reason associated with ethnicity, then I'd include that, such as sickle cell, or speaks only cantonese. If a person has a religious exemption, I'd also include that, as in "pt was admitted for GI bleed, HGB is 7.5, but refuses transfusion d/t being a Jehovah witness."

[Dolce, RN]

If a person has a religious exemption, I'd also include that, as in "pt was admitted for GI bleed, HGB is 7.5, but refuses transfusion d/t being a Jehovah witness."

I like to know stuff like that in report too.

[Dixielee, BSN, RN]

I don't routinely mention a persons race, as it is generally irrelevant in an ER to floor report. I worked many years as a traveler and worked in areas that seemed to have a high precentage of mixed race families. Arizona had lots of hispanic/white mixes, parts of California had lots of Asian/white mixes. Oklahoma had lots of native American/white/black mxes, Atlanta has a blend of races as well. So I gave up even trying to guess someone's race!

Obviously if there is something specific to this patient, then it will be mentioned, but otherwise, race is not an issue.

[emnicams]

I did mention in the first post that cultural or religious issues are a different matter. Here I am speaking of skin color only. The nurse I gave report to actually said snippily: "White or Black?"

[Dolce, RN]

I did mention in the first post that cultural or religious issues are a different matter. Here I am speaking of skin color only. The nurse I gave report to actually said snippily: "White or Black?"

Wow. As if those are the only two races in the world. Sounds like that nurse has a problem.

[NurseCard, ADN]

Only when I worked psych did our reports always include the patient's race, and I have to assume it's because it was SO very important to be able to readily identify what all of our patients looked like.

[psalm, RN]

I appreciate knowing a patient's race for the reasons stated above, of certain conditions prevalent to certain races, and also the metabolism of meds being different. Skin care and hair care issues are different...not superior or inferior, but different. Anything that aids us in giving the best care.

[Jen01tx]

If this was a patient being transferred from your unit to another, asking for the race of the client seems legitimate. Some nurses just like to be thorough when giving or recieving report.

Somone mentioned how race plays a role in how an individual might metabolize certain drugs, etc. Personally, I don't think that it would be the nurse who would to use race in any decision making process. Rather, the doctor might actually be the person who needs that information, being that he is the one prescribing the drugs.

[vashtee, RN]

Somone mentioned how race plays a role in how an individual might metabolize certain drugs, etc. Personally, I don't think that it would be the nurse who would to use race in any decision making process. Rather, the doctor might actually be the person who needs that information, being that he is the one prescribing the drugs.

It might prevent the nurse from questioning orders for higher or lower-than-usual dosages of certain medications though, don't you think?