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?

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

I think most people are generally too caught up on the whole race things...on both sides of the issue. Both their own race and others.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

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?"

i hope i would have been quick enough to say "neither". and keep on giving report......

[correctlywrong]

I have issues with the idea that race is readily visible or that it equates to culture. Skin color isn't everything.

Muslim patients come in all skin tones, and I know some Arabic folks who would be highly offended at the assumption that they wouldn't want bacon because of their ethnic features.

People routinely look at me and say Caucasian, but I have only one grandparent of European descent. I know many people who have one black grandparent and three white grandparents, but who are viewed as black.

Race isn't a clear cut thing, especially not in America's melting pot. If you haven't asked your patient their ethnicity or cultural/religious affiliation, you really shouldn't report it. Just looking and judging based on their physical features or language isn't enough.

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

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.

race does not exist; it is a social concept. if you want to think in terms of cultural or ethnicity to provide holistic care, there is evidence to show that this provides the best outcomes. however providing care based upon race is dangerous! i just completed a paper on ace inhibitors as they relate to african americans and found that many studies point to genetics that determines positive and negative outcomes, which not all of those of african descent carry. a rn that is not aware of this is dangerous imo.

-4th semester adn

[Jules A, MSN]

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?"

This keeps coming up so I wonder if it isn't more about your feelings regarding the nurse's attitude? When we transfer or admit a pt our intake form includes race. FWIW I prefer to know everything possible about my pts.

[frenchfroggyAPRN, MSN, LPN, RN, APRN]

In our town we have two women with the same name, one is white, the other is black. When we give report on this name, we will say the white,black one. There is nothing condescending about this in our report. This way we know who we are taking care of.

[CHATSDALE]

maybe she was checking off boxes as she was taking report

a kardex will list 35 y/o wf

maybe she was really being rude maybe she was just tired there is enough bad in the world w/o seeing it where it isn't there

[Jen01tx]

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

True.

[Jen01tx]

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

True.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

It doesn't come up where I work, but I guess it would be helpful to know. As mentioned, this information can give hints of being predisposed of certain conditions. Thinking about it, though, we have had no reason to inquire very often.

[Atheos]

I know race has some specific predispositions to certain conditions. Is there ever a circumstance where race would lead to a different (Not less quality or effectiveness) way of attacking a problem? Are there different interventions for people of different races?

[Dolce, RN]

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

True.

Yes, I suppose this is true. However, the problem with categorizing a patient as "white" or "black" is that it overlooks a person's true heritage. There have been studies published about the incidence of a specific type of dementia among people from the area of the Ukraine that my ancestors are from. That piece of information might be useful to my healthcare providers if I ever develop dementia--but it won't be noticed if I am simply categorized as "white." I'm not "white"--I have a variety of different ethnicities. It is the same with Ashkenazi Jews who are "white" but are more predisposed to Tay-Sachs disease than other ethnicities. There are numerous other examples of ethnic-specific diseases and conditions.

I used to work with a woman who was blond-haired and blue-eyed and very fair skinned. She had been adopted by a Latino family as a child and her primary language was Spanish. She identified herself culturally as a Hispanic. However, she didn't "look" like she fit into that culture. Unfortunately people lose their identity when they become categorized by their skin tone as a "race."