racist comment

[XXl-cool]

Has anyone ever had comments regarding your nationality made by patients?

[TazziRN, RN]

I am half Korean. I had an ER pt one day who was married to a Korean, and he kept calling me a half-breed: "You're a half-breed like my son", etc. His son came in to see him and the pt told him "That nurse is a half-breed like you." I heard this for HOURS. He was admitted to a tele bed and when I took him to his room and he made the half-breed comment to the tele nurse, I'd had enough. I looked him square in the eye and said "I am half Korean. I am not a half-breed and neither is your son." And I left.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I never heard of the little boy, little girl thing either.

The following definition for "boy" is taken from Word Source.

(ethnic slur) offensive and disparaging term for Black man.

http://vdict.com/boy,7.html

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

The following definition for "boy" is taken from Word Source.

http://vdict.com/boy,7.html

Commuter, I have heard the terms used in a derogatory way also..mainly by the older patients. You can tell they don't mean it nice either by the tone of voice.

In my first semester of nursing school, I had an elderly patient that kept using the N-word- guess she felt "safe" using it since I'm white..I told her please don't use that term, and she complained to my clinical instructor! Thankfully, the instructor wasn't an ignoramus and actually, no one had this lady again for a patient.

How horrible though that this nonsense still goes on..

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

Once I had a patient with pain issues, kept on the light about two or three minutes after pain medication was administered to tell me that it hadn't worked.

I called a CNA in there who was from Mongolia to help reposition the lady to see if it helped. As I told her she was not due for any more pain medication yet as it was only 10 minutes since I had given her a pill she came out with "British and Chinese come over to America to become prostitutes" (I am British) I suppose that was the most demeaning thing she could think of at the time. Yes she was A&Ox3 but in her eighties.

I've had others but mostly brush them off. Seems like a lot of the posts on here are to do with race. Yes, you can be white and have patients be rude about your nationality.

[babynurselsa, RN]

I have had my heritage called into question, but not my nationality......

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

Not my nationality, but the fact that I'm from the South and, even after 12 years, speak with a Southern accent (which is really pronounced when I'm mad). I have been told that because of my accent i can't be a good nurse because "all Southerners are stupid".

[Miami NightNurse]

I have had patients that didn't want me as their nurse because I don't speak Spanish. It doesn't bother me if they speak only spanish but if they spoke English too, and that has happened, it really ticks me off. We had a couple of patients who would refuse to have a black nurse take care of them, that always ticks me off. Especially since the black nurses they were complaining about were awesome nurses. But then again we have to understand that that is how they were raised and that's the way they feel, we can't change them- well if they are old I can look at it that way. If they are young it's unacceptable and should not be tolerated.

[KLKRN, RN]

I've had the same experience as Alexis. And like her, if they don't speak English, I work around that, but when they can and won't speak English and get mad at me for not speaking fluent Spanish, that really ticks me off.

I'm Irish/American and I was told by one British patient that all Irish people are lazy drunks. I disagreed, and reminded him that many people see British men in a different light than he saw himself as well.

[KLKRN, RN]

Commuter: I am familiar with the slur "boy," but not "little girl/little boy."

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Commuter: I am familiar with the slur "boy," but not "little girl/little boy."

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

It's all good.

[leslie :-D]

Commuter: I am familiar with the slur "boy," but not "little girl/little boy."

for the life of me, i cannot find any site referencing little girl, little boy as a racial slur.

i looked at urbandictionary.com and slangsite.com.

i did find the reference to "boy" used disparingly....

i've been called 'little girl' more times i can count.

good to know, commuter.

leslie

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

I'd like to ask the original poster if there was some personal experience that made them start the thread?

If there was, please don't let it eat you up. Sick people are not always nice people unfortunately.