Racist Patients

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Our floor is culturally diverse. We have employees from all walks of life. We recently had a patient on the floor that said that he only wanted white nurses to take care if him. I'm not sure if our manager obliged, but I think that its never ok, also I personally just wouldn't think about this when I'm in pain or in need. Its crazy. Also I have been noticing that certain patients make comments to try and relate to me or assume that I know certain things because I'm AA. A patient said to me today,"My lipgloss be poppin.." singing a song that he thought he was relating to me by singing. Or a patient said to me " Do you eat collards and fried chicken". :eek: Little comments like that. I correct them and brush it off. I have too many other problems in my day to worry about this. Also, I should say that I reside in Ga. Is it just me?

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.

Im sorry to hear this. Without starting a war here, part of the issue is that until there are more minorities in the field, things like this will happen. Other part is that some patients are just ignorent no matter what. Whether they were raised that way or not, some just will not learn or accept difference. Correcting them is the right thing. Im glad you can brush it off, sometimes I find it hard to do this.

Im puertorican. Despite wearing the nursing uniform and only the colors that LPNs and RNs can wear. I often get asked If Im the housekeeper (by staff that KNOW what the uniform colors are) or where can they find cleaning supplies. :o

ETA: Nothing wrong with being a housekeeper. Just being asked this repeatedly based on my ethnicity gets ******* annoying.

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Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

people can be very ignorant, and i feel sorry for them. we had a pt who only wanted AA nurses and no white or fillipino .. it was very hard to accomdate him because we have mostly fillipino nurses. i am white and was the charge nurse that day and had to go tell him we are limited in our AA nurses. he told me that was my problem... ooh well ... the manager had to go talk to him. it was a very long day for me.. i hope i spelled fillipino right .. sorry if i didn't.. i think it's not just the OP i think these racist people are all over. what a shame .. because we are all human beings no matter what the color is on the outside.

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"i often get asked if im the housekeeper (by staff that know what the uniform colors are) or where can they find cleaning supplies."

that's just sad and disgusting, staff should know better, i used to get really ****** at stuff like that but i realized going into the nursing field i have to have thick skin, and i'm only taking my pre-req's, but students and teachers that are of other races, minorities, etc have had snooty attitude towards me in the past(i'm aa) so it's like whatever to me now

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Our floor is culturally diverse. We have employees from all walks of life. We recently had a patient on the floor that said that he only wanted white nurses to take care if him. I'm not sure if our manager obliged, but I think that its never ok, also I personally just wouldn't think about this when I'm in pain or in need. Its crazy. Also I have been noticing that certain patients make comments to try and relate to me or assume that I know certain things because I'm AA. A patient said to me today,"My lipgloss be poppin.." singing a song that he thought he was relating to me by singing. Or a patient said to me " Do you eat collards and fried chicken". :eek: Little comments like that. I correct them and brush it off. I have too many other problems in my day to worry about this. Also, I should say that I reside in Ga. Is it just me?

OK I know this isn't helpful but I had to read your post several times to understand it. Why? I am in Alcoholics Anonymous so AA means something completely different to me. Oh well, I thought it was funny.

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Now back to your post....

Asking for a white nurse is unreal and archaic. I would be interested to know if your manager did oblige and, if yes, what their reasoning was. As for the other comments -- it is a great pity that being ignorant isn't painful. I suspect you are more than clever enough to know when someone is insulting you or not. If you think these people are trying to relate surely that is a good thing? I don't think racism is the same as ignorance but one can fuel the other. Now why they cannot relate to you on purely a human level is anybodies guess -- it is 2009 for goodness sake. Maybe the fact that they feel they can ask you stuff speaks to their respect for you.

I have no idea if this helps you reframe it or not. I am sorry that anyone would see fit to ask for a "white" nurse. That disgusts me. Wouldn't it be lovely to send in some white nurse that spoke terrible English and had bad BO. Would serve him right.

Maybe it is late and I am talking complete rubbish.

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Im sorry to hear this. Without starting a war here, part of the issue is that until there are more minorities in the field, things like this will happen. Other part is that some patients are just ignorent no matter what. Whether they were raised that way or not, some just will not learn or accept difference. Correcting them is the right thing. Im glad you can brush it off, sometimes I find it hard to do this.

Im puertorican. Despite wearing the nursing uniform and only the colors that LPNs and RNs can wear. I often get asked If Im the housekeeper (by staff that KNOW what the uniform colors are) or where can they find cleaning supplies. :o

OMG the frigging housekeeper?

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I am a black female nurse who currently lives in Texas so, yes, I also catch this type of flack on a somewhat regular basis.

I am frequently mistaken for a CNA or housekeeper by visitors and some other staff members, even though my name tag that clearly states my title and I wear the color-coded scrubs that the other licensed nurses wear. My appearance and speech are also professional. Meanwhile, it is common for visitors to approach a Caucasian dietary worker, CNA, or housekeeper and automatically assume this person is "the head nurse."

A family member once blurted out, "I'm sick and tired of the care being provided by all these ____ (insert the 'N' word)!"

Another family member stated, "The black employees are so lazy."

Since I work in elder care, I deal with many elderly residents who espouse "old-school" beliefs about people from the different races. These people aren't going to be changed, so I deal with it to the best of my ability. I'll also remove myself from a situation that causes me to feel uncomfortable.

Keep your head up and don't permit anyone to play mind games with you. No one else is worth your mental health.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

I was charge one day in the ER and our ill tempered, frequent flyer, allergic to everything except "the good stuff", drug seeking racist patient called me in there and said "I don't want a black nurse!" I told him "Wow, that's too bad. I was going to send the best nurse on the floor in with your pain meds, but since you don't want her, I guess it will be a really long wait...we're really slammed" and walked out of the room as he called "wait, wait, I changed my mind!"

I let his whiny little racist butt sit out there in triage area for 2 hours.

I wish there was a way to educate people, but stupid is stupid. I also won't subject ANY of my nurses to that. They are all educated professionals and deserve to be treated as such. Nowhere in the job description will you find the words "verbal punching bag," contrary to the current delusions of upper management who seem to think the "customer" is always right.

I've also noticed one thing that really disturbs me, and this is something of a sidebar, but as an educator, it really makes me angry that I see so much stereotyping in test banks (as some people mentioned already, why is the minority pt always portrayed as a housekeeper?) I was taught NOT to even mention race when writing an exam question, unless it is necessary (ex- if you are talking about ethnic background playing a role in risk factors, such as white women over 40 that are overweight for gallbladder disease).

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People are stupid, no getting around it :( People will always make stupid comments, ask stupid questions, even if they are trying honestly to be nice, "trying to connect" with people of other cultures, they will manage to make a fool of them selves. But it's nice to know at least they are trying I suppose. . .?

If we were all the same things would be way too boring. And if our pts were all perfect we'd have no stories to tell ;)

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Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

I have no idea if this helps you reframe it or not. I am sorry that anyone would see fit to ask for a "white" nurse. That disgusts me. Wouldn't it be lovely to send in some white nurse that spoke terrible English and had bad BO. Would serve him right.

Ha Hah! That would be sooo cool! Wouldn't it be nice to have 'Nurse Ratchet' reincarnated for patient's like that? It would serve them right. Oh, and tell them that Nurse Ratchet loves to give enemas!

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

i had a black patient recently that didn't want any of "you white ***** takin' care of my black ***!" and another that wanted only fillipino nurses as "they have such gentle ways about them." really, you'd think people sick enough to be in the hospital would have better things to worry about than the race, gender and sexual orientation of their nurses!

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Specializes in ER/Trauma.

I still remember a patient I had in the ER last year.

He was a Caucasian male brought in for SoB. I'm not a white male. My partner nurse working the pod that night was a female of hispanic extraction. My nursing tech was Asian ... and so was the Doc.

Which was very interesting because this dude had the swastika emblazoned on his chest (with '88'* at the center of it, just to rule out any doubt whatsoever), SS runes tattooed up his left arm and white nationalist symbols tattooed on his right arm.

I was the primary nurse assigned to the pt. I walked into the room, took one look at him... and froze. For the split second.

Yes, I was shocked.

But then I took a breath, walked over to him "Sir? Mr. XYZ? My name is Roy and I'm a nurse. Can you tell me what's going on? What brings you to the ED today?"

We stabilized him. Treated him. And sent him home.**

Certainly was an interesting patient experience!

cheers,

Roy

* :: '88' is often used by white supremacists to signify "Heil Hitler" (the 8th letter of the alphabet is 'H').

** :: When the patient was feeling better after the breathing treatments we'd given him he told me: "I'm sorry you had to see these tattoos. I got them when I was young, naive and stupid. Many years ago, I realized the error of my ways but these stains on my skin still remain. I mean no disrespect to you or anyone else. I apologize if I hurt your feelings. You've taken great care of me and helped me in my hour of need. I thank you."

To which I said "Sir. All those who come here receive treatment. We make no distinctions or exceptions."

He replied, "You're a good man and a good nurse. I thank you all the same".

I'm inclined to believe him. "Every saint has a past. Every sinner, a future"... right?

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