Racist Patients

dnp2004 · Jun 7, 2009

The point is that we as "professionals" (whether Hispanic,Black, Caucasian,Asian,green,beige) have to draw a line somewhere. For God's sake, it is a Hospital not a WHoREtel (Hotel).
Maybe we should consider doing a line-up so that the patient can choose the nurse he/she wants based on whatever various reason..... Could you imagine?
Yes, give me the nurse with the long dark hair, olive complexion, and hour-glass figure. Oh yeah there's a nurse that smells like obsession and wears nike's.
or
Can I get the guy that's like 6 "2", with broad shoulders and has taco bell- meat across his chest. (hair)
What the fill in the blank?!!! It's Whatever...

You made my point precisely. Healthcare isn't all about trying to please the patient. In administration I did not make it my policy to hire based on gender, race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, etc... It is a free market of course and the patient always has the option to transfer to another facility. Once you allow too much choice staff scheduling can become a nightmare.

Wu-Wu · Jun 8, 2009

Yes, I am from Georgia also! What I try to remember, is the statement, "You can't fix stupid!"

Does everybody wearing any color uniform from any department sometimes confuse patients and family members?

I've had both say I told a nurse about what I needed, (pain medication, need to use the toilet, etc.), only to find out they told a housekeeper or dietary personnel. Luckily for the patient's sake we are a small hospital, and both housekeepers, dietary personel, etc, will pass on the message. For these patients everybody in the colored uniforms becomes "the nurse."

No, I don't think patients or family member should be able to dictate who they want to care for them! I have had certain patients/their family members request me, only to have to work three times as hard to meet all their numerous requests. Also the family member that was so insulting to everybody from the "hospitalists, nurse, CNA, housekeeping, etc," putting up a sign to "Wash your hands/Sanitize your hands before touching my mother!" Believe me the patient was easy to care for. This family member was a nightmare, to the point that no one wanted to go in the room, and all personel were rotated daily. This family member was African American and insulting to everybody! Again, "you can not fix stupid."

NRSLDT · Jun 10, 2009

Well I can truly relate. I use to live in Chicago when I first became a nurse. I worked in my community so I had no racist exposure. Then a year later I moved to Wisconsin and was called the N word by a few of my residents. It was never because I did something wrong but just because they felt like saying it. It was so embarrassing. Being called that in front of the other residents and my co workers. I am the only AA nurse in my facility. In 6 years there have only been 3 AA nurses employed here. What helped me sometimes was seeing how upset other residents would get and they would defend me. Oh, out of approx. 96 beds there is only one AA patient. In 6 years there has only been 2 and one died shortly after.

Marvie · Jun 10, 2009

I too used to live and work in Georgia. I have also seen and dealt with those type of patients. It may be the one reason that I went to another state. I agree with the one who said "you can't fix stupid", however, no matter where one goes, there will always be that racist mentality found. Educate, educate, educate.

PeachPie · Jun 10, 2009

Okay, some of you don't think it's racist to ask if my mom was a war bride. Allow me to explain.

Asian women have a reputation of lapdogs, what with the "Me ruv you rong time," stereotype of loyalty and obedience. I've been horrified to hear men say stuff like, "Wow, your dad's a lucky man. Oriental women really know how to treat their men." Uh, no. My mom ruled the roost. There's the also the bad reputation of women who snuggled up to foreign men to get their meal ticket out of there (I don't discriminiate against them. If I was in a country with limited opportunities, I'd do what I could to get out of there). Again, my mom came her to the states and got her degree in math and computer science. Basically, people (usually older generations) hear about the Asian mother and American dad and assume that she's a little Maltese of a wife rather than a strong, smart woman. It's like those of you who hate the stereotype of nurse handmaidens.

MurseMikeD · Jun 11, 2009

We recently had a patient on the floor that said that he only wanted white nurses to take care if him.

It's a lot like a patient saying he/she only wants female nurses to take care of them.

Everywhere I've worked, we simply explain to the patient that patient assignments aren't based on race or sex.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jun 11, 2009

Okay, some of you don't think it's racist to ask if my mom was a war bride. Allow me to explain.
Asian women have a reputation of lapdogs, what with the "Me ruv you rong time," stereotype of loyalty and obedience. I've been horrified to hear men say stuff like, "Wow, your dad's a lucky man. Oriental women really know how to treat their men." Uh, no. My mom ruled the roost. There's the also the bad reputation of women who snuggled up to foreign men to get their meal ticket out of there (I don't discriminiate against them. If I was in a country with limited opportunities, I'd do what I could to get out of there). Again, my mom came her to the states and got her degree in math and computer science. Basically, people (usually older generations) hear about the Asian mother and American dad and assume that she's a little Maltese of a wife rather than a strong, smart woman. It's like those of you who hate the stereotype of nurse handmaidens.

i am glad you came back and explained, because, frankly i was a little offended by your original remark....but i only have experience on the East coast and with European "war brides" which i did post.....and when i thought about it, i thought perhaps you might have been having a different experience.....

Miss Kitty00 · Jun 11, 2009

I work at a hospital in Delaware and our population is very diverse. I actually don't come across too many racist comments, but I also may not catch on to them because I have more importan things on my mind (my patients). I am white and 27, but I guess look fairly young. I do catch slack sometimes because they do not believe I'm a nurse. The other day I received an AA patient and the patient's children were with the patient. When asking them to give us a couple minutes to get the patient settled they responded to me stating ,with a little bit excitation in their voice, "Who are you?! The orderly?!" I stated my name and that I am the nurse etc etc. They actually just stared at me and looking me up and down. It was rather uncomfortable, but I just smiled and returned to the task at hand. And for the record, every single licensed nurse wears the same colored uniforms and we all have these LARGE tags on our badges depicting if we're an RN or LPN (they look like parking permits). It just never fails there will always be a comment made, but what can we do? Also, this same family gave a fellow male nurse who happened to also be an AA a hard time for touching the IV pump. They stated that he should not be touching it. In their minds they did not believe any males would be nurses.

This happens to me alot too. I catch slack from all races.

HippyGreenPeaceChick · Jun 15, 2009

You made my point precisely. Healthcare isn't all about trying to please the patient. In administration I did not make it my policy to hire based on gender, race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, etc... It is a free market of course and the patient always has the option to transfer to another facility. Once you allow too much choice staff scheduling can become a nightmare.

Now I am very tolerant of and know how to deal with most of everything in regards to racist patients. My way of looking at things is when a nurse I work with is intimidated by a patient or their family. I will trade patients with her to help my coworker out. 5 years in the Marines and I have learned to deal with just about everything. So if I can help a coworker out, then I do. Now that racist or bigoted or ignorant patient may well find out that they have gotten a nurse that can not be intimidated and may well find that out in hurry. That also goes for families that go beyond normal in trying to intimidate nurses and staff for whatever there reason is. I am glad to help my coworkers.

Not long ago we had a patients family that was videoing every staff member as they came in to care for their family member. This intimidated most nurses. I realize this was just a power move on their part, and I was not about to feed in to their power.