racist patients

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Hello everyone,

I'm new nurse and I would like to hear from some of the experience nurses about this situation. I'm new male in nursing and add to that I came from another country in the middle east but I became a US citizen last year and I got my degree in nursing here in the US too. My question is that I had a female older white patient for one shift and I was extremely professional and I did great job taking care of her and she was also nice to me and never mention anything or say anything wrong, well the second day I came back to work and I was suppose to have the same patients I had last night but when I arrived the charge nurse notified me that this lady refuse foreigners and blacks to take care of her because of her religion believes, I was so depressed and frustrated to hear that because I did my best to help her, I'm frustrated because this is racism more than religion believes. I understand people are different but at least she should refused my care in the first day not when I left. Sometimes I had a hard time dealing with situations like these I feel its personal thing and I know its not my fault but how can I overcome situations like these?

While it is true, no one should be subjected to a patient's racist views and demands, I found it exhausting to take the time to educate each and every one of them whenever I was rejected because of my race. Most people who are steadfast in their own prejudices will not be enlightened by my words anyway, especially when they are not feeling well enough to receive such wisdom in the first place. I am not there to be appreciated by my patients, I am there to provide care. If they refuse my care, for whatever reason, I'll just move on to the next patient. I'm not going to change a mindset of racist views in one shift.

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

I'm very sorry that happened to you. I know it hurts...well I don't KNOW know, being a Scandinavian-descended gal; but my husband is a foreign-born non-white and my kids are biracial, and have heard some ugly things said by patients who apparently think I'm safe to voice such vile opinions to. 'Cause ya know, I'm so white. :sarcastic: Like a previous poster said, it says more about her than it does about you. I'm sure your nursing care was excellent. On the bright-ish side, she has ceased to become your problem!

Side note: welcome to the US, and congratulations on passing the NCLEX. :)

I was assigned to deal with a Cancer patient who was young and had many religious figures in her room, a believer of GOD, but I was told she didn't want any African American people to care for her. Things change as you need CPR.... and need medical attention that someone that isn't of color can do for example the PICC line nurse is African American. Your options are limited when you are ignorant.

I wish you were right. Had a man in the ER let his kid die while waiting for a white doctor from the next county because no t***l head was gonna touch his boy. How far are you willing to go? If it was my baby and Dr. Burning Cross was the best care available I would accept it AND thank him. I don't get it.

Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.
I wish you were right. Had a man in the ER let his kid die while waiting for a white doctor from the next county because no t***l head was gonna touch his boy. How far are you willing to go? If it was my baby and Dr. Burning Cross was the best care available I would accept it AND thank him. I don't get it.

Right... If you are good at what you do and I require ... OR MY CHILD ... requires you're services, let's get on with it. That is absolutely disgusting! :mad: What kind of twisted junk is in people's head regarding hateful presumptions that go even half this far I'll never understand. :madface:

To base you're prejudice towards ALL people of that particular race/color/gender,etc. off of a few bad apples is just ridiculous. I don't care how many "instances" you can give me as examples. There are BILLIONS of people on this earth, so in comparison it's still such a tiny fraction. You can't tell me that you are excused from your "justified" conclusions. I won't go for it. Sorry.

True but we need not continue to 'humor' every bigot in the name of almighty 'customer service', it's 2016! Why the h*ll is it still acceptable? I've encountered patients complete with 1/2 dozen family whom I could instantly tell don't feel all warm & fuzzy about my skin color. I treat them the same as anyone else and their preconceptions generally subside, if they would prefer a non-white, non-Asian RN they are frequently out of luck on that one anyway...I have very little patience with racists and they wouldn't be so free with their 'tudes if administration did not humor them. Don't care for different skin colors? Too da*m bad, get over it.

Kelikinz,

If the patient was not in "their right mind" how would the "patient" know to refer to the black nurse/caregiver in a derogatory manner.

Could it just be because he was male?

True...but dissatisfied patients often conjure up other derogatory race-based names to refer to nurses who belong to the same racial/ethnic backgrounds as them.

I have been referred to as a sellout, "whitewashed," and an Oreo cookie (black on the outside, white on the inside). Haters do not stop hating...

True what you said.

I've seen patients change floors/rooms because the black/white nurse on their unit is "not treating them well". Spending too much time with the other race.

Specializes in Critical Care/Vascular Access.

I will not pretend that I know what it feels like to be discriminated against in this country (I assume you're in the US) because of my skin color, but I will say I have seen nurses discriminated against for countless stupid reasons and this is certainly a field that you have to learn to let stuff roll of your back quickly.

On the other hand, reading through a few of the other comments, I have a serious issue with condoning any kind of unfounded and ridiculous prejudice, whether it be race or some other dumb excuse. Reading some other responses saying they put notes on the patient's chart saying "caucasian caretakers only" or whatever is asinine. I realize we're not going to change their mind, but catering to narrow minded bigotry shouldn't be an obligation of our either. I doubt these people go to a restaurant and refuse service from a black employee, or refuse to check out at a register with a black employee.

Specializes in Educator.

It's 2016 and seems like we are stuck in 1916. How in the H-E- double hockey sticks is it OK to actually document Caucasian caregivers only! My mind is blown by this. Can caregivers then also state they will only take care of blue-eyed blondes? This is crazy.

Patient's don't get a free pass to be bigots - I have encountered overt racism and have learned to let it roll off my back. We cannot however, enable this behavior. If the only nurses on the floor are people of color then what? I understand customer service and all that, but I don't get to pick who gives me CPR if I need it. Just as a previous poster noted if Dr. Burning Cross is the best available - bring it on!

Specializes in M/S, Pulmonary, Travel, Homecare, Psych..
As a black female, I have dealt with overt and covert racism from patients multiple times over the years. In the last overt instance, the patient called me a "black __" (rhymes with 'ditch' but starts with a 'B') and said, "Go back to Africa."

I prefer to never work with these people again. If a patient or his/her family members dislike me due to racial issues, this is one less difficult assignment I must contend with. And, yes, they make peoples' shifts difficult.

Being that I used to be Little Miss Perfect Princess Nurse, white picket fence and all (and I am the same as the fence), I was often the one called upon to replace the nurse being rejected for racial reasons.

I can confirm your assertion that they make things difficult for everyone. Not like having a nurse who matches their idea of what a nurse should be helps the situation at all. Once they get that, it's onto the next thing to complain about.

My assessment is: Having been accommodated, they get the sense that they can say or do anything they please with no recourse. So they keep taking it up a notch to test that theory.

These people never give good survey scores not matter what the accommodations or level of care.

I complained about it at committee meetings, said being pulled into the situation put me in a no win situation. Truth is, most of these individuals wanted me to co-sign their (stuff) and when I didn't, they thought less of me. I guess, to some, being Perfect Princess Nurse includes a lot of judgments based on race.

I have worked at facilities that did not let the "Survey Score Gods" dictate their decision making with regards to this issue though. I've seen patients told "Our facility takes it's cultural sensitivity seriously and believe you care is not jeopardized. We are also an equal opportunity employer, as mandated by the U.S. If you feel your care is unacceptable because of this, feel free to contact us again when you have evidence of this. By evidence, we mean something more than you don't care for (fill in the blank with whatever racial background) nurses."

We are trained in cultural sensitivity. This does not mean playing matchmaker for patients who think being culturally sensitive means making the nurses a choice on the buffet where the patient chooses whatever flavor suits their taste at the moment. It means we are capable of caring for those who are different than us.

Part of my growth as a nurse was to refuse these patients when they refused my fellow nurses as caretakers. We are one, as caregivers. Refusing them is to refuse me.

This usually lead to them being cared for some nurse just out of orientation (and desperate to please) who just didn't know better than to say no.

Specializes in Ortho, CMSRN.

These stories are so sad. And I'm sorry, I do NOT give a pass to racist patients because they've lost their verbal filter or because they grew up in a different age. That should NOT be accepted or allowed. I'm white, but because of that I have had racist patients confide in me, assuming that I'd be sympathetic to their woes about healthcare workers who look different than them. When I was in nursing school, and a tech I had a patient say something ugly about having black nurses. He happened to have a black nurse that night. I asked him what kind of pudding he wanted at one point while she was in the room. He said white. I only like the white kind and grinned. I wanted to throw it at him. Disgusting.

I've seen outright racism. One patient kept calling the nurses and techs the n word, as in "N, go get me this". Very horrible. No one liked her.

Probably the worst and most insidious is the passive aggressive racism that nurses and techs sometimes face by patients who won't admit it, but will find the most piddly and small things to complain about and fire nurses for. I've seen this result in nurses having unfavorable views from managers who can't see past the patients nasty manipulative behavior. It's really unfortunate and I'm sorry for all who have had to deal with this scum.

Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.

I feel for you OP because as someone who is white, when I see this behavior by patients towards non-white co-workers, it pisses me off to no end so I cant fathom how it feels when its actually directed at you. My co student and I were in a room with a patient and their family during clinical, it was clear the husband of the patient did not like black people (the student I was with is black) by the remarks he made and facial expressions. I sincerely wanted to punch him in his racist face but obviously we kindly excused ourselves from the room instead. I don't understand it and I find it so, so ignorant and gross. But its something I am working on because I have to take care of ignorant people the same as I would anyone else. I hope you often do not have to deal with that but I am guessing that's unrealistic.

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