Why do minorities have more respect for nurses?

Purple_roses · Oct 17, 2015

As an African-American female, I think the answer in many of your experiences has less to do with racial/ethnic background and more to do with social class.
Many of the people in upscale parts of Florida (Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, et al.) are wealthy and view nurses as servants and chambermaids. However, in my personal experience, the undereducated and the working poor often hold nurses in high esteem.
I am now an RN with a BSN, but started out as an LVN. My family of origin is not very educated or college-fluent, so to them, earning an LVN license is like becoming a doctor. However, families who are well educated and higher on the social class hierarchy might frown down upon any nursing license because they may view it as beneath them.
These are just my conjectures. Use them as you please.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. I once told a rich-daddy-pays-for-everything pre-law student that I was studying nursing, and her immediate response was, "Oh that's nice. But you don't have to take a hard test like I do at the end." She had no clue what the NCLEX was. When I enlightened her, she replied, "Well, I'm sure it's still not as hard as what I'll have to do."

Some people are ignorant and entitled.

richardgecko · Oct 17, 2015

As an African-American female, I think the answer in many of your experiences has less to do with racial/ethnic background and more to do with social class.
Many of the people in upscale parts of Florida (Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, et al.) are wealthy and view nurses as servants and chambermaids. However, in my personal experience, the undereducated and the working poor often hold nurses in high esteem.
I am now an RN with a BSN, but started out as an LVN. My family of origin is not very educated or college-fluent, so to them, earning an LVN license is like becoming a doctor. However, families who are well educated and higher on the social class hierarchy might frown down upon any nursing license because they may view it as beneath them.
These are just my conjectures. Use them as you please.

i agree with this, but throughout this country wealth is typically stratified by race, so it's not too far fetched to say that the behavior that T/S is referring to is pretty typical of your affluent white person. And you're more likely to receive this type of treatment from a white person because there are far more affluent whites than affluent minorities.

Now I will add this: I can say that I have received this treatment from more whites than minorities but my experiences differed greatly depending on what facility I worked in. When I worked in an inner city trauma center, I got treated like a chambermaid by people of all races. I found that people's frustration and loss of control over their unfortunate condition caused them to seek control over the one group of people they can control: nurses. They would run me ragged and complain about every little thing. And most of these people were far from affluent. They were minorities just like me, and they would routinely make comments about how much they hated the facility and how much the care sucked despite the fact that they/their loved one didn't have a smidgen of insurance and should be grateful that they are receiving tax funded healthcare. Inmates would do this as well: they were so used to the restrictions of prison, so when they had someone to take care of them, they abused it.

now when I changed jobs and started working in a heart/lung transplant unit full of affluent whites with iron-clad insurance policies and end stage heart failure, I experienced the type of treatment T/S is referring to.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2015

I haven't really noticed this. In one job I work at (elective plastic surgery), most of our clients are wealthy, most (not all) are white, and they have all been extremely nice. Maybe it's because they aren't sick, and are excited about their procedures, I don't know. My other job is endo, with all races/SES groups, and mostly they are nice, but certainly not all. I haven't noticed any pattern of whites treating me with less respect than minorities.

Over all I am lucky to be treated pretty well by all my patients, but even most of the endo patients are healthy; I think feeling sick or being in pain can contribute to the less than nice behavior described in the OP.

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2015

what is T/S

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2015

Oh bless her heart.

Well, it may be harder than the NCLEX. Anyone here taken NCLEX and the LSAT? I wonder what their take on it would be.

As proud as I am of being a nurse, I'm not dreaming that passing the NCLEX would be as hard as passing the BAR exam.

Jaykalkyn, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2015

I can't say that I've had the same experience. And while I do agree that economic status can be a factor, behavior varies wildly- even within each economic group. I get educated, well-off patients who are very pleasant. I also get patients who roll off the street with nothing, but feel they deserve the golden sun on a platter.
Your question is the weirdest sort of "compliment" ...I wonder how well it would have gone over if you'd asked why white people were so respectful and minorities were not.

How shall I say this...actually, first, I'm not sure what you are getting at by asking "how well it would he gone over..." Also, wherein did you find a compliment in this question? Lol! It's almost as if you feel a type of way about the original question without saying so. I'm slightly perplexed at why you even bring up the converse of the original question when it was based on ones personal experience. No shade, but just slightly confused at your last sentence.

Purple_roses · Oct 17, 2015

Well, it may be harder than the NCLEX. Anyone here taken NCLEX and the LSAT? I wonder what their take on it would be.
As proud as I am of being a nurse, I'm not dreaming that passing the NCLEX would be as hard as passing the BAR exam.

But would you go around rudely comparing the two exams and undermining what the other person is doing? Who knows which one is harder; that's entirely irrelevant. It was a rude and degrading conversation. I'm intelligent, my courses are difficult, I still have to take an exam at the end, and my future job certainly will not be a mindless one.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Oct 17, 2015

But would you go around rudely comparing the two exams and undermining what the other person is doing? Who knows which one is harder; that's entirely irrelevant. It was a rude and degrading conversation. I'm intelligent, my courses are difficult, I still have to take an exam at the end, and my future job certainly will not be a mindless one.

Well, you're right, I certainly would not do that. Your post just got me thinking.

I'm proud to be a nurse, and I feel it was a rigorous course of study. But I have to admit there are others which might be significantly more difficult. Don't know if pre-law is one of them as I have no experience with it. But no, bad manners on her part for sure. Did you point that out to her?

VANurse2010 · Oct 17, 2015

As an African-American female, I think the answer in many of your experiences has less to do with racial/ethnic background and more to do with social class.
Many of the people in upscale parts of Florida (Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, et al.) are wealthy and view nurses as servants and chambermaids. However, in my personal experience, the undereducated and the working poor often hold nurses in high esteem.
I am now an RN with a BSN, but started out as an LVN. My family of origin is not very educated or college-fluent, so to them, earning an LVN license is like becoming a doctor. However, families who are well educated and higher on the social class hierarchy might frown down upon any nursing license because they may view it as beneath them.
These are just my conjectures. Use them as you please.

My experience has been that wealthier and more educated people, ironically, treat nurses better. Their expectations are more realistic and they are less prone to treating the place like a hotel and public family drama.

emmy27 · Oct 17, 2015

I've had kind, appreciative, demanding, rude, dramatic, and polite patients from all backgrounds and walks of life. Although certainly I think cultural background can influence how patients and families interact with healthcare workers (for instance, whether they view us with trust or suspicion, and whether they see us as authority figures or subordinates), most of it seems to come down to individual personalities and situations.

Some people react to the fear and loss of control of being a patient by become polite and hypercompliant, some by becoming demanding and aggressive.

Purple_roses · Oct 17, 2015

Well, you're right, I certainly would not do that. Your post just got me thinking.
I'm proud to be a nurse, and I feel it was a rigorous course of study. But I have to admit there are others which might be significantly more difficult. Don't know if pre-law is one of them as I have no experience with it. But no, bad manners on her part for sure. Did you point that out to her?

I did not. It really wouldn't have been worth it. She seemed like such a superficial person anyway, I'm sure she would have been thinking about what cocktail she was going to order next instead of listening to me drone on and on about maid service--I mean nursing. :sarcastic:

Emergent, RN · Oct 17, 2015

I haven't observed this phenomenon. I do find Mexicans from Mexico to be respectful. American Hispanics, OTOH, seem just as entitled as any other American.

I just started a new job in a more middle class area that is mainly white, and I find the patients and their families very appreciative. But, this isn't the same as S Florida, with a bunch of well off north easteners retiring.