Supervisors at Abington Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia have explained that they sought only to avoid a confrontation when they told African American employees to stay out of a patient's room after a man ordered that no blacks assist in the delivery of his child.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 3, 2003
NAACP wants hospital supervisors punished
Local leaders call for Abington hospital to discipline those who told minority staffers to stay out of a patient's room.
Local NAACP leaders yesterday called on Abington Memorial Hospital to discipline supervisors who told minority employees to stay out of a patient's room after a man demanded that only white staffers assist in the delivery of his baby.
( By Oliver Prichard, Inquirer Staff Writer, 10/04/2003 03:01 AM EDT)
IF the customer is always right, and if that customer asks to not have a minority nurse, fine, then this same hospital should understand that when I'M a pt., the nurse wearing the Sponge Bob scrubs is off-limits to me because i hate bright yellow. Hey i AM the customer!
This thread was supposed to be about the hospital's behavior in this situation not as a diatribe against the NAACP but since you opened the door... I too was raised in the deep south and still remain here by choice. I would suggest that you look into the history of the NAACP before you make snap judgements about an organization of which you seem to know very little. Just because you do not agree with their views does not that make them racist or a group of trouble makers and to group them with skinheads is just apalling. If it were not for the efforts of the NAACP my siblings and I would have never experienced desegregation in my hometown, even after our system intergrated we still had to ride segregated school buses and their intervention kept us from having to cross a busy major highway to catch that segregated bus because it was not allowed on our predominately white school campus. Am I taking this personally, you bet I am! Until you walk in my shoes, stop trying to tell me how to feel.
To have all of this going on when the staff was hopefully just trying to provide the best care.
I'm sorry if it violates anti-racism policies, but if I were in labor and my husband was being a great big gigantic JERK, it would cause me pain, distress, and embarrassment and I would pray that the staff would do something to settle things quickly Not the best thing for the patient. This is not an appropriate time to try to educate an idiot.
To me it is more like assigning the Spanish speaking staff member to the Latino post op patient who speaks only Spanish. It is overall in the best interest of the patient.
We really don't need to confront these idiots by forcing them to accept a caregiver that they don't want...but we don't have to allow them to use the facility either. Administration should have simply told them that this hospital cannot meet your demands and show them the door. Their choice. Maybe after being shown the door enough times, they might learn something, if not, at least you wouldn't be a party to racist idiocy.
My attitude is this; you walk into a hospital or nursing home you deal with the staff there. As nurse I have had to switch assignments with male nurses because some woman, usually old, or her family did not want a male nurse taking care of her. It was a pain in the neck every time I had to do this. You would be in the middle of your assignment and have to switch because some one was uncomfortable with a man. Please. Now it was OK for the old girl to have a male doctor all up under her clothes to examine her but not a nurse caring for her. Personal care was being delivered by nursing assistants so a male was not likely to be bathing the patient in question.
The patient and their family would always explain that they were just uncomfortable having a man caring for them or their mother and I would say something to the effect that the nurse was more that competent to do their job and would not be working here if they weren't. That would usually result in a response such as "Oh I guess the two of you are friends?" To which I would reply yes and I am proud to be working with him, we're a team.
As far as the racist in question how far do we go giving in to this nonsense? The fool does not see who is cooking the meals in the facility, processing the billing, cleaning the equipment or the thousand of other jobs that go into delivering health care. This insult was directed at the staff he could see the most highly trained staff by the way. The hospital knows this which is why they are doing what they are doing to make things right. These doctors and nurses can get jobs elsewhere. Racism is a business liability no one needs.
I was reading the latest responses on this thread, and I had another thought. Saying "If ya don't like it, hit the road Jack" is one thing to a competent adult. However, in the case of a laboring mother, I think I would try to also look out for the innocent neonate. Again, the racism is inexcusable, and the institution should not accomodate it. I'm not sure what the best way to deal with all the issues would be, although having existing policies in place and well publicized would go a long way towards preventing these situations. I haven't thought of anything that seems like a good answer to me, but I think I'd try to avoid having a mother in active labor leave AMA, just for the sake of the child.
I think clearly outlining the hospital policy in a firm unapologetic yet nonconfrontational manner should do the trick. Many people have children at home or hire doulas and private duty nurses and if these people are so hung up on their racist views they can take their business elsewhere. It is sad but once you start accomodating these types of attitudes its like opening pandoras box. I do feel sorry for the child who is going to be raised in this enviornment.
While I think that the father's character and racism are quite apparent, I do believe, whether I like it or not, that the hospital was right in giving in to the father's wishes. After all, one of the things that I have been learning in nursing school is that you must consider the client AND the family, no matter how distasteful their attitude may be.
I think clearly outlining the hospital policy in a firm unapologetic yet nonconfrontational manner should do the trick. Many people have children at home or hire doulas and private duty nurses and if these people are so hung up on their racist views they can take their business elsewhere. It is sad but once you start accomodating these types of attitudes its like opening pandoras box. I do feel sorry for the child who is going to be raised in this enviornment.
Unapologetic but nonconfrontational sounds like a good start. I think what I am trying to inarticulately articulate here is that I don't think a different policy should apply, but I might personally bend over backwards in terms of my tone and manner to keep it from turning into a showdown/standoff kind of thing just for the sake of the child. If it was just a competent adult making decisions for themself, than my patience would be alot lower and if they wanted to play games, than they could face the consequences.
And, yes, I also feel really sorry for that poor child! Can you imagine having those jerks as parents? This raises another question. I've never worked with kids or in L&D, so bear with me. If you can be charged with child abuse or neglect in other situations, could that also apply here? I mean, I've heard of parents who refuse medical treatment for their minor children being sued by the state to compel treatment. So, lets say you threaten to walk out AMA in active labor with no alternative plan. No, I've decided to go to Hospital B instead, with Hospital A calling ahead to confirm this or whatever. No I know a midwife who will help me deliver at home, or whatever. Thus, potentially putting the neonate at risk. Has anyone ever been in this situation? Does that have any legal/custody/state intervention consequences for the parent? Just curious.
I do hear what everyone is saying (or rather typing), but again, I don't think that the hospital had much choice in the matter, NAACP liking it or not. And while I stated before that I found the father-to-be's attitude totally despicable, he (and his wife) are entitled to the same medical care as everyone else is. He shouldn't have to have his child in a private facility or at home just because he is a racist. Sad, but true, I'm afraid. The first priority here was the mother-to-be and baby.... she can't help it that she is married to someone like him!!!
She could help it - she didn't have to marry him, or have a kid with him! In my mind, she is just as guilty as she is. The only one who I think deserves any special consideration is the kid,
Maybe we should "tax" this behavior to discourage it. I.e., if you are willing and able to hire alternate physicians who have admitting privileges at this hospital and alternate nurses and aides who are members of agencies that meet the hospital's standards ( I know my hospital only allows private duty nurses from approved agencies for liability reasons) then you are free to substitute those health care workers for members of our staff. Otherwise, you get the same thing as everyone else!
This has really raised alot of questions for me. Like, I've heard of organizations having diversity consultants and training, but I've never experienced it. I would really love more practical, hands-on advice to dealing with sticky situations - not just knowing the policy, but knowing how to deal with conflict- like, role-playing. Has anyone ever gotten that kind of training? Was it helpful? Maybe I should suggest that my hospital offer it as an optional source of CEU's.
Also, is there any nursing research out there that addresses these issues?
I think it seems reasonable that hospitals should encourage minority representation amongst the hospital board of directors
Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN
12,126 Posts
IF the customer is always right, and if that customer asks to not have a minority nurse, fine, then this same hospital should understand that when I'M a pt., the nurse wearing the Sponge Bob scrubs is off-limits to me because i hate bright yellow. Hey i AM the customer!