1. List at least 3 statements/comments made by the person giving report that made you uncomfortable.
    1. The nurse did not try to pronounce the patients name correctly and laughed about it.
    2. “Who knows where he’s from“
    3. He’s one of those if you know that I mean”
    4. “You know the type of people that hang out at the park… the one the police are always at.”
  2. Why are each of these statements important for you to address?  What implications could these statements have on delivery care if you were the nurse giving report? 

The first statement is important to address as not trying to pronounce the clients name correctly and joking about it implies that the nurse holds some sort of bias to the client and doesn’t respect them. The second statement “Who knows where he’s from” shows that the nurse has a racial bias toward the client and their background. The nurse then talks about why the client is in the hospital and says skateboard injury in quotation marks, insinuating that she doesn’t believe him. When she says “he’s one of those if you know what I mean” it makes me think that she is labeling him as “drug seeking”. Her last statement talking about the park and its police presence insinuates that the nurse’s bias is leading her to believe this client is involved in crime. All of these statements could have an extremely negative effect on the patients care. Since the nurse seems to think that the client’s pain is not serious, she might not give him pain medication when he needs it. Since she has a bias against this client, she also may not perform the proper assessments and reassessments necessary to the client’s care. The nurse giving report may also have been outwardly racist and biased toward the patient.

3. If you were the nurse receiving this report, describe your reaction and feelings. Would you be able to address these comments as the nurse did in the scenario?

If I was receiving report from this nurse, I would be very upset and uncomfortable. I would be worried about the client, and how they were feeling when this nurse was in their room. I liked how the nurse taking report addressed it and said “ I don’t understand what you mean” in attempt to get the nurse giving report to explain why she said what she did. I think I would do something similar and ask the nurse why she wasn’t taking his injury seriously, and why she was making those statements, if she did not know this patient. I would also talk to the charge nurse or the nurse manager about this situation and try to find out how the client felt about the care he was receiving without making him uncomfortable.

4. Describe in detail an uncomfortable situation displaying bias that you may have experienced or witnessed.  This can include during report, comments between healthcare providers/family members, TV/or in a movie or any experience in your life. 

One uncomfortable situation I experienced involving bias happened at the hospital during clinical. I was caring for a client who had a history of substance abuse and was hospitalized for an unrelated injury that was causing them a lot of pain. One of the staff made a comment to me about how this client “could do most things herself” and was “being annoying” when she was obviously in a lot of pain and had a very hard time moving around. The client had asked me to help her brush her hair and put it up as she had been lying in bed for a few days and it was very tangled, and couldn’t do it herself. The staff member also seemed annoyed that I helped her with this and said that the client had been very difficult the day prior. I had told the staff member that I wanted to help her since she seemed to be in a lot of pain and they didn’t mention it again, but the situation made me uncomfortable.