I read both of these articles which I find fascinating. I work with mostly Jamaican nurses and aides in the nursing home where I am employed. I feel bad when some of the residents use racial slurs. The work environment in hospitals will have to change. In the future we will need more nurses due to the boomers becoming older. When I did my clinical in hospitals when I was in school, I did not feel any warm welcome from the staff. It was uncomfortable and made one think about calling out. So much change is needed for the future of nursing that has to include all.
I really like how your column shifts the discussion from a relatively trivial controversy (Nightingale was a product of her time; of course she was racist, but she also made tremendous contributions to healthcare) to a much more important issue, that of racism in healthcare right now. It would be wonderful to have scholarships and recruitment efforts to attract more Black and Latino nurses--we all would benefit from having more diversity in healthcare.
Theresa, your column on Florence Nightingale’s contribution to institutional racism in the nursing profession identified the larger culture in which she existed and worked as a predisposing factor, and I think that is equally true for the healthcare industry as a whole. After reading our country’s history in depth, I have come to the conclusion that systemic racism is real within the United States and needs to be addressed on multiple levels. I am aware that for some of our fellow citizens, both in healthcare and in other occupations, even acknowledging racism seems to be a step too far, when it actually just means we need to recognize it when we see it and figure out a way to ameliorate it. It doesn’t mean accepting personal responsibility or blame, but rather accepting that some of our fellow Americans face discrimination which other Americans don’t have to face; for a nation which has equality as one of its bedrock principles, this notion that our society does not have an equal playing field should be a cause of concern for all of us citizens.
When I was a medical student in Italy, I had an opportunity to work clerkship rotations in the US at our local county hospital. During my time on Surgery, I was working in the Surgical ER and witnessed a white PGY-1 request an inappropriate suture to repair a facial laceration. The nurse on duty, an older, knowledgeable, and dignified African-American woman, dropped the correct suture on his tray; the resident, thinking she had simply mistakenly heard his request, told her that he wanted a different suture than the one she brought. She went back to the supply cabinet and brought back the same correct suture needed for a facial laceration repair. This time, the resident became angry and accused the nurse of being insubordinate; he then paged the Chief Surgical Resident to come to the ER. When the Chief arrived, he looked at the patient, then at the suture requested by the first-year resident, and finally at the sutures dropped on the tray by the nurse. He then said, in a voice loud enough for all of us to hear, “Your nurse gave you what you need; I suggest you use what she dropped on your sterile field”. This incident happened almost 50 years ago, yet I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was an affirmation of competency regardless of race, an acknowledgement of a fundamental concept of American fairness in the workplace, and an object lesson to the inexperienced young doctor that he had much to learn about the capabilities of his other colleagues on the healthcare team.
Apologies for the long post, but for me, thinking about this topic demands more comprehensive reflection as I try to navigate this issue in my own life.
I agree with the conclusion of the article. Yes, Nightingale was racist but was a product of her time. The perpetuation of racism in nursing falls squarely on those nurses who followed and perpetuated this. It is a horrible thing to read about. I hope that we can rise above this history and eliminate this hurtful evil.
I read both of these articles which I find fascinating. I work with mostly Jamaican nurses and aides in the nursing home where I am employed. I feel bad when some of the residents use racial slurs. The work environment in hospitals will have to change. In the future we will need more nurses due to the boomers becoming older. When I did my clinical in hospitals when I was in school, I did not feel any warm welcome from the staff. It was uncomfortable and made one think about calling out. So much change is needed for the future of nursing that has to include all.
I really like how your column shifts the discussion from a relatively trivial controversy (Nightingale was a product of her time; of course she was racist, but she also made tremendous contributions to healthcare) to a much more important issue, that of racism in healthcare right now. It would be wonderful to have scholarships and recruitment efforts to attract more Black and Latino nurses--we all would benefit from having more diversity in healthcare.
Theresa, your column on Florence Nightingale’s contribution to institutional racism in the nursing profession identified the larger culture in which she existed and worked as a predisposing factor, and I think that is equally true for the healthcare industry as a whole. After reading our country’s history in depth, I have come to the conclusion that systemic racism is real within the United States and needs to be addressed on multiple levels. I am aware that for some of our fellow citizens, both in healthcare and in other occupations, even acknowledging racism seems to be a step too far, when it actually just means we need to recognize it when we see it and figure out a way to ameliorate it. It doesn’t mean accepting personal responsibility or blame, but rather accepting that some of our fellow Americans face discrimination which other Americans don’t have to face; for a nation which has equality as one of its bedrock principles, this notion that our society does not have an equal playing field should be a cause of concern for all of us citizens.
When I was a medical student in Italy, I had an opportunity to work clerkship rotations in the US at our local county hospital. During my time on Surgery, I was working in the Surgical ER and witnessed a white PGY-1 request an inappropriate suture to repair a facial laceration. The nurse on duty, an older, knowledgeable, and dignified African-American woman, dropped the correct suture on his tray; the resident, thinking she had simply mistakenly heard his request, told her that he wanted a different suture than the one she brought. She went back to the supply cabinet and brought back the same correct suture needed for a facial laceration repair. This time, the resident became angry and accused the nurse of being insubordinate; he then paged the Chief Surgical Resident to come to the ER. When the Chief arrived, he looked at the patient, then at the suture requested by the first-year resident, and finally at the sutures dropped on the tray by the nurse. He then said, in a voice loud enough for all of us to hear, “Your nurse gave you what you need; I suggest you use what she dropped on your sterile field”. This incident happened almost 50 years ago, yet I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was an affirmation of competency regardless of race, an acknowledgement of a fundamental concept of American fairness in the workplace, and an object lesson to the inexperienced young doctor that he had much to learn about the capabilities of his other colleagues on the healthcare team.
Apologies for the long post, but for me, thinking about this topic demands more comprehensive reflection as I try to navigate this issue in my own life.
I agree with the conclusion of the article. Yes, Nightingale was racist but was a product of her time. The perpetuation of racism in nursing falls squarely on those nurses who followed and perpetuated this. It is a horrible thing to read about. I hope that we can rise above this history and eliminate this hurtful evil.