- Based on your initial reaction with listening to report, describe in detail each reflective prompt.
a. List at least 3 statements/comments made by the person giving report that made you uncomfortable.
i. “I don’t know how to say his name, who knows where he is from”?
ii. “He’s one of the those, if you know what I mean.”
iii. “The type of people that hang out at the park.”
- “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?
i. For the nurse to have spent an entire shift with this patient and not know how to correctly pronounce his name is very sad. This is important to me because the nurse didn’t put any effort into getting to know the patient, rather she just let her assumptions guide her care. Its obvious that she does not truly care about each of her patients.
ii. She simply categorized him as “one of those.” I honestly do not even know what I would think if I heard someone say this in report. It is very disrespectful and very biased, based on the impression of where he is from. I would assume that she provided a lower level of care to this patient because of the repetitive categorization.
iii. She is assuming he is a bad person because he is the type to hang out at the park. I feel you just give the patient(s) a chance to get to know them and not immediately jump to conclusions or assumptions. The nurses statements are unprofessional, impolite, biased, etc.
- 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?
i. I honestly think that I would have a sense of shock that a nurse would be talking about a patient in that manner. I would feel like the nurse didn’t give the patient appropriate patient centered care due to her feelings about him. I believe that I would be able to address these comments by simply saying something like it would be helpful if we stuck to the medical portion of the report and not how his outside life determines what kind of person he is.
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.
i. A biased situation that I have heard during report in a prior clinical that I have experienced was when a nurse was giving report and stated that the patient was homeless and then preceded to assume that because he was homeless, he was also an IV drug user. Just because someone is homeless does not automatically mean that they are also heavy IV drug users.
