Between 3/1 - 5/12 submit a black Nurses story & be eligible for a $100 cash prize
Between 3/1 - 5/12 submit a black Nurses story & be eligible for a $100 cash prize
I worked for a healthcare system where the supervisor was very disrespectful, rude, and unfair. She’d often come behind you and call your name in a startling tone, then proceed, in front of colleagues, to tell you what you did wrong. She insisted that placing hand iv’s on patients were best, and she purposely micromanaged some really intelligent nurses. The majority of nurses working at this facility were black, and although she never said we were less than, her spirit said it. The supervisor was punitive, and had a long list of rules. It was common to have a high staff turnover at this healthcare facility too.
I mostly saw black nurses being oriented since working there. She would belittle these bright black nurses, be rude to them, disrespect their humanness, and micromanage them so much throughout their training time, that many didn’t return. She would be quick to let her fingers dial the agency and tell them not to send the nurse back or negate their qualified skills. She often ridiculed my work; made despairing comments about not feeling I could do the job; and sent phone calls/text to my agency to say that I wasn’t a good fit. However, she often had no choice but to use me because she didn’t have enough staff. I would “stand my ground” with her, and because I was a leader too, I knew how to handle her as if I had a disgruntled employee. No ma’am, in my head. Then I would throw my beautiful on her so much that she’d march off.
Yes, she had some minor conflicts with the one Hispanic nurse and few White nurses I saw pass through, but the black nurses got that extra bitter sauce with her callousness.
Well, one day I walked into work at this facility and saw a white nurse being oriented by the same black nurses who has been under the iron fist for years by this supervisor. Very quickly it became apparent that this new nurse trainee was being treated with privilege, respect, and compassion, by the supervisor. The supervisor rarely came out to check on the new nurse trainee, as she was a constant show up when black nurses were being trained. Not sure if I was more enraged by the blatancy of her actions , or just physically exhausted as a black nurse, from seeing these moments where what you thought were true, but had no proof, was definitely verifiably real. The supervisor never berated the new trainee. Actually she was very silent and as the nurse trainee failed greatly at performing simple nursing task, used poor hygiene in between patients, lagged in completing the charting, and made multiple attempts to start an IV. The supervisor surely picked up on this. Yet the supervisor never felt this new nurse trainee was unqualified. Actually, when the new nurse trainee couldn’t start an iv and performed multiple iv sticks on patients, the supervisor gave her permission to use other areas. The mainstay nurses who were black, were never allowed such autonomy. They were stunned. We gathered in resemblance of our slave ancestors to talk through the unfairness and how to protect one another. The supervisor never stood over the new nurse trainee and criticized her for not following proper protocol and procedures. Instead, the supervisor circulated the clinical area and saw the new nurse trainee carrying a needle with blood 🩸over to the nurses station, to ask her preceptor how to get blood from the iv needle she was holding. I was waiting on SOMETHING from this supervisor. But nothing disrespectful, belittling, embarrassing, or ugly, came from the supervisor. At the end of shift, the only thing she asked of the agency was to bring someone else.
WOW!
Again, I never saw the supervisor at any point be,
disrespectful to this nurse
mean to this nurse
rude to this nurse
criticizing of this nurse
enforce every rule to the letter with this nurse
never a put down toward this nurse
never told this nurse that she wasn’t qualified
The trauma these black nurses endured for years was unwarranted, unnecessary, unkind, and a collective series of workplace abuse. They always feel the spirit of being unqualified.
In other words, the white nurse was never disqualified.
Many times as black nurses we only get one shot!! We have to get it!!
Black nurses -overqualified but unqualified
White nurse - under qualified but qualified
There’s so much work to be done to in order to educate and unify people toward beautiful. The choice to do beautiful in all things is each of our responsibility.
Be beautiful
Shared beautiful
Think beautiful
Love beautiful
Do beautiful
&
You are beautiful
Imagine waking up black and having to not only deal with the normalcy of life as every individual does, but you also have to enter a world of uncertainty in far more areas of life than non-blacks, as you simultaneously support your livelihood in a work place culture historically not designed to recognize you. Often you question if maltreatment of you is due to racism, a person‘s personality, or both. I’m Nurse Junia
Imagine waking up black and having to not only deal with the normalcy of life as every individual does, but you also have to enter a world of uncertainty in far more areas of life than non-blacks, as you simultaneously support your livelihood in a work place culture historically not designed to recognize you. Often you question if maltreatment of you is due to racism, a person‘s personality, or both.
I’m Nurse Junia
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