Why I'm a jackass

[TXPharmDStudent]

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Have you ever heard a patient presentation, ethnicity is always presented as well as if they have recently come from a foreign place.

you people really need to stop being so sensitive about this stuff.

Wrong, the OP never mentioned any complications related to his race or location.

The race of the patient was unnecessary.

 

[chloroform2009]

I went to the ER got a tetanus shot and combivir... the patient and I had blood drawn and tested for Hep B/C and HIV. The results came back today both negative for everything. bullet dodged.

So in conclusion I'm a jackass

I thought the chances of transmissions are low, at around ~0.1 % for HIV and ~1 - 5% for Hep C, and these stats are for patients with high viral loads and severe needlestick wounds.

 

[Quiksilver]

Wrong, the OP never mentioned any complications related to his race or location.

The race of the patient was unnecessary.

just because it isn't necessarily evident does not mean that it won't be necessary in the future. HIV + patient from mexico may have an opportunistic infection related to his location. or a different strain to the HIV that may be related to where the patient was infected. This obviously would have an impact on someone who's needlestick resulted in transmission. I guess we didn't consider that when you wanted to point out I was wrong. None of these scenarios have occurred, but they can and make nationality important.

Furthermore don't be so ignorant, if you don't want your feelings hurt then maybe consider a new field. Too many people get their panties in a twist because they view such stuff like it was the worst thing they have ever heard. In medicine, its all relevant. Grow up. Such petty BS that is viewed as a hate crime. Why don't you go be a super hero somewhere else? He didn't say anything derogatory associated with it.

 

[UNMRX]

would have been better off not mentioning the ethnicity of the patient.

 

[naseuy]

Funny story. I mentioned to a friend of mine that being black is a risk factor for a lot of chronic diseases, and she got all pissed off at me.

 

[Endolas]

ITT: Educated professionals who think "Mexican" is a race/ethnicity.

 

[Old Timer]

Every single chart/case review you will experience will describe the age, race and the sex of the patient. DO NOT read anything into this.

A 72 y/o wm presented with................

A 65 y/o bf came to the ER............

It's nothing racial or discriminatory or in any way dehumanizing to describe the race of the patient.

There are many times the race of the patient is critical. There are drugs that work better in white people than black people for hypertension. If you are counseling a prenatal patient, it is important to know if they are of eastern European descent as you will want to test for tay-sachs. Since you never know where the case is going to end up, you present all of the information up front. Whenever you get a case review you get a billion lab results that are of no consequence. Why don't we only get the ones that are out of range?
Describing a person as white, black, native American or in this case Hispanic (as opposed to Mexican) is perfectly appropriate.

 

[SpirivaSunrise]

Every single chart/case review you will experience will describe the age, race and the sex of the patient. DO NOT read anything into this.

A 72 y/o wm presented with................

A 65 y/o bf came to the ER............

It's nothing racial or discriminatory or in any way dehumanizing to describe the race of the patient.

There are many times the race of the patient is critical. There are drugs that work better in white people than black people for hypertension. If you are counseling a prenatal patient, it is important to know if they are of eastern European descent as you will want to test for tay-sachs. Since you never know where the case is going to end up, you present all of the information up front. Whenever you get a case review you get a billion lab results that are of no consequence. Why don't we only get the ones that are out of range?
Describing a person as white, black, native American or in this case Hispanic (as opposed to Mexican) is perfectly appropriate.

Absolutely!

Hispanic would have been a perfectly appropriate term to use. However the OP's stated intention was to promote safety awareness with needle sticks. Ethnicity has no bearing on whether we should be careful to prevent a needle stick. I wouldn't have taken issue with Hispanic, as this is an appropriate term to use...but "Mexican patient"...I did.

 

[Old Timer]

Absolutely!

Hispanic would have been a perfectly appropriate term to use. However the OP's stated intention was to promote safety awareness with needle sticks. Ethnicity has no bearing on whether we should be careful to prevent a needle stick. I wouldn't have taken issue with Hispanic, as this is an appropriate term to use...but "Mexican patient"...I did.

I just think sometimes we react emotionally. This was a teachable moment. All of the back and forth and we should have told him up front that the correct descriptor was Hispanic and that use of the term Mexican was inappropriate.

 

[SpirivaSunrise]

I just think sometimes we react emotionally. This was a teachable moment. All of the back and forth and we should have told him up front that the correct descriptor was Hispanic and that use of the term Mexican was inappropriate.

True!

However, just as valuable of a teaching lesson is learning why one term is more appropriate than the other.

 

[Old Timer]

True!

However, just as valuable of a teaching lesson is learning why one term is more appropriate than the other.

No doubt....

 

[TXPharmDStudent]

I just think sometimes we react emotionally. This was a teachable moment. All of the back and forth and we should have told him up front that the correct descriptor was Hispanic and that use of the term Mexican was inappropriate.

True story, I don't use the phrase African American because a black gentlemen told me he found that phrase offensive. To put it short he told me "I'm not from Africa, I was born in America so you call me what I am".

 

[fenderbiz]

...I don't use the phrase African American...

I, too, can not stand this term, unless it is being used to describe the dual nationality of a person who migrated from Africa and is now an American citizen. Still, it is an unnecessary combination of words. We might as well start calling all white people "European American."
We are all Pangaeans, anyway!

 

[TTPSomething]

True story, I don't use the phrase African American because a black gentlemen told me he found that phrase offensive. To put it short he told me "I'm not from Africa, I was born in America so you call me what I am".

And so we come full circle.

 

[zelman]

True story, I don't use the phrase African American because a black gentlemen told me he found that phrase offensive. To put it short he told me "I'm not from Africa, I was born in America so you call me what I am".

I asked my teacher if the MDRD adjustment for "African Americans" applied to Africans who hadn't moved here permanently. She asked if I had meant white people from South Africa. Don't you love being "politically correct"? Isn't it great for scientific advancement?