Discussion Question
1) What are the facts in this case?
a. I am the vice president of Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital.
b. I am responding to a complaint from a Wiccan patient.
c. Primary Care nurse, Penny Baker, was discussing the patients’ Wiccan practices.
d. Ruth Goose walks in on the conversation and says, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you.”
e. The patient feels discriminated against.
f. Penny and Ruth agree that they had the right to discriminate against the Wiccan patient because she is a witch and she can possibly do human sacrifices, etc.
2) The nature of the organizational behavior is that medical workers should not get in their patients’ personal business. Medical workers are expected to treat their patients and make sure that their health is being taken care of. If a patient tells their religious beliefs, that does not give a medical worker the right to discriminate against that patient.
3) The three factors contributing to this dilemma:
a. The medical workers are discriminating against the patient because she is a Wiccan.
b. The patient feels that she had a poor stay at the hospital because of her religious beliefs.
c. The two nurses do not see anything wrong with dismissing the patient’s religious beliefs because they are trying to justify their behavior by telling their manager, “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship satan. It’s blasphemy…”
4) After hearing what happened, management should have given the patients a warning about their behavior, referred them to a nondiscriminatory training, and immediately reach out to the patient and apologize with both nurses there to express their apologies.
5) As the Vice President of Nursing Services, I would be responsible for addressing these issues and making sure that the two nurses reach out to the dissatisfied patient and apologize for being rude.
6) I am familiar with differences in religions. For me personally, I am a Muslim and I know what religious discrimination feels like. If the patient asked to pray with her, to be kind, the nurses should have prayed with her. You do not have to believe in the patients’ religious practices to be kind. If it makes the nurses uncomfortable, they can kindly refuse to pray with the patient.
Case Write-Up
Background Statement
A Wiccan patient who visited a nondenominational community hospital was discussing her religious beliefs with her primary care nurse, Penny Baker, when suddenly another nurse, Ruth Goose, walked into the conversation and rudely stated, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch amongst you.” The Wiccan nurse felt offended and complained that she was discriminated in the hospital because of her religious beliefs.
Major Problems and Secondary Issues
The major problem is that the two nurses, Penny Baker and Ruth Goose, made the patient feel unwelcomed in the nondenominational community hospital because of her Wiccan religious beliefs. The secondary issues that the nondenominational community hospital may face is that the Wiccan patient is threatening to go to the media. This means that there may be news coverage that your hospital engages in religious discrimination. This may make people, especially Wiccans, look down on your medical services.
Your Role
In this case, I am the Vice President of Nursing Services. As stated in the text, it writes, “You are the Vice President of Nursing Services in a nondenominational community hospital, and you receive a complaint from a patient, who is a Wiccan.” The advantages of this role are that I can sit down with Penny and Ruth to let them know that religious discrimination is not to be tolerated while we are caring for the patients. The disadvantages of this role are that I must decide how I am going to discuss this matter with Penny and Ruth because they’re passionate about being against the Wiccan patient. I need to let Penny and Ruth know that our patient’s care matters above everything else, not what religion they practice.
Organizational Strengths and Weaknesses
As the Vice President of Nursing Services, my strengths are that I can hold a training on racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. This training can supplement nurses with the information they need to work in a diverse environment. Nurses need to know that they must treat their patients justly despite their identity. The weaknesses I may face are that the two nurses are very religious themselves. They may not listen to what I have to say about religious discrimination because the two nurses try to justify their act by saying, “She did the right thing. We don’t have to pray with witches. They worship Satan. It’s blasphemy. What’s next? Human sacrifice?”
Alternatives and Recommended Solution
As a solution for this problem, I will make sure to provide all the nurses working in the hospital with diversity training. It is important that I sit down with the nurses and make it clear that discrimination will not be tolerated while they are working in our hospital. I can also offer every patient visiting the hospital with a survey. The patient can fill out the survey to let us know how they felt about their stay. Nurses who’ve been accused of any sort of discrimination, will have to speak with management. We would keep these incidences of discrimination in a file, and it the dilemma does not change, I would have to begin writing up the nurses. Discrimination would not be tolerated while the patient is in the hospital trying to recover from a medical condition. I would also recommend Penny and Ruth write an official letter of apology to the Wiccan patient before she decides to go to the media. Writing the official letter of apology would be my first recommended solution to Penny and Ruth, so that the patient does not feel unwelcomed to our hospital’s services in the future.
Evaluation
If there are enough surveys to prove that our medical treatment is getting better and there are less patients coming from the patients about discrimination, then I would know that the instances of discrimination have stopped. The goal is to aid in the medical recovery of patients. Patients must also feel welcomed to our hospital services despite their identity. By getting fewer, or even better, no discrimination complaints, I would know that my diversity trainings and meetings have worked.
