Publisher Apologizes for Nursing Textbook’s Racist Content Promoting Minority Stereotypes (Video)

“Blacks Believe Suffering and Pain Are Inevitable”

An education company has apologized following outrage over its inclusion of racist content in one of its nursing textbooks.

Pearson, which advises it provides “world-class tools, content, products, and services… designed to help people adapt to our changing world,” first published “Nursing: A Concept-Based Approach to Learning, Volume I” in 2014. 

“A client’s culture influences their response to, and beliefs about pain,” a section providing advice for nurses when administering pain relief to different cultures reads. “Some cultural common differences related to pain are listed here.”

Look:

As the BBC detailed:

The page contains headings for different communities. Here are some of the excerpts:

Arabs/Muslims

• May not request pain medicine but instead thank Allah for pain if it is the result of the healing medical process.
• Pain is considered a test of faith. Muslim clients must endure pain as a sign of faith in return for forgiveness and mercy.

Asians

• Chinese clients may not ask for medication because they do not want to take the nurse away from a more important task.
• Indians who follow Hindu practices believe that pain must be endured in preparation for a better life in the next cycle.

Blacks

• Blacks often report higher pain intensity than other cultures.
• They believe suffering and pain are inevitable.

Jews

• Jews may be vocal and demand assistance.
• They believe pain must be shared and validated by others.

Hispanics

• Hispanics may believe that pain is a form of punishment and that suffering must be endured if they are to enter heaven.
• They vary in their expression of pain. Some are stoic and some are expressive.

Native Americans

• Native Americans may prefer to receive medications that have been blessed by a tribal shaman.
• They may pick a sacred number when asked to rate pain on a numerical pain scale.

Pearson responded to outrage over the textbook via Twitter:

Following this, the company released a recorded apology from Tim Bozik, the president of Global Product, in which he detailed how Pearson was addressing its decision to publish the content.

“Educating students, particularly those who will be our next generation of caregivers, is a profound responsibility,” Bozik said. “The material included in these texts does not reflect our values as a company and how we want to serve students. We are taking steps right now to correct the issue, and we are committed to setting this right and we will be following up publicly about our progress.”

The full apology can be seen below:

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