57075--this is what diversity looks like

[zyzyly]

I needed to do some online e-learning stuff today for a course I have to take tomorrow on a new blood glucose monitoring system. While I was at it, I decided to knock out the rest of the assignments for the quarter. Normally I wait until the last possible moment. One of the assignments was on creating a culture of respect for diversity in our workplace. It's an admirable ideal, and I'm all for it. The above picture was from a screen shot in the training module. Does this look like the people you work with? Let's see--doctors are guys, nurses are girls. All look perfect. Yup--just like real life.

When I first started at the hospital 25 years ago, everything was done in-house. If they needed people for pictures someone would wander the halls and ask us if we wanted to be in a brochure or whatever. I was in a couple of things. Now it's all farmed out and everything has the feel of marketing rather than education. Ahh, might as well stand on the beach and yell at the waves to stop crashing.



Here is one of my real coworkers, Anna, giving her best "nursing school teacher" look while demonstrating how to put on protective garb.

Comments

[fletch31526.livejournal.com]

It's humorous that a picture that's supposed to emphasize diversity, simultaneously supports stereotypes about gender roles.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I keep thinking about that and how wrong it is.

Hey--how have you been? Haven't seen you on LJ for a while.

[fletch31526.livejournal.com]

Would you believe that I've kept your reply to this entry -- from FEBRUARY -- in my inbox with the intent to reply to it? Yes. I know. I have a calendar. It's July (less than 34 hours from August). But, alas, here I am... replying nevertheless... And to answer your question, I'm good. I'm living a life that isn't necessarily exciting, but would certainly worthy of LiveJournal entries if only I had the time or courage to do so. (If I ever have the one, I'm always lacking the other it seems.)

Whew. It feels good to get that off my to-do list. ;-)

[sunshine-two.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's an accurate reflection but, it's been about a 50/50 split of female/male doctors I've been referred to in the last couple of years.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Depending on the specialty, that's realistic. In our family practice residency program, it usually tilts in favor of females over males.

[auntysocial.livejournal.com]

No male nurses, either. Very few real people in any occupation look like models.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Unless it is the modeling business.

[rockbirthedme.livejournal.com]

My first thought when I saw that was, "That's what a black female friend of mine refers to as 'the Missing Black Woman Formation.'" Photos that are supposed to be diverse will include one Asian female, one Asian male, one black male, one white woman, and one white male. The black woman is usually either missing or very light-skinned. I also notice that this photo is short on Asians, which ignores that there are a lot of very fine East Asian and South Asian doctors and nurses in the US.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

In my post today I also reflected on the ages of the "nurses". the more I think about this the more it irritates me.

[rockbirthedme.livejournal.com]

Good point -- the nurses I work with run close to middle-age, with a couple who are older. The really young ones are often PCTs, but not all of them.

[howeird]

Strange but true, I meet a lot of nurses in community theater. The one I have known longest (since 1981) is a gay man who is 6'4" and weighs about 350 lbs. He is also a superb pianist. And very white. One is a 60-ish Greek-American woman, another is a very petite Jamaican woman in her 30's, and one is the stereotype Barbie blonde of about 25. And a retired Vietnam War medic who must be in his late 60's by now, fron Seattle's inner city, who is what we used to call "the best 9 ethnicities on the block".