Pearson, an education publishing company, has recently come under fire for publishing a nursing textbook that included offensive language about treating patients of different cultures.
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“Nursing: A Concept-Based Approach to Learning” contained a section titled “Cultural Differences in Response to Pain” that detailed how various groups, such as Arabs, Asians and Jews, deal with pain.
One passage read that “Arabs/Muslims” “may not request pain medicine but instead thank Allah for pain if it is the result of a healing medical procedure.”
Another stated that Filipino patients view pain as “the will of God,” while another said “Blacks” think “suffering and pain are inevitable.”
Facebook user Onyx Moore called out Pearson online Monday, accusing the corporation of cultural insensitivity.
“This is an excellent example of how not to be even remotely culturally sensitive. These assumptions are not evidence-based, they encourage nurses to ignore what a patient is actually saying,” she wrote in the post. “This chart lumps together various groups whose belief-systems vary widely.”
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Her upload has since been share more 1,000 times and has garned more than a 1,000 reactions.
And now Pearson is apologizing in a statement to Mic.
While differences in cultural attitudes towards pain are an important topic in medical programs, we presented this information in an inappropriate manner. We apologize for the offense this has caused and we have removed the material in question from current versions of the book, electronic versions of the book and future editions of this text. In addition, we now are actively reviewing all of our nursing curriculum products to identify and remove any remaining instances of this inappropriate content that might appear in other titles. We will continue to provide updates on our progress. This material does not reflect our values as a company and how we want to serve students. We always welcome feedback and we appreciate the concern shown by the students who raised this issue."
The company said it is working with its editorial team to determine how the material was initially published, and in the meantime, it plans to recall any books containing the offensive content.
Despite the apology, many on social media are still fuming.
Pearson has also taken to social media to make further statements.
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