!! Review post-grad, for clinical practice !!

There's a lot to unpack here that will most likely identify me as a previous student, but I think it's best if I tell others of what happened so it doesn't occur again. For reference, I switched out of her clinical class due to personal issues with Dr. Dixon, and had a better clinical experience after the fact.

Dr. Dixon is a passionate professor, and it definitely shows during clinical. I'm sure she is a great person to be around, but some of the remarks she made during clinical were too much to overlook. Many of her statements were riddled with microaggressions, especially towards those of Asian descent. I personally overheard her tell a Taiwanese student that her "daughter's fiance's parents are farmers too!" after the student revealed her ethnicity. This statement by Dr. Dixon was totally unprompted and was immediately after the student's claim of ethnicity. Btw, student grew up in an urban city of Taiwan.

Another instance I had with her concerned my noncompliant uniform. For Public Health clinicals, it's expected to wear business casual. A lot of the students were unwilling to pay for additional clothes to wear for clinicals, so many of us wore whatever we already had available in our wardrobes -- me included. During week 2 of clinicals, I wore a turtleneck top with dark blue jeans and a belt. Dr. Dixon pulled me aside privately to let me know that I was not in proper uniform dress due to my jeans, and that I would "need to do better next week." I let Dr. Dixon know that another student wore something similar last week (but with black jeans). She proceeded to say that it didn't matter because I was still not in uniform this week. I simply let this interaction go, not wanting to escalate, and promised to wear something different for the next clinical. No one else was targeted for noncompliant uniform dress other than me, despite many students that day wearing jeans as well. I am of Asian descent, which may or may not have influenced her decision to solely pull me aside for the way I dressed. Another reason she may have targeted me was due to an interaction we had before clinical practice began. I arrived late (with another student) to an 8 AM orientation meeting with Dr. Dixon due to miscommunication. During this time, another orientation was occurring for a different professor of public health (Dr. Atashbar), which I attended instead for 10 minutes before realizing that I was in the wrong place. However, when I asked Dr. Atashbar if I was attending the correct orientation with Dr. Dixon, she claimed that Dr. Dixon should be here soon, as she was “supposed to lead this orientation with me.” After asking some other students in the room, no one knew where Dr. Dixon was and one replied that she should arrive soon, but was waiting downstairs. I waited until 8:11 AM to go downstairs and fetch Dr. Dixon, to which I entered a conference room greeted by other students and Dr. Dixon. As soon as I entered, Dr. Dixon started with “this is unacceptable that you are late by 15 minutes,” to which I replied that I had been waiting for her arrival with other students and Dr. Atashbar upstairs. When I apologized for the mistake and left to fetch another student upstairs, a peer claimed that Dr. Dixon said “I never make mistakes, and when I do, I own up to it” after I had left. Because of this initial interaction, I believe that Dr. Dixon would target me as a form of retaliation.

More on dress code: this didn't occur with me but with the same student of Taiwanese descent. The student, who is wearing a black leather jacket, with a black t-shirt underneath and baggy black jeans that reached the midriff, is approached by Dr. Dixon. Dr. Dixon grabbed the student's shoulder roughly and exclaimed, "I shouldn't have to see your belly. I am very sensitive to this..." The t-shirt covered her full stomach. This student is the only student who is dress-coded on this clinical day, despite the fact that I see other students wearing tight jeans or tight clothing in general.

As the weeks continued, a different student shared with me that she witnessed Dr. Dixon handing a Caucasian female student an item, saying “this reminded me of you.” No other student received a gift. Some other students mentioned that they hear the racial undertones/racism from Dr. Dixon’s comments. The same Caucasian student who received a gift presented her public health topic that day with a standard presentation including a Kahoot. Dr. Dixon sung praise of her presentation, despite other presenters having more creative presentations. She said, “See, this is exactly what I’m looking for in a clinical discussion. Something creative and interactive.” Some POC students and I share looks between each other after this comment, as we perceived underlying racist tones with this excessive praise for a mediocre presentation presented by a Caucasian student.

While it seems like I am just bringing up drama between Dr. Dixon and I, I solely write all this out to warn other Asian students of what is to come if they are placed in clinicals with this professor. Even though I am writing this post-graduation, I have logs where I described the events that happened in real-time, and I am sure some other students can attest to their similar experiences with this professor. Overall, Dr. Dixon is passionate about her work but it often isn't received well or is generally confusing as she tends to go overboard with her ideas that cannot be carried out by students without RN licenses. I generally recommend students to be cautious about what they share with Dr. Dixon, and to switch out clinical placements if they feel threatened by her comments. Stay safe everyone!