"You're gonna need to learn Spanish...."

SCRN1 · Feb 12, 2007

While I agree, if I was in another country, I'd be ever so grateful to anyone that did speak English and could help me out!

Oh, I wasn't meaning that I refuse to learn Spanish or to try and help someone speaking a foreign language the best I can. I do try to do my best in caring for someone speaking a foreign language...just as I do with people who have beliefs other than what I have, whether it's religious, cultural, etc.

What I meant in I wouldn't expect another country to conform to my language and I don't think ours should either is that I don't think it should be required for us to learn a foreign language to suit the desires of those who choose to move to another country.

Kim O'Therapy, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2007

There is no other country in the world that accomodates people from other countries living there. I am bicultural and I am big on respecting other cultures. That does not, however, mean that it's okay to accomodate another language for people who choose to live here.

I agree that the nurse him/herself should not HAVE to accomadate a pts language barrier; however, I feel the hospital should. I work in a major medical facility in a "melting pot" area of the country. Administration discourages attempts at communication and insists on the use of our contracted linguist d/t the possibility of error, resulting in law suits. In other words, if I try to communicate with a non-English speaking pt, I then have to take responsibility for any misinterpretation that may follow. No thank you.

Having said that, as the OP indicated, comforting a pt can make all the difference. I once had a pt from Kuwait. Of course, all I could see was her eyes and in that particular culture, the men speak for the women. Most of the time, the woman may not even know what dx she has or why she is at the hospital because the men do all of the communicating. I could see the fear and confusion in her eyes as her brother, MD, and interpreter made plans for HER care. I reached down and held her hand and she gripped onto me with all her might. It struck me as so sad.

mrsalby · Feb 12, 2007

My what a thread. I believe that if living in a country, attempt to learn the language in that country. Understandably, stressful situations will cause one to default to their natural language. I think it is the responsibility of both parties to attempt to learn the dominant language and everyone can then have a coke and a smile! I feel every Spanish speaking or ESL patient I communicate with is an opportunity to learn and teach something about the language. So, I try. I live in New Mexico, I have to try!

I see the problem in America is that a lot of complaining is done without attempts to improve the situation. America is too accomodating. For example, To become a citizen, one has to take the test and the oath etc. If one speaks spanish and has lived here for 20 years or more they can take the test and oath in Spanish...huh? say that again! in Spanish....you would think it would be the other way around and they would be required to take the test in English and say the oath in English! Heck seeing as how he or she has lived here that long, they should pick up some form of the language. I have picked up some form of the Spanish language living in English speaking America just by coming in contact with patients the last 2.5 yrs. Come on! They have been here 10-20+. Changes like these are way overdue if the majority rules to keep English as the predominant and official language in America. Write your congressional leaders.

~MrsA

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 12, 2007

nurses and health care professionals need to be able to communicate regarding issues affecting healthcare without name calling and letting personal biases affect patient care or discussions on our bulletin board.

please refran from personal attacks. debate the subject at hand and provide facts with website links not heresay when indicated.

[color=#292526]the foreign-born population in the united states increased by more

[color=#292526]than half between 1990 and 2000.

[color=#292526]census 2000 measured a population of 281.4 million, 31.1 million (or 11.1 percent) of whom were foreign born.[color=#292526]1

[color=#292526]individuals from latin america represented 52 percent, asia 26 percent, europe 16 percent, and otherareas of the world 6.0 percent of the foreign-born population.

[color=#292526]http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-34.pdf

[color=#292526]we can not ignore the fact that immigration to us has risen significantly. as healthcare providers we must plan to accommidate and provide services accordingly.

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2007

I speak/understand 7 languages.

Unfortunately Spanish is not one them :uhoh21:

On the other hand, where I am in the MidWest, my knowledge of German is quite handy. We recently had an elderly nursing home patient Dx: Ileus and abd pain.

First night she was terrible - completely non co operative. Constantly getting out of bed. Would wet the bed and not inform us. Refused to use call light but would shout "Help! Help" ever 2 minutes etc.

The next night, when I was in there trying to assist her, my speech quirk (I tend to speak very rapidly. My co-workers constantly remind me to slow down LOL) caused her to say "I'm sorry but I'm not American. I don't understand you". She was old enough to be a war bride and her accent seemed to fit, so I took a wild shot and started speaking in German.

Her face lit up :chuckle From then on, it was a lot more smooth sailing...

medsurgnurse, RN · Feb 12, 2007

While I totally understand the OPs desire to pick up spanish, I also understand the frustration of everyone else! The times I've visited foreign countries, I've picked up at least some basic phrases before I left. I don't expect everyone I come in contact with to be fluent in English, although most are. I've had patients who've been in the US for years, YEARS and can't even answer basic questions if they're asked in english.

Thank you. I am not anywhere near a border. But have had a recent surge of spanish speaking population in my community. I was so full of compassion trying to communicate with this non-english speaking pregnant female through an interpreter. Then in history gathering, I find this is not her first birth but fourth all in this country within ten years. She couldn't speak a word of english. very frustrating.

jojotoo, RN · Feb 12, 2007

Sorry to be the controversial one. But wake up! These folks are in a country where English is the standard preferred language. And, it's not my responsibility to spend my free time learning a foreign toungue.
If you're in the hospital and you only speak Spanish, get a family member who speaks English to help translate for you!
Don't correct me on my use of your Spanish language! I'm trying the best that I know how to communicate with you!
Excuse me! You're the one who insists on using your language to communicate with me, when I know you've spent at least a little time here and have some brief understanding of English and can trouble yourself to speak in English...this is not MEXICO!

Gotta agree with you - 100%.

kcalohagirl · Feb 12, 2007

I also speak/understand several languages, to a varying degree of fluency. Fortunately, Spanish is one of them. :) Italian is another.

While I was still in nursing school, I had a patient who had immigrated to the U.S. from Italy over forty years prior. His youngest two children were born in the U.S., the oldest two in Italy. He and his wife both spoke excellent (though heavily accented) English. He had cancer in his spine, and over the few weeks I helped care for him, the pain became unbearable and we knew his death was imminent.

The other thing that happened over these few weeks was that his grasp of the English language went steadily downhill as his condition worsened. His grasp of Italian was better. Although my Italian is far from perfect these days, I would speak to him when I could in Italian, explaining what we were doing, reassuring and comforting him when I could. A family member was always present through those last days to help when necessary. However, after he passed, his wife thanked me and told me how much it meant to her and to him that I happened to speak the language.

Obviously something that is not going to occur every day. But it made an impression.

I live in an area that has a large number of Spanish-speaking immigrants. I find my Spanish skills to be very helpful. However. . . .whenever something technical needs to be communicated or something legal needs to be addressed, I always call for an interpreter. And I'm pretty close to completely bilingual. However, there is a big difference between speaking a language conversationally and communicating complex medical information. And from a legal/liability standpoint, our hospital requires that an interpreter be present when that type of information is communicated. We are fortunate enough to have a Spanish interpreter on call 24/7. We also have interpreters for a wide variety of other languages on call.

My job as a nurse is to care for my patient using my skills and the resources I have available. I am fortunate that speaking a variety of languages is a skill I posess. I would be negligent did I not use the resource of an interpreter for a patient.

jojotoo, RN · Feb 12, 2007

I have had people come into the ER actually get angry with me because I don't speak Spanish. I've also had people who I know speak English refuse to and insist on a Spanish interpreter.

This happens a LOT more than most people realize. And, I'm getting pretty tired of it.

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2007

I think it is wonderful that the original poster would like to learn spanish. Even just basic questions and phrases.

However I live in a highly populated area with Muslims. Many have been here for a long time. The parents don't speak english but usually their childern do. At one facility we could usually call so and so who works across the hall on days and etc. Since it was a highly populated Muslim area we did have workers who spoke all different dialects of arabic. But sometimes we couldn't find a translator and would call family. Usually family would spend the night. Recently I took care of a male pt who could not speak a lick of english and neither could his wife. His son wouldn't stay because his mother insisted. I explained that he would be the better person to stay but he said he couldn't because he had class in the morning and his mother insisted on staying. I again pleaded with him to stay becasue I couldn't communicate with her and he still did not stay. There are rare occasions like that where the english speaking person will not stay. Thank goodness 2 other nurses were on and could speak their language due to working in Saudi Arabia or Dubai before coming here to work. If not I would have had to use language line. I have picked up little words like for pain and other things. I used that once and the pt wife thought I was fluent and kept speaking arabic to me and I kept telling her that I do not understand her. I had to keep going and getting my co workers.

My husband's friend is originally from Romania and his wife is too. He immigrated here in his teens and has learned the language. His wife just moved here with in the last 2 years. She is trying to learn the language. So far she is doing well. She is watching TV with the closed captions and it really helps her. I read about a hockey player doing the same thing. Also my best friend is from Poland and moved here as a child with her family. She and her sister learned english from school. Their parnets took english as a second language calss. Her dad also worked outside the home and picked up english much faster than their mom. Their mom always has cleaned houses and spoke Polish with the homeowners. Her english isn't as good but has gotten much better over the years. I give her parnets a lot of credit. Her mom was a teacher in Poland and gave that up so they could come here and make a better life for their girls. So some people have the motivation to learn and fit in and others don't.

My only objection is to people who come to our country and DON"T even try to learn the language. This is due to being able to take your drivers test in a multitude of languages. If they cannot speak our language how can they read signs. If you go to Walgreens you can get perscription info in almost any language. I saw this when I was getting my scripts filled there a while ago.

However I would like to learn some more medical spanish so I can better communicate with my patients. In my area we have pts who speak spanish,arabic,farsi,russian, polish, romanian, hungarian, and many other languages. The Canadian border is 30 min south of me ( In Detroit the Canadian border is south) The most common being spanish and arabic. So I feel beneficial to learn some basic pharases to help determine if the patient is confused or not. Also my Aunt Mary immigrated as a child from Russia with her parents and when she started getting older and confused she began speaking russian at times for no reason at all. So sometimes the person is demented and returns to speaking their native language. I know the controversy here is related to those who have been here and don't even try to learn the language. Just remember America DOES NOT have an official language and the government is trying to pass legislation to make english our official language. I agree if you chose to live here then learn the language. If I had to move to lets say France then I would learn French. But you cannot make them speak english when you need to do your assessment if they don't speak the language. If needed find a translator or use language line.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Feb 12, 2007

What we do is go to the computer, go to Dictionary.com's translator, choose the languages, type a few phrases in english and voila! Instant resource. Especially for situations such as the OP describes. Hope it helps.

http://dictionary.reference.com/translate/text.html

What comes out, looks like this:

In English:

Hello. We need to change the bag now. You should not feel any pain while we do this.

In Spanish:

Hola. Necesitamos ahora cambiar el bolso. Usted no debe sentir ningún dolor mientras que hacemos esto.

jojotoo, RN · Feb 12, 2007

What we do is go to the computer, go to Dictionary.com's translator, choose the languages, type a few phrases in english and voila! Instant resource. Especially for situations such as the OP describes. Hope it helps.
http://dictionary.reference.com/translate/text.html
What comes out, looks like this:
In English:
Hello. We need to change the bag now. You should not feel any pain while we do this.
In Spanish:
Hola. Necesitamos ahora cambiar el bolso. Usted no debe sentir ningún dolor mientras que hacemos esto.

I just tried this site. It's great! This will definitely help at work. Thanks!