Japan needs nurses, STAT

World General World

Published

Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

I would not work there. It is a closed society and I don't feel that my loud mouth, Texas background would go over very well. In addition, they tried to kill my father in WWII and I just can't get over it. I know that sounds stupid and it is certainly not the fault of the people that live there now, but I just can't get past it.

Specializes in ER, Recovery Room OT, Surgical, NeuroSur.

Im actually going over in january to see my bf who is teaching english there in yoshinaga and see how it feels like for me to be in Japan. I am currently trying to learn Japanese in 4mths. gah the stress!! but i have a kanji background. I do hope though that should my partner decide to stay an xtra year that i will be able to work there as a nurse or something!!!

Specializes in ICU.
Im actually going over in january to see my bf who is teaching english there in yoshinaga and see how it feels like for me to be in Japan. I am currently trying to learn Japanese in 4mths. gah the stress!! but i have a kanji background. I do hope though that should my partner decide to stay an xtra year that i will be able to work there as a nurse or something!!!

Enjoy your visit! My nephew is going over there soon for a month-long stay. He also spent a month in Japan last year.

January should be pretty decent weather. I was there from July - November. During the summer muggy (mushiatsui!)/rainy months, the weather is pretty severe (especially on Okinawa). By October, it's pretty nice.

I found the Japanese to be predominantly very kind, and very polite (yet occasionally abusive in some business situations). Take lots of pictures, enjoy the country & people, and PLEASE get out of the city & visit the countryside. I hope to go back some time with my wife. She and I were in Tokyo for a few hours on the way to China (to adopt our daughter) about 4.5 years ago, but she says that visit did NOT count!

Specializes in Peds Homecare.
Um my understanding is that Japan is very Americanized and most folks there know English, though it is rude to not know their language.

Wonder if anyone finds this to be a strange thought? No disrespect to the OP. We'd never get away with that here...lol

Specializes in ER, Recovery Room OT, Surgical, NeuroSur.

well i heard that it will be snowy winter in January in Japan. I will be down at the countryside in Yoshinaga. so im sure it will be amazing :) am really looking forward to it heaps :)

Sounds like they don't really want us there.

A small number of American nurses could probably pass the test, many of them Japanese-Americans who also studied the language formally. But among this small number, how many could pass the test, and how many would be willing to relocate? A very, very small number. Also Americans in general are seen by Japanese as fiercely independent, likely to rock the boat, etc. Given all of this it isn't likely that many visas would be issued for American RNs.

While most Japanese are exposed to English in school and can read a little bit, MANY cannot speak English at all when it comes down to it. And the older they are, the more they've forgotten. You would have to be VERY fluent to be a nurse in any country- giving and recieving instructions on the fly, reacting, teaching, talking to people with tubes in their nose or airway... Filipinos use a lot of English in their country (signs in english, english everywhere, on TV, etc.) and that makes them very good at implementing their skills in the workplace abroad. We don't try to start off people in Bangladesh with an English crash course.

Cheers to those 1-3 Pinay and Indo nurses who made it into Japan (if I am to understand correctly that this is the case). What they have accomplished is almost unbelievable. They must be very intelligent and hard-working. Also very brave and ambitious. I'd welcome them here in the US with open arms after they finish their tour in Japan.

Tough situation IMHO. From my experience living overseas, it is difficult to apply all of our ideals as Americans to another society.

However, without going off on the racism tangent, I do think that a foreign health care provider must be fluent in the language of the country where they will work. Anybody who works health care should understand just how important it is to communicate among the health care team and the patient/family. In many ways, the nurse is the bridge between these two concepts and not only does a foreign nurse need to understand the medical aspect of the language, they must do additional translation as they will need to translate the medical concepts into language that is easy to understand in order to communicate with the patient/ family.

Do we not expect nurses to have a better than "average" understanding of the written and spoken language in America? Do we still require prospective nurses to complete at least a semester of literature and a semester of composition before even being allowed to enter most nursing programmes in the United States? Do we still expect nurses to research, write papers and navigate the finer points of citing in APA format? Do we still grade prospective nurses on their ability to educate patients and family in the clinical setting and present a case study or topic in front of the class in the didactic setting?

They have the blue tranlational phones in US hospitals for non-English speaking patients. They are needing us for our nursing skills. It takes a long time to become fluent/conversational in another language, and I'm sure it would take a lot longer to be able to learn medical terminology in another language - it wouldn't be just basic conversational Japanese. Don't forget dosages, numbers, medications,etc - there's a great chance for error. I think the interpreter, or interpreter phone is safer, more accurate - unless you're a native Japanese speaker.

They have the blue tranlational phones in US hospitals for non-English speaking patients. They are needing us for our nursing skills. It takes a long time to become fluent/conversational in another language, and I'm sure it would take a lot longer to be able to learn medical terminology in another language - it wouldn't be just basic conversational Japanese. Don't forget dosages, numbers, medications,etc - there's a great chance for error. I think the interpreter, or interpreter phone is safer, more accurate - unless you're a native Japanese speaker.

Why not apply this concept to the United States? I'm not sure about others, but I'm not all that keen on letting nurses who are not fluent in English take care of me in my own country. People from other countries are able to master English a supposedly difficult language, why should it be any different in Japan?

Wouldn't it be more cost efficient to hire a couple of translators per hospital, and just let the nurses do their thing, with assistance when needed? Duh!

I can even believe yoou suggested this- how do you relate? And what if you needed something urgently, to tell patient, family or doctor, then what next?

+ Add a Comment