to my fellow filipina/filipino nurses working abroad

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Hello,

I've been working now for 10 months in Ireland both in a nursing home and later as agency nurse in hospitals. I must say I generally have been very sad about quite a few incidents with fellow nurses especially coming from the philippines. I gotta be fair. there have been some who have been really good colleagues but in quite a few wards I saw filipino staff teaming up against european nurses. They speak their own language with each other at work, treat fellow european nurses not very nicely, in at least 8 different wards i have witnesses filipino staff teaming up in order to make european staff look bad. Please my fellow filipina/o nurses I am not directing this against you personally, its rather something I experienced in so many of the wards where I work and was actually quite appalled and would like to raise some awareness. Through behaviour like this foreign nurses make their country look so bad and don't really earn respect. I know there are many of you out there from the philippines who are great nurses and kind people. I have some philippino friends myself but honestly I started to feel uncomfortable when I'm coming to a ward with mainly filipino staff. This is very sad and we should all work together in peace with equal respect.

Specializes in Ward Nurse and everything in between.

Yeah, Filipino RNs abroad, speak in ENGLISH. For the safety of everyone.

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400 hundred years of spanish colonialism some cultural backlash. English is learned all through schooling in the Philippines. No reason to not speak it in a professional setting. It should be suspect when staff does not reflect the general population. So we learn there is racism in groups other than white people.

This should be a moot point in a country with high unemployment and so many unemployed. Write your congressman and question why we still have so many H1b visas with so many coming out of nursing school to no job.

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So they are doing that the whole shift? ...talking in their native tongue?

I'm glad I read this thread. Being a loner and having hailed from a multi-lingual family (whose parents never bothered to teach their dialects...meaning I don't understand their local tongues...) I don't see what's the big deal when people talk in front of me in another language. Well I guess people who have done so, do talk to me in a familiar language at times...

I don't see what's wrong with using your own language if you want to express yourself fully just as long as you don't do it all the time and at the risk of others misunderstanding. Team-building is important after all.

Anyway, thanks for telling. I now know that this is a sensitive issue on your side of the world. I'll have to remember this if I go overseas.

I suggest you guys confront the guilty party first prior to going to your supervisors. It's so hard to find a job these days...

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Specializes in Vent/trach peg tube.

Really happy to find this topic mentioned here. Not only their rude manner of speaking Tagalog in front of patients but they also fire others just so their family members can join the facilities. What is the solution to all this? It is definitely not honest and fair. Is there a web site where we can can mention this sorts of behavior so it can be corrected?

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Specializes in PCU/Coronary Care Unit/ICU.
Thank you for starting this thread--it addresses an important issue that Filipino nurses need to be aware of. Unfortunately the same problem occurs at many facilities in the US as well.

I have seen Filipino employees "band together" and speak their language in front of others who do not understand it, both patients and co-workers.

I have seen them try and make non-Filipino workers look bad.

I have seen them intentionally exclude others from casual conversations at work.

This behavior reflects badly on all Filipinos. It further tarnishes an already-tarnished image of Filipino nurses.

Let me make it clear: It is considered rude to speak a foreign language in front of people who do not understand it.

It shows disrespect. If you cannot show respect to the citizens of the host country--whether it is the US or a European country-- don't go there! It's a lot easier to deal with a shortage of workers than it is to deal with the conflict and bad feelings that this type of behavior causes...

I am a Filipino nurse working with other Filipino nurses in a BIG institution in the bay area. I admit that there are shifts when there are more Filipino nurses than other nationalities. But during these times, WE actually make more effort to ensure that non-Filipinos feel comfortable, to the point that we speak English even during break times, if they are around.

But, I guess, everywhere is different and I'm just lucky that in ALL institutions I had worked in, Filipino nurses have the grace to acknowledge the fact that we are in America and we have to adapt and adopt the culture of our newly embraced country.

As a rule, English is the ONLY allowed language in the workplace BUT I have to say, there are instances that makes speaking our native tongue so EASY and TEMPTING. I'm not making excuses just stating simple observations. But , believe it or not, most of the time, when we do speak Tagalog, we are talking about actors/actresses back home or husbands/wives/kids problems and successes, and not about YOU. OR the patient.Or the Doctor. But, hey, I totally get where you're all coming from, it's unconscionable to try to alienate other peoples when they are a part of a PROFESSIONAL TEAM in a WORK environment. TOTALLY.

But, I don't understand this "tarnished image" of a Filipino nurse. Actually, this is the first time I had actually READ it in any post. Just from yours. Is it because you had met with Filipino nurses that supremely insult your standards of care?Or just plain nincompoops that do not understand the very BASIC of nursing and medical theories?OR dim-witted individuals that can't speak PROPER english or, shall we say, just sounds "funny" because of their accents.

I don't know you so I'm just inferring from what you had written in this thread ..... in a Philippine Nursing forum.

IF that is the case, then, please accept my deepest apologies. Personally, I had to go through the proverbial "eye of the needle" to get here. The batteries of exams I had to go through to prove my "worth" so that I would be deemed "at par" with nurses who received their education from an American institution of higher learning, is really comprehensive.

However, I digress, again PLEASE accept my sincerest apologies, in behalf of my countrymen that had offended the nursing spirit within you. IF I may just make a suggestion, we usually respond quite well, with honest and respectful reminders. Filipinos do have indomitable constitutions and, as such, don't get easily offended.

As for the other poster, the one about not following doctor's orders, THAT affects nursing practice and ,as such, is governed by law. I believe that you should pursue this in court, at the very least, with the Board of Nursing in your state.

AGAIN, my humble apologies and ,as it affects my own practise, promise to be more prudent and wary of my "language accidents". Peace.

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Specializes in LTC, Magt, family practice, legal nsg.

I've seen these situations happen over and over again. I've worked mostly in the management, corporate level in my career. I've been asked by fellow Filipinos whether I still or even understand the language, in which, I always reply "yes". Following that question, I am frequently asked why not speak to fellow Filipinos in the native tongue? My answer is very simple: I want to set examples to other Filipinos. The workplace is not to show off whether I understand or speak or even to favor Filipinos. I have been branded as a snob for not gossiping or have leisure time or conversing with fellow Filipinos. The worst of all, I was told I do not respect my elders, which I respond when told, that I respect them as they are older but they should also respect me for which position I represent the company in which we work. The problem is, most Filipinos feel that since there is someone up ranking high in the management/corporate level, most countrymen assumes that they will be provided with a special treatment. It is sad to hear bad things about Filipino nurses. I find them as the most hardworking ethnic group. But, having been in so many management positions, the best group of nurses are those blended from different nations. I tend to limit the number of Filipino nurses I hire (not being prejudicial) because of what was said that started this thread.

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My sister is working in the UK for about 10 years now. For that span of time, she witness many awkward attitudes of European nurses. They work under time and very demanding, but not all european nurses are like that, there are some nurses that are every hard working, nurses from eastern europe.

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Specializes in Med Surg/ Pedi, OR.

I work in the Bay Area and I feel like I work in a foreign country. They speak there Language all day. I 've read some posts of course if you are apart of those people it may not seem like a big deal to you, or it doesn't happen often but it is Rude and they only seem to care about $$. We have had so many meetings about speaking the language..... same difference. I'm American born here. I wish some of them would...

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Specializes in Neuro-Surgery, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I work in the Bay Area and I feel like I work in a foreign country. They speak there Language all day. I 've read some posts of course if you are apart of those people it may not seem like a big deal to you, or it doesn't happen often but it is Rude and they only seem to care about $$. We have had so many meetings about speaking the language..... same difference. I'm American born here. I wish some of them would...

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I understand how you feel. I also live here in the SF Bay Area, for over 33 years as a matter of fact. Just like many places in America where there are many immigrants, (New York 100 years ago-Italians, Irish, Germans, etc., Los Angeles-Central and South American, Asians, etc.) the Bay Area is home to many immigrants, including over 250,000 Filipino-Americans. Many of them are first generation Filipino-Americans, therefore they prefer to speak their native tongue when they are with another Filipino-American. My two adult children are second-generation Filipino-Americans and can only speak English, although my daughter can understand some Tagalog.

It is no secret that many college-educated Filipino-Americans are nurses, and you will hear them speaking Tagalog, oftentimes in the presence of Americans. I agree with you that that is rude. I apologize on their behalf even though some of the Filipinos think that that behavior is a perfectly fine practice.

I noticed that your English grammar needs some improvement though. You wrote, "They speak 'there' Language all day." It should be, "They speak 'their' language all day." (Letter 'L' in the word 'language' should not be capitalized.)

"apart" may be a typo error, but it should be "a part." "Rude" should be "rude." (Letter 'R' should not be capitalized.) "same difference" should be "no difference."

"I'm American born here." should be "I'm an American who was born here."

"I wish some of them would..." is an incomplete sentence.

I have a college education. English is my second language. I have worked hard to improve my grammar over the years that I've been living here in the United States. I believe in assimilation, in becoming an American, rather than remaining a separate ethnic group.

I am an American.

EM of NHHHA

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Specializes in Med Surg/ Pedi, OR.

Please don't correct my ENGLISH!! I am ****** about working with those... damn PEOPLE!! THink what you want.... about my incomplete sentence I'd LIKE to replace it with a BEEP!

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Specializes in ER/CC.
Please don't correct my ENGLISH!! I am ****** about working with those... damn PEOPLE!! THink what you want.... about my incomplete sentence I'd LIKE to replace it with a BEEP!

I think what the previous poster's point was when criticizing someone's inability or unwillingness to speak the English language when necessary, you should be mindful of your own use of that language so as not to sound stupid or ignorant.

those... damn PEOPLE!!!

Really, now? It's 2011. Tell me how you really feel.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Orthop/Surg, ER,StepDown.

Here is how I explain why different languages than that of what our patients speak is not condusive to a therapeutic atmosphere: Where we work, a majority of our patients have some degree of dementia or alzheimers, one of the typical manifistations is that of paranoia, if they have someone around them speaking and laughing in another language around them, this heightens the chance their paranoia will begin to manifest into agitation. To me this is a form of abuse. You have a means to keep a resident /patient from becoming agitated which can lead to falls etc, and yet you chose to go the path which is the least healing for them.

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