How do you get on with foreign nurses?

[letina]

Hi :)

As a foreign-educated nurse, soon to be relocating to the US, I was wondering what US nurses' perceptions/expectations are of their foreign co-workers. Are there any particular work-related difficulties? I'm thinking in terms of differences in the way things are done in the clinical area.....and how do you feel if a new foreign nurse keeps asking questions, since you are all so busy, do you feel you have the time to help us? I just worry sometimes that I might make a nuisance of myself I'm a very experienced nurse here in my home country, but very aware that it'll be like starting over when I move to the US, and will be relying on my new co-workers to set me straight on a thing or two. So....just interested to know what you think about working with transcultural nurses

[Alexsys]

I like working with nurses from other countries. I like to learn new things about the world abroad when talking with them.

[stpauligirl]

I just wanted to say, you missed 'Cooker'.

I had a very good friend from England who I met in Walmart, and she said she was looking for a 'cooker'. I didnt know what the heck she was talking about. It was a 'stove' or 'oven', as we call it here.

Doesnt matter. The wonderful accent makes it all sound good.

As for this thread, I hope you all find persons in America who are ready to learn all the different cultural aspects that you have to offer. I am a born and bred Northern American, I married a Filipino man, I have good friends from Somalia, and I have learned wonderful things from every different person I have met from every different culture. You may meet the jerks, (American for stupid, intolerant, obnoxious, ect. ect.), but there are good people for every jerk. Welcome!

and how about "Knock up"....here in America it means to get a girl pregnant and not to "knock on the bedroom door to wake someone up"

[letina]

and how about "Knock up"....here in America it means to get a girl pregnant and not to "knock on the bedroom door to wake someone up"

I'll tell you a little story about the phrase "knock up"......many many years ago in England, before anyone had telephones or alarm clocks etc, men used to be hired to go knock on people's doors very early in the mornings to wake people to go to work......their job title? "knocker-uppers" :chuckle

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

For example-'I am going to shine a torch in your eyes"

translates to " I am going to put a blow touch in your eye'

you have to say pen light.

Giving set=Tubing

Venflons=IV cannules

Catheters=Foleys

Drug kardes=MARS

inco pads=Pampers

You will soon pick it up.

If you have a stong liverpool accent they are going to have fun fun fun understanding you.

Omg.....very very very funny!

[VegRN]

I hate it when foreign nurses are speaking in their language amongst the English speaking nurses. It is quite rude, I think.

One foreign nurse I work with is terrible, I think a big factor in that is that she was a doctor in her home country and a nurse here. She is incompetent and also completely unwilling to do anything that is remotely a CNA job. She will spend 10 minutes looking for the CNA to retrieve a blanket for a pt when it would be better if she just did it herself. The other foreign nurses I work with are pretty good though

[Kashia, ASN, LVN]

Probably better than US nurses. Difference? US attitude, agressiveness, controlling ( not always of course but a lot!) Nurses from other cultures are more well rounded, interesting, and in general have been my favorites to work with. Its those egotistic US nurses full of themselves and their degrees ( haha) that I personally find difficult and unpleasing to work with. For example...nurses from Philippines have twice the amount of schooling (7+ yrs as BSN's here but they never carry on about it.They are better trained and their schools (probably) don't instill in them an inflated sense of worth as they concentrate on here. anyways...

So welcome!

[aiming]

I am a foreign Nurse too and just started working in the US. I agree with what most people say, be kind and respectful to others in a way that you speak a language that people around you can understand. Second, since English is not our native language, it is better to speak slowly and clearly so you will be understood. If there are things that you don't know or not sure of, do not hesitate to ask questions to avoid mistakes. They are more willing to help. Let us know how you do.

[deehaverrn]

mostly i enjoy working with people of all cultures, it does get on my nerves when there are three (or more) of us in lounge and others will start talking in their language when I am only one there who doesn't speak it (this has less to do with being a nurse than just being rude i realize..)

it does get annoying when you have to explain the same thing over and over, since one foreign nurse from Asia never seems to understand things right away (like computer stuff and some procedures), she will continue asking same questions over again even though I know I've shown her before and she should definitely know some of these things all ready, but then again to be fair..some U.S nurses are the same way so it may just be a personality issue

the one thing that I did think of right away, was that we had one nurse from Asia, who always refused to learn how to care for women with fetal demises, since it is very time consuming and emotionally upsetting we try to rotate this assignment. It always frustrated me that our nurse manager would not make her learn how...she said "its not in her culture, they just believe in accepting the death and moving on", well if part of nursing is to be open to all cultures, shouldn't she have had to learn to do this..I mean I had to learn how to be accepting of people who were aborting on the basis of shortened limbs and questionable abnormalities and that's not part of my belief but I still managed to treat them with respect and compassion. Anyway, like I said, that was the first thing that came to my mind

[VegRN]

Probably better than US nurses. Difference? US attitude, agressiveness, controlling ( not always of course but a lot!) Nurses from other cultures are more well rounded, interesting, and in general have been my favorites to work with. Its those egotistic US nurses full of themselves and their degrees ( haha) that I personally find difficult and unpleasing to work with. For example...nurses from Philippines have twice the amount of schooling (7+ yrs as BSN's here but they never carry on about it.They are better trained and their schools (probably) don't instill in them an inflated sense of worth as they concentrate on here. anyways...

So welcome!

Aggressiveness, controlling? Sometimes that can be a good thing. I work in a level one trauma teaching hospital and you have to be agressive in pt care otherwise pts can die! If there is one thing I wish the foreign nurses I work with could change, it is the level of aggressiveness in ensuring safe pt care. (Certainly this is not true across the board but with the nurses I work with, it is the case). Interns and residents are still learning, not everything they order as well as the plan of care is going to be correct. Nurses must be assertive in advocating for what is right for the pt, including questioning Md's if something doesn't seem right. We nurses have saved a number of lives in questioning Md orders that don't make sense.

And an inflated sense of self worth? Are you kidding? If anything, most nurses I have met minimize their expertise and qualifications.

[Nursebarebari]

I don't think you will have much problems blending in with other nurses. Just try to speak/understand english for the patients' understanding because it is very frustrating when they can't understand you or you can't understand them. And you don't want to add any frustration to their illness. More than half of the nurses at my job are foreigners, some like me were trained in the US, and others from their countries. We all have our different accents and believe me sometimes we tease each other and laugh about it. Recently we had some new nurses from Korea and boy when they speak english, we all crack up laughing. They like it because they say they are learning from our corrections with all the jokes. The most interesting thing is that, these Korean nurses write english very well even better than most of us from english speaking countries. Just try not to be too sensitive and you will be just fine with time. And remember that when you talk about diversity, America is the place.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU.

[End Game RN, RN]

Hey Letina...I work in a multicultural environment and all that it implies. Many of our nurses are like you in that they studied and worked in their own countries, then want to expand their experience to working in another country. Some are travelers, some obtain visas to live and work in the States.

I have had some interesting cultural moments that ended up as a learning experience for all involved. Honestly, I have never had a bad experience with foreign nurses. :welcome:

We do have a large Filipino nurse population, and they fit in as if they were born here, especially if they have been here for a year or more. We have nurses from Nigeria, Ghana, Trinadad and from Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, even some of our newer nurses who left Cuba for the States when they were kids, attended schools here in Miami and studied nursing. Nurses from Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, From Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Romania..and so on.

We've recently had a physcian from Syria who became a nurse and worked as a traveler in our facility until he completed requirements to practice medicine in the United States. He was very good! and because of his experience with us we know he will appreciate the nurses who will work with him in his new role.

We have many staff from various professions from the Middle East and Asia. All speak English, some also speak French and Spanish as well as Arabic and whatever language they use at home or mastered.

I personally don't care what language my colleagues speak in. It has not been an issue where I work. I enjoy listening to a group of people, including myself and other English speakers, and you hear two or three

languages at the same time with breaks where everyone is speaking English. We laugh together, share each others food, family stories, we share the grief when one of us is ill or a family member is ill or has died. We stand by each other if one of us is signaled out unjustly for a perceived wrong doing. And yes, we fight, but like any family its over with once the issue is dealt with.

Hurricane duty can be fun :balloons:with such a diverse group, like a giant slumber party before or after working during a declared Hurricane emergency. We run around the hospital in pajamas :monkeydance:(those who wear them), hang out with friends in different areas of the hospital, we sleep in blow up beds or cots, sleeping bags, sometimes two or three to a surface. We bring DVDs and players, music, food and share what we have with everyone. We share the showers and bathrooms, no gender difference in bathing areas. This year, 2007, so far no storms..

Diversity is fun!!!

I have learned a lot about myself and my country from these "ambassadors of nursing" representing so many Nations. There are different levels of "comfort" when communicating with patients' and the families and hands on teaching in the ICU enviroment...this aspect of nursing will clearly vary from where ever the nurse is from, influenced by culture and type of training some of the foreign nurses have. I have found that expectations of nursing can vary widely from those from other countries and those who are U.S born and educated. Even among Americans from other States, expectations and type of nursing practice varies, at times dramatically from our Miami nurses.

There will those who find something wrong :owith just about everything, then those who are simply uncomfortable when having to work with people who may be very different from them in so many ways, except being nurses. Then there are those who blow the whole language thing way out of proportion and see insult where none is offered. :angryfire

Yes, occassionally some of these issues will crop up, but for some reason, our group deals with whatever the problem is and move on. We have learned so much from each other over the years, we are a very close knit group and yet have a huge number of staff 24 hours/day representing all disciplines in a busy University affiialted, Level 1 hospital. I am speaking from our particular unit's experience and am not claiming to speak for all staff in our facility.

Embrace nurses from other countries, learn from them and represent your country well. Just being nice and helpful is the best way to show

your "new colleague" that you want them to feel comfortable and be a part of the "group".

End Game RN

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Very well said, End Game!!!