I hate that everyone knows I speak Spanish !

[LilimoonRN]

Okay so I'm super frustrated lately, I work on a med/surg floor and quite frequently we have spanish only speaking patients. All my coworkers know that I along with a few other nurses are bilingual. I love my coworkers but it's so annoying that I'm constantly being pulled away to go translate for them. At my hospital we don't get paid more for this. Yes I want what's best for the patients and I do think I'm a team player and am always willing to help out but it is so time consuming for me and I end up behind trying to catch up. I have a hard time saying no because I know how much my coworkers hate using our translation service the hospital provides. The other day I worked my but off to finish all my charting and med pass on time only to find out I'd be giving up 2 of my patients because another nurse didn't "think it was safe for her to care for Spanish only patients" her charting or med passes weren't done of course... if the hospital provided extra pay for this I think I wouldn't be upset but I just don't know how to approach my boss about this. I don't want to seem like I'm not willing to help and it might be a bad idea???! I also hate that I get pulled by surgeons constantly to translate for them because they hate using our language translation service ... sometimes they even pull me from my floor to the OR floor to translate for consent !! Argh next time I'm just going to say no because I'm over it, I'm doing double work and charting. Working was easier when no one knew I spoke Spanish. Next time if I move to a different hospital I'm not letting my coworkers know! End of my rant ������������������

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

You are being asked to take care of your patients... and spend time translating.. for others. Who watches your patients while you are doing that extra job? Stop being abused.. refuse.