Language barriers

[Busymom2]

We have been having some insightful discussions at work about bringing in nurses from outside the United States to help combat the looming nursing shortage. We were discussing communication and the barriers that come with those nurses who do not speak English fluently. We were talking about Leiniger's theory of Cultural care diversity and universality. One of the other nurses I work with sent me the following in an email and I was wondering if any of the educators out there have opinions on this or ideas on how to help in situations like the following?

"You bring up a key idea about communication, and barriers to communication. I am

reminded of a new nurse intern we had about a year ago on our floor. She was from

India, she graduated nursing school and was hired on our floor. She had trouble

communicating with the patients and understanding what the patient wanted, she had

trouble prioritizing needs as well. I had multiple patients tell me they just couldn't

understand what she was saying. My question to you is how as an educator would you

help this individual overcome her language barrier. I feel our nurse educator did not

address this issue, this nurse also had trouble taking the boards and she ended up

leaving our floor to work somewhere else. How could you apply the theory you talked

about to this case?"

Thanks for your time:wink2:

[bookwormom]

Without addressing your question specifically, I'd like to comment that many physicians have language difficulties and seem to practice successfully. Do you think this is the same kind of issue? I wonder if foreign physicians are helped in a particular way.

(It does occur to me that English is used in India. I wonder if the problem is her accent.)