Looking for advice. Feeling angry

[Sarah2018, BSN, RN]

Hello,

I am registered nurse and I work in Dubai among many Indian and Filipino nurses.

My charge nurse is an Indian too.

I work in an out patient department and most patients who attend here are local people who speak Arabic.

Now, none of my Indian of Filipino colleagues speak Arabic except for one word or two despite working in Dubai for many years.

But the charge nurse rates them high in the evaluation for just helping her with her office work and some empty project to make herself busy. I think this is unjust.

Do you think the nurse who can not communicate with patients deserves an A and B rating

Also my Indians colleagues speak just Malayalam language and no other Indian languages, so they can not even communicate with most people who come from other places in India.

I feel bad . Is my charge nurse a racist?

[Sarah2018, BSN, RN]

Any comments?

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

I'm can't imagine being unhappy about my colleagues being rated "high". How are you being rated? There must be more to it...

And no, I don't think racism is involved ...if the nurses disliked Arabs, I doubt they would chose to work with that population. It's a big world and there are plenty of other places to go.

[Sarah2018, BSN, RN]

I'm can't imagine being unhappy about my colleagues being rated "high". How are you being rated? There must be more to it...

And no, I don't think racism is involved ...if the nurses disliked Arabs, I doubt they would chose to work with that population. It's a big world and there are plenty of other places to go.

imagine I come to your country and I don't speak your language and I don't understand any of the dialogues going on between patients and doctors or what patients are talking to me, I always ask you to translate for me and I do not want to learn the language because i think it is difficult for me.

Would you think I deserve an 'A' rating in that situation?

'A'rating means I exceed expectations in my performance.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

imagine I come to your country and I don't speak your language and I don't understand any of the dialogues going on between patients and doctors or what patients are talking to me, I always ask you to translate for me and I do not want to learn the language because i think it is difficult for me.

Would you think I deserve an 'A' rating in that situation?

'A'rating means I exceed expectations in my performance.

I don't have enough information to make that determination. Obviously, these individuals are contributing something or they wouldn't be kept around.

Beyond that, do you want to know what others think or to tell them what you think? It's pretty clear how you feel ...but you have to understand that you're not the one doing the ratings so you don't get to decide what the ratings are.

[Sarah2018, BSN, RN]

I don't have enough information to make that determination. Obviously, these individuals are contributing something or they wouldn't be kept around.

Beyond that, do you want to know what others think or to tell them what you think? It's pretty clear how you feel ...but you have to understand that you're not the one doing the ratings so you don't get to decide what the ratings are.

of course they are contributing something but they don't deserve an A or B rating because they are incapable of communication with most patients. What health education they can give to patients when most patients do not understand English? To work in the outpatient department is about communication, and there are no nursing procedures performed in in the area. So on what basese they score high in problem solving and health promotion?

Really to keep quiet is accepting corruption.

God help me, I think I have to write a letter to the head of Nursing.

[nutella, MSN, RN]

imagine I come to your country and I don't speak your language and I don't understand any of the dialogues going on between patients and doctors or what patients are talking to me, I always ask you to translate for me and I do not want to learn the language because i think it is difficult for me.

Would you think I deserve an 'A' rating in that situation?

'A'rating means I exceed expectations in my performance.

To be honest - you describe a situation that happens in a very different culture and context.

It seems acceptable (and the norm) that foreign nurses do not speak the language that is the native language in your country. In many countries, nurses cannot be licensed without proof of proper language knowledge but if this is not the case in your country, it sets a different standard and expectation.

I work in an area with a high percentage of immigrants and refugees and use interpreters to communicate. Of course those are professional interpreters and they are being paid to do the service (in person or online video language line). Does it matter that I do not speak the language? It would be nice to communicate in the native language of my patient but the interpreter helps. I am competent in my actual nursing work and that is what counts, not that I am unable to speak a language other than the country's main language.

The other part for your post is how does a person determine rating? Here there are guidelines in most departments and your manager will go over the rating for performance review. If in your country no standard exist and it is based on personal "feelings" or otherwise subjective (and acceptable) there is nothing much to say.

Does the person deserve a "A"? It depends on what you are rating. If you include native language skills as part of a scoring process it would probably not be a perfect score. If language skills are not included because you use interpreter services and it is not a requirement, it would not find consideration in scoring.

Is it fair? Well - that depends on a lot of factors and life is not always fair....

[Sarah2018, BSN, RN]

To be honest - you describe a situation that happens in a very different culture and context.

It seems acceptable (and the norm) that foreign nurses do not speak the language that is the native language in your country. In many countries, nurses cannot be licensed without proof of proper language knowledge but if this is not the case in your country, it sets a different standard and expectation.

I work in an area with a high percentage of immigrants and refugees and use interpreters to communicate. Of course those are professional interpreters and they are being paid to do the service (in person or online video language line). Does it matter that I do not speak the language? It would be nice to communicate in the native language of my patient but the interpreter helps. I am competent in my actual nursing work and that is what counts, not that I am unable to speak a language other than the country's main language.

The other part for your post is how does a person determine rating? Here there are guidelines in most departments and your manager will go over the rating for performance review. If in your country no standard exist and it is based on personal "feelings" or otherwise subjective (and acceptable) there is nothing much to say.

Does the person deserve a "A"? It depends on what you are rating. If you include native language skills as part of a scoring process it would probably not be a perfect score. If language skills are not included because you use interpreter services and it is not a requirement, it would not find consideration in scoring.

Is it fair? Well - that depends on a lot of factors and life is not always fair....

thank you. Your post inspired me for some ideas.

We have guidelines for performance review.

I spend more time with my colleagues than the charge nurse spends with them and I know how they perform.

Also in my area where I work and that is speciality clinics there is no actual nursing work like in wards.

We don't have interpreters. I am always called to translate for some Doctors even though I am a RN and not payed for that. As for the nurses with me, there is minimal contact between them and patients. Patients avoid them because of the language differences.

You sound sincere in your work, because you use interpreters. None of my RN colleagues ever called me to translate any educational material she wants to deliver to patients. They don't give education to patients. But I remember one did prepare something and asked to check the Arabic translation whether accurate or not and I told her there were some missing words but she didn't care and submitted to the charge nurse just to score an "A" in one criterion.

[Libby1987]

I'm missing how your charge nurse is racist. Who is she being racist towards? And in what way?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I think I finally understand the issue of the original poster. He/she feels the nurses who speak Arabic are being treated more favorably than the Filipino and Indian nurses who do not speak the language.

In addition, the original poster feels the charge nurse exhibits a racial/ethnic bias toward the Arabian nurses by giving them more favorable ratings.

[Sarah2018, BSN, RN]

I think I finally understand the issue of the original poster. He/she feels the nurses who speak Arabic are being treated more favorably than the Filipino and Indian nurses who do not speak the language.

In addition, the original poster feels the charge nurse exhibits a racial/ethnic bias toward the Arabian nurses by giving them more favorable ratings.

No, it is the other way around. The charge nurse is an Indian and she seems to favor Indian nurses.

Anyway, the second member Nutella who responded to my post understood the issue exactly.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

imagine I come to your country and I don't speak your language and I don't understand any of the dialogues going on between patients and doctors or what patients are talking to me, I always ask you to translate for me and I do not want to learn the language because i think it is difficult for me.

Would you think I deserve an 'A' rating in that situation?

'A'rating means I exceed expectations in my performance.

I think there would be a LOT to go into assigning my rating, not just the language. Not enough info.