Nurses not speaking english at work

[Guest296136]

I work nights and the majority of the night nurses are foreign, they are all very good nurses but sometimes I feel out of place because they are always speaking their language to each other. They all take their breaks together and have a feast every night, many times leaving me on the floor by myself. I am out numbered and am afraid to say anything, it took awhile to get accepted and I don't want to make waves.

[flyingchange]

So, leaving out your impressions that some of the issues brought up here amount to cultural discrimination on a broad scale, how would you solve all the problems nurses have identified based on your "cultural safety" course?

If I left out my impressions of ethnocentricity there wouldn't be much of a thread left. I agree with you that the sentiments in this thread are real. Doesn't change the fact that it makes me cringe over the "us versus them" attitude. But then, I try to be a very inclusive person and do my best to structure my thoughts and words as such. My office has a wonderful variety of cultures and we take turns teaching and learning about them. Our potlucks are delicious.

Cultural safety was one of many topics brought up during my public health course this year. The major aspect that we focused on was different societal approaches to cultural integration. Immigration is reality. Canada and the US have fundamentally different viewpoints on integration. This thread emphasizes that.

I don't think the root of the OP's very real concern has much to do with cultural safety, as I've said, and everything to do with a crappy team dynamic.

[nursel56]

But I didn't ask you your thoughts about ethnocentricity. I asked you what you would do if you were faced with some of the very specific scenarios faced by the last few posters that you have chosen to interpret as an "us vs them" attitude and now apparently, have decided that everyone in one country (Canada) have " very different different viewpoints on integration" than another (the US). Your broad-based opinion is gleaned from a few posts from nurses who are having difficulty with language barriers at their jobs??

Perhaps you don't realize it, but your post is exactly what you are decrying as you have decided that the US is largely in favor of segregation as opposed to the more tolerant Canadians. Please educate yourself with a lot more depth before you make such rash statements that simply reflect a lack of depth and breadth about the comparative histories of our two countries and as they find themselves today. For starters, what does the existence of Quebec tell you?

[Pinktabby]

Canada, apparently, is another new destination for Filipino nurses seeking jobs. See what they have to say about Canadian policies for them:

Filipino Nurses in Canada Vulnerable to Exploitation, Misleading and Abusive Policies

[Pinktabby]

Canadian Nurses In USA:

"Gone South: Why Canadian Nurses Migrate to the United States"

http://www.longwoods.com/content/20821

[flashpoint]

Everyone who works in our lab and half of our x-ray department is Filipino...I was told that when I was hired. The lab and x-ray directors are both very proud of their departments and their heritage. However, they both forbid anyone in their department to speak anything but English (unless they are providing translation services) at any time, for any reason. Their reason behind this? Not because it us rude, not because people feel excluded, but because of patient safety.

Apparently they once had a major trauma (not at this hospital, but one where they previously worked together) where the Filipino doctor started barking orders in Tagalog…and although the x-ray and lab techs knew what was going on the nurses did not…everything got really heated in the room and the people from x-ray and lab also started speaking Tagalog and the nurses couldn't get anyone calmed down enough to switch back to English. So…just so they stay in practice, they don't speak anything but English any time they are in the hospital.

[loveblossom]

Hate it...makes me feel like I'm at the nail shop wondering if they are talking about my big feet.....

[OttawaRPN]

Canada, apparently, is another new destination for Filipino nurses seeking jobs. See what they have to say about Canadian policies for them:

Filipino Nurses in Canada Vulnerable to Exploitation, Misleading and Abusive Policies

That article is completely bias and misleading. The Filipino nurses are complaining of being exploited and abused because of the rigorous requirements imposed on them to embark on a nursing career in Canada? Seems to me they are just looking for a free ride. Calgary even offered them free tuition into the LPN program, something Canadian students would have to pay for themselves but no... that's not good enough.

One Filipino student cites "I feel frustrated because I know I deserve a degree but this is the closest I could get into being a nurse again" and they condemn being given the opportunity to upgrade calling it "systematic exploitation." Never mind that Canadian trained nurses worked equally hard and sacrificed much to establish their own careers, but that seems to have gone by the wayside.

They're also whining that although foreign trained nurses want to work in Canada, they will have very limited opportunities unless they go back to university to take a degree in nursing, but this is hard for them because of high tuition fees in universities. Wow, welcome to the real world challenges Canadian nursing students face daily!

Looks like they expect their host country to bend over backwards to accommodate them. But that's not the way it works, nor should it. If they come looking for "greener pastures" but the grass is dog-p!ss yellow, why not just go back home?

[happy2learn]

I'm going to put in my 2 pennies, but maybe get the Hazmat suit on first...

I generally don't have a problem with nurses speaking their native language around me, unless they're talking about me but that's no skin off my nose. My issue is with those nurses whose English is so poor, nobody understands them especially the patient. How is this not detrimental to the patient's care? Are they immune to promoting therapeutic nurse-patient relationships and establishing effective lines of communication? I've had many patients ask me "what did she just say?" expecting me to know like I'm some sort of psychic translator. Or the doctors that ask the same question. I just shrug and walk away. I admit I have little patience for someone who knows their language skills aren't up to par but refuse to enunciate clearly or ensure they are understood. Half the time it seems like it's mine and everybody else's problem we don't understand THEM.

Yes! I second this. There are 2 foreign students in my Child Development class. One is from Africa and the other from India. They both speak English and they both have accents. They are both going for nursing.

Now, the girl from Africa speaks English quite clearly. You can tell she has an accent and is obviously not from here, but you can understand her. You don't have to sit and try to understand her. Sometimes she says some inaccurate things, but it's nothing to really worry about. I love her accent too, it's really beautiful. I could listen to her talk all day.

The girl from India is a different story. Her accent is so thick, you can't understand one word she says. I mean, really. I'm pretty good at deciphering what people are saying, but I can't understand a single word she says. We had to give 5 minute presentations, and she talked for 5 minutes. Nobody asked her questions (they asked everyone else) and I assume because we couldn't understand her. You could tell my teacher was trying to understand her. It just wasn't happening. She seems really nice, but if I were her patient, I'd be very afraid to have her care for me because if I can't understand what she is saying, how do I know she really understands the issue I am having?

I hope she is working on it, but I have a feeling she is done with the ESL classes because typically those are done before you take classes I am in.

[SonorityGenius]

Wow! I am so glad this thread exists..

I am a new grad, it took me some months to finally get work in a med/surg unit, its a small inner-city hospital, but it seems like EVERY single RN on the night shift is Filipino.. I have NO problems whatsoever with this.. and I never went to work thinking about it instead I am always worried about what I don't know as a new nurse..

well my preceptor is filipino, and every time I ask her a question she speaks in her language to either the unit clerk, tech, or other RN (who are all filipinos) and than reply me in clear english..... this happens with EVERY question I may have ask either while charting at the desk, or about to enter Pts room and come up to her and demonstrate what I would do..

It seems they all have a inner-connection amongst themselves, and I dont care if they exclude me, but seriously I feel so embarassed when they just start talking in their language right in front of the pts esp. during hand-over reports or when they go on breaks EVERY one goes TOGETHER and they close the breakroom !

I am barely new, so I will not speak up, glad to have a job, manager is not filipino it seems only night shift has them all and it was the only opening here..I just wish we had strategies to deal with this kind of crap!

[caliotter3]

Wow! I am so glad this thread exists..

I am a new grad, it took me some months to finally get work in a med/surg unit, its a small inner-city hospital, but it seems like EVERY single RN on the night shift is Filipino.. I have NO problems whatsoever with this.. and I never went to work thinking about it instead I am always worried about what I don't know as a new nurse..

well my preceptor is filipino, and every time I ask her a question she speaks in her language to either the unit clerk, tech, or other RN (who are all filipinos) and than reply me in clear english..... this happens with EVERY question I may have ask either while charting at the desk, or about to enter Pts room and come up to her and demonstrate what I would do..

It seems they all have a inner-connection amongst themselves, and I dont care if they exclude me, but seriously I feel so embarassed when they just start talking in their language right in front of the pts esp. during hand-over reports or when they go on breaks EVERY one goes TOGETHER and they close the breakroom !

I am barely new, so I will not speak up, glad to have a job, manager is not filipino it seems only night shift has them all and it was the only opening here..I just wish we had strategies to deal with this kind of crap!

The best strategy is to look for a job where this does not exist. I can guarantee you that it is only a matter of time until you find yourself in a bad situation. Until the time that you find a better job, keep your back to the wall. And believe me, the patients notice what is happening. They are just as helpless in this situation as you are, but they have more to lose. You have the ability to seek and find a new job. Unless the patient transfers to a more diverse hospital, they are stuck.

[caliotter3]

My very first job in healthcare, as a CNA, I was warned by the nurse who hired me, that the majority of the employees were Filipino and that they would not speak to me or help me. My naive response was, "If they expect help from me, then they will help me in return". Boy, was I in for the epiphany of my nursing life.

[Pinktabby]

My very first job in healthcare, as a CNA, I was warned by the nurse who hired me, that the majority of the employees were Filipino and that they would not speak to me or help me. My naive response was, "If they expect help from me, then they will help me in return". Boy, was I in for the epiphany of my nursing life.

When I was a brand new grad nurse at Med/surg (as I was told to do at least one year of med/surg to get the basic nursing down), even the Filipino unit clerk felt the right to slam thick papers so hard on the station I was sitting at almost injuring my eardrums. I let that go at the time not knowing what the hostility was about, and all I thought about was to be a good nurse and learn as much as I could then.