One thing i dont understand(at the nurses' station)

[BellaCat]

There is one thing I can never understand being at the nurses' station(sorry if I offend anyone but here goes):

I know that the nursing realm is full of people from different walks of life and culture and that is normal bc it is like that with other professions as well. And I do know that with the nursing profession, there are a lot of American-Filipinos. But the thing that I notice, in all of my work places... is that the Filipino nurses speak their language all the time with each other in front of non-Filipino coworkers and non-Filipino patients. Isn't this rude? I believe in the employee handbook of most facilities mention about speaking the universal language in front of everyone, instead of a particular language, this is only polite, especially if your coworkers next to you doesn't understand the language you speak or your patients. I see this happening a lot and the nurses always leave me "hanging" and "wondering" what they are talking about. Wouldn't you agree that this is just rude and disrespectful.

There's nothing wrong with having Chinese nurses, Filipino nurses, Russian nurses... but I think it'll be respectful and polite to speak the universal language that everyone can understand. Unfortunately, this will always happen at the nurses' station... and I just don't understand it. It's RUDE. Gotta open up those employee handbooks and read.

I am not a troll.. I just wanted to share this perspective of mine on here. Sorry if it's offensive... but if you turn the table around, you would know how it feels.

[honeyforasalteyfish]

My handbook clearly stated any language was allowed.

What it did say was that when addressing English only co-workers, or patient to converse with them in English.

That seems like a far cry from prohibiting non English languages, but rather that English only speakers are more common.

[nakasi flavia]

Why do you like listening on other people's conversation? If they are addressing you,they will use the "universal language". About being a racist I'd rather not comment

[knurse10]

At my facility, we work as a team and help out with each other's patients. So if two nurses are speaking another language about a patient, it might be information that I need to know. Private conversations are for the break room, not the nursing station.

I agree, it's a little uncomfortable. However, I would totally try to speak English with someone if I was in another country with a different language.

[NurseUnforgetable]

If you feel left out...ok, I feel left out too at times, but why get all in your feelings when you could walk away and talk to someone else? To say it should be against policy for ppl to speak their native tongues openly while doing patient care is UNDERSTANDABLE, but from coworker to other coworkers is rather extreme. It's a revisit of history past when Native American Indians and the Indians of Mexico were admonished and punished for speaking their native langue at school and the work places they were hired. Why are we now doing this in the work places and schools today?? I never knew such policies existed, but I always knew America was full of people who viewed non-English being spoken in their presence as a problem.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like to me that you feel slighted because you may be apart of a culture that is accustomed always being in an environment set up for you to always be "in the know" and to dominate the scene. It's quite difficult to do that if you don't know what's being said and the situation is flipped where others are in better position to dominate the scene because they have knowledge you can not have access to unless they reveal it to you. Mind you....they are probably talking about a natural friend of theirs you don't know from a can of paint on the wall or talking about the sale last Friday....it doesn't matter, it make still makes you feel uncomfortable because of all the possible things they could be saying. I fail to see how this copromises you taking care of your patients? Nobody should have to hide and sneak around to speak their native tongue because you feel slighted and uncomfortable.

It's a beautiful thing to be able to speak your language in a personal conversation and others not understand you. I don't feel slighted the least bit. It's called me minding my business.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

If you feel left out...ok, I feel left out too at times, but why get all in your feelings when you could walk away and talk to someone else? To say it should be against policy for ppl to speak their native tongues openly while doing patient care is UNDERSTANDABLE, but from coworker to other coworkers is rather extreme. It's a revisit of history past when Native American Indians and the Indians of Mexico were admonished and punished for speaking their native langue at school and the work places they were hired. Why are we now doing this in the work places and schools today?? I never knew such policies existed, but I always knew America was full of people who viewed non-English being spoken in their presence as a problem.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like to me that you feel slighted because you may be apart of a culture that is accustomed always being in an environment set up for you to always be "in the know" and to dominate the scene. It's quite difficult to do that if you don't know what's being said and the situation is flipped where others are in better position to dominate the scene because they have knowledge you can not have access to unless they reveal it to you. Mind you....they are probably talking about a natural friend of theirs you don't know from a can of paint on the wall or talking about the sale last Friday....it doesn't matter, it make still makes you feel uncomfortable because of all the possible things they could be saying. I fail to see how this copromises you taking care of your patients? Nobody should have to hide and sneak around to speak their native tongue because you feel slighted and uncomfortable.

It's a beautiful thing to be able to speak your language in a personal conversation and others not understand you. I don't feel slighted the least bit. It's called me minding my business.

Speaking in front of someone in a language they don't understand is just plain rude. Analyzing whether that person has a problem with the rudeness because they wish to eavesdrop, because they're a member of the dominate culture or whatever is also rude.

[TheLittlestNurse]

They aren't having a "private conversation" though. They are in a very visible, public space with lots of people obviously overhearing them. Someone who understands the language could be nearby at any time. A private conversation is generally held someplace "private" where it cannot be overheard. To me, this sounds a lot like being in a nail salon and hearing everyone speak Vietnamese because A) they have something rude or gossipy to say or B) they aren't interested in conversing with others. Patients and families hear a lot of conversation coming from the nurse's station, and they will naturally make assumptions (e.g., they're probably making fun of me)...

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

@TheLittlestNurse, there is so much underlying judgment and issues with your post but what stands out is that you are automatically assuming that because workers at a salon are speaking their native tongue that they are saying something "rude or gossipy." Perhaps rather than preventing people from being able to speak whatever language they prefer when speaking with a non-patient, we should work on educating others so everyone gets out of this self-centered mindframe where we think, as your post stated, that we are being made fun of.

And all of these people posting saying that the issue is that it is a private conversation at a public place can not honestly sit here and say that they haven't socially chatted with coworkers while charting at the nurses station. Come on.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

@TheLittlestNurse, there is so much underlying judgment and issues with your post but what stands out is that you are automatically assuming that because workers at a salon are speaking their native tongue that they are saying something "rude or gossipy." Perhaps rather than preventing people from being able to speak whatever language they prefer when speaking with a non-patient, we should work on educating others so everyone gets out of this self-centered mindframe where we think, as your post stated, that we are being made fun of.

And all of these people posting saying that the issue is that it is a private conversation at a public place can not honestly sit here and say that they haven't socially chatted with coworkers while charting at the nurses station. Come on.

And perhaps we ought to just agree with Emily Post, that speaking another language in front of those who cannot understand that language is rude.

I personally have rarely had the issue. The multi-lingual folks I've worked with have been the first to call out others for rudeness if someone doesn't switch to English the moment someone who doesn't speak the language in question enters the vicinity. The ONLY time it's ever been an issue is when one of our staff was murdered by her husband. Her friends from her country of origin were too upset to switch to English when we got the news. I understood that.

In the absence of dire extremes such as finding out your friend has been murdered, it is rude not to speak the common language in common areas.

[rhine1121]

As a Filipino Nurse, I speak my dialect when I meet another Filipino. I get excited that at least, for a moment I can talk to somebody else from my country. It is considered pretentious/rude and not looking back at our culture if we don't speak Filipino unless they don't know how (for those who are born/grow up here). We don't talk about our patient/people/nurses but we talk about when was the last time we went home, and how are things here in the US, family, our life here as an immigrant. I do talk in English if ever I am in the patient's room or in the station and I let them know that I am talking in Filino out of respect. Most patients understand this and then I even translated it to English what we were talking about. I noticed that those nurses who mind are those who wants to know everything what is going on around the department. I work in the ED and I rarely meet any Filipino patients/ nurses in the area.

[TheLittlestNurse]

A) Nowhere did I state that anyone speaking a non-English language is automatically making fun of someone else...but it happens pretty regularly as anyone who speaks a second language can verify. I've caught it in Spanish, friends have caught it in Chinese and Korean. I used the example of salons because they are extremely notorious for this. It's not self-centered to question the reason for a fluent English speaker to use another language they think someone isn't going to understand in an English-speaking workplace.

B) Social chit chat is not the same as a private conversation, and one cannot expect to limit who is or is not part of a conversation at the nurse's station. If you are in a shared workspace, no one is "listening in," they are simply forced to listen because they have to work in the same space and can't really get away from you. I make social conversation all the time at work, and under no circumstances would I consider it "private."

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Moved to the Nurse Colleague / Patient Relations forum for more replies.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Moved to the Nurse Colleague / Patient Relations forum for more replies.

Six pages of replies . . . I think it got plenty of replies!