I had a 78 year old woman patient, bunch of kids and grandkids in the room. The patient spoke only Spanish and the grandson was translating. As I was exiting the grandma patient said something forceful so I turned and asked the man what she'd just said, and it was exactly that: "People in Healthcare should speak Spanish."
I was, well, insulted, speechless, fill in the blank. The patient had not been much of a problem until then. I stared at the grandson and didn't reply, just left. As I thought about it, I started thinking. I'm not a foreigner, why should I learn another language? I'm in the middle of the country to boot! And, why are these people insulting their caregiver anyway?
Talking this out with other nurses, I guess I wasn't the first one to hear such stuff. Is this something I should get used to?
I would have just mentioned that we have implemented a language line for better communication with our non-english speaking patients. The stress on "non-english speaking" would have been subtle but the point, I believe, would have been taken. I would remain as professional and neutral on the subject, but honestly - inside I would be insulted and angered b/c I do feel that this is an english speaking country and so many new "thoughts" on the subject are to be "TOLERANT" of people from different countries etc etc.. I'm sure you've all heard the hype.
When I went to Italy - I brought along a translation book expecting only my tour guide to speak English, and expecting that I WAS A VISITOR to this country and it is MY responsibility to "work at" communication, not everyone else to speak MY language because I am Soooooooo entitled... ya know... just an afterthought...
I got attitude when I told the staffing coordinator that I would not be returning to a home where I was openly and repeatedly insulted in another language. A language where I am not as ignorant as the family took for granted. Typical behavior I have found, but strangely enough, the examples come from one particular ethnicity in my experience. How am I supposed to view these people? I cringe when I hear the surname of my next patient.
I live on the border with Mexico, and have frequently encountered this same scenario. You most likely handle it better than I, as you're a much nicer person than me.
I guess I have a hard time understanding why my parents, who are from the Philippines, and my mother-in-law, who is from Germany, fully expected to *have* to speak English when they emigrated here, and learned to speak and write the language fluently. (Admittedly, English is taught in Filipino schools, so that made it a little easier for my parents, but they still struggled, especially with English idioms.) Why doesn't that expectation exist today for Spanish-speaking immigrants? Don't get me wrong, I loved my Spanish classes in high school and am able to use some of it with patients who only speak Spanish (or even Portuguese or Italian) to make myself understood to some degree. I get an interpreter to the floor for the really important info. I wish I spoke it better, because I agree that it is very uncomfortable and disorienting for patients to be in a hospital where the staff doesn't speak their language. But I too would be a little miffed if one of my patients said that I *should* know how to speak their language. Maybe, however, that patient had been frustrated with the communication gap for a while, and just said that in the heat of the moment...try to let it slide.
Guess it's time for me to pull out that "Spanish for Healthcare Providers" book/CD set I've been meaning to use!
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
When I am old and retired and living good off the hog, I don't want my home invaded by one of those 'unemployed and bitter' people. I don't want to have to understand that, 'well they don't know any other way to survive so I'll just chalk it up to desperation.' This subject of discussion is restricted to this forum alone and people are outraged in one form or another. Imagine when the whole country is involved. It isn't going to go well--that I firmly believe. There will be anarchy, there will be division and the crime rate will sky rocket.
And I'm not trying to be offensive at all, it's hard to express yourself on an internet forum. I do understand all points of views; this topic is just the icing of the cake. There is a bigger picture that involves everyone.
I think the percentage of unemployed English-only speaking nurses who would resort to home invasion robbery is probably pretty low. Let's hope and pray that our country will not collapse into chaos. We've weathered some really major storms so far. I may be a cornball, but by and large I have quite a lot of faith in us.
People have every right to speak only Spanish if that is their choice. My most recent job was in the midst of a household with many Spanish-speaking caregivers. Those who learn to speak English rapidly increase their opportunities for success in the US, those who don't find the door slammed shut. There's no value-judgment in that at all. It just is. If you watch Spanish TV you will see commercials for Inglés Sin Barreras what seems like tens of thousands of times per day. That and the Healthy Kids ones.
There is not a shred of chauvinism in their approach. If we had wall-to-wall "Learn Spanish" to get ahead in life commercials segments of the body politic would be screaming loud and long. The elderly are very unlikely to do that I've found, the lady was rude, but I don't get a lot of attitude from younger people when the topic comes up.
Let's see what happens in the next few years before we start making predictions about who will be jobless and who won't. Currently many groups are lobbying to make English the national language. Hopefully that will happen.
Specializes in Telemetry, Oncology, Progressive Care.
Just an observation. Those "foreigners" who have made the attempt to learn english and who have gotten more education obtain much better jobs. This goes for spanish speaking individuals as well as non-spanish speaking.
Not only is it part of my State's Nurse Practice Act, but it's also part of our Code of Ethics.
is it really?
it's not a part of my npa.
not once, is "patient advocate" mentioned.
interesting.
I don't for a minute think they are too stupid to learn the language. I think we, as a society, have caved in to the pressure of making it easier for them to be here, but WITHOUT requiring them to learn English. There's no real incentive, after all. When I call my insurance office, there's an option to push two for Spanish, street signs, store windows and I even got a pamplet full of coupons the other day that had English and Spanish as instructions. We are doing everything possible so that they don't have to learn English. We are enablers (as a society.) Maybe we need a 12-step program.
i remember when our son was in 5th grade, and we had to sign him out of school early.
the sign-out instructions were in spanish, with the english ones behind the spanish ones.
well...my husband blew a gasket, he was sooooo upset.
he made a scene in the office, continued it by calling the superintendent's office....
he stewed about it for weeks...WEEKS!
that's ALL i heard from him: "THIS IS AMERICA, DAMN IT!!"
i agree...we are enablers.
for a country that wants to be depicted as strong, forceful...we lack a lot of credibility in that area...
Specializes in Pediatrics, Rural, L&D, Postpartum.
I lived my whole life in a state that has been taken over by "those Foreigners " and have heard this same tired argument many times. Your comment about "entitled attitude" amazes me. Let me get this straight ; a sick 78 year-old hospitalized patient has an entitled attitude and you feel insulted because they don't speak english ???? How do you think she feels when her family leaves at night and she can't communicate with her nurse ? Do you think she might be scared ? She might not understand english but a smile is universal. Maybe you could make a difference - isn't that what nurses are supposed to do ?
THANK YOU!!! That is exactly how I feel about it. I just moved away from Arizona (to be closer to family) and I never failed to be surprised by the number of nurses who not only didn't know Spanish but who REFUSED to learn it. I don't mean hadn't learned it, struggled with it, any of the above... I mean flat out refused to do so!
In AZ I worked as a pediatric nurse in an inner city county hospital. My four (or two, or six, you get the idea) year old patient didn't have a say in what was going on. All he or she knew was that they were in a strange place, they didn't feel good, and all of the grownup people spoke a language they didn't know. And young parents would often be just as scared... their baby is sick and they don't understand what we are telling them.
Sure, I could wait for a translator. But I got TIRED of waiting for translators. Besides, I was born and raised in AZ. I took Spanish all through grade school and high school. Our extremely overworked and underpaid translators were always happy to see if it was me who called for an admit.... they knew that I had done 99% of the admit and just needed to clarify a few things that I wasn't sure I understood.
And my preschool or school aged patients? There is no better way to get cooperation from a two year old than to speak the language he or she already knows! What do you think is going to make an IV stick go better... me holding the child down and gibbering in English, which he or she doesn't know? Or if I get down on eye level and say, "Es muy importante, mi hijita, no te mueves." My Spanish is far from perfect.... but when I used it to teach a four year old with tuberculosis of the bone how to take her pills and comforted her in her own language... it was the best medicine there was. (I got the sweetest letter, in Spanish, and a beautiful new scrub top as a present from her parents a couple of weeks after she was discharged!)
Sure, we don't HAVE to... but maybe, just maybe, we should be OPEN to learning another language.
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
This thread reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw recently. It had John Wayne holding a phone with a scowl on his face and it read "Why in the h**l do I have to press one for English? And who is the Marquis El Dos character?"
Specializes in Pediatrics, Rural, L&D, Postpartum.
Ah, that's a bold statement she made. I'm sure that foreign patients in areas of the country where Hispanics aren't the primary minority would appreciate the same thing, but we can't speak everything!
About 60-70% of my patients speak only Spanish. As someone who does speak Spanish, nothing peeves me more than when I speak to a patient in her language, but she has already tuned me out so much because I'm blonde/blue that she says "uhhh... someone here speak Spanish?" Last I checked, "que es su fecha de naciemento" and "what's your birthday" don't sound remotely alike, so I'm not sure what the confusion is. :)
That used to drive me nuts, too!!! Nothing quite like having the translator ask a question that the family didn't understand when I asked it, only to have the translator use the exact same words with the exact same inflection that I did... and they understand fine. One translator told me that there is for some people a mental block... they assume the gringa can't possibly speak Spanish so their brain literally doesn't hear you when you speak... or understand or something like that!!!
I work for a global organization and it is crazy that Americans only know one language. Many people from other cultures now 3 and sometimes 4 languages. I think we should all know Spanish too. (FYI - I don't know Spanish, but I would like to learn).
That's not the point. Yes, we compared to the rest of the world the majority of Americans are linguistic neophites. However, that does not mean an immigrant (legal or otherwise) should not respect their new home country. You've decided to swim the river or (because you respect the rule of law) legally become a member of this country. It is not our responsibility to change for you.
For the record I speak Spanish and Russian on top of English. Because I felt it was best, when living in those countries which speak them, to learn the language of the majority and NOT to expect them to cater to my ignorance.
)
hijadecalifas
73 Posts
No problem :)