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?
Ummmmm...I'm not? Good luck finding where I said Spanish speakers should have to learn English? And if you don't understand "please to be," then you're not well versed in broken English. You should take a class and become fluent in broken English, just in case a patient who speaks SOME English comes in, so you're better able to understand and comfort them.
Not a difficult challenge as it was only 1 page ago.
Yep. I think someone put it best as, "we are enablers."
In case you didn't realize, the "enabler's" term you were agreeing with is that we enable immigrants to not learn English by not requiring that they do so.
What some call "enabling" others call "tolerance" in that we value diversity rather than mandating homogenization , which has been a basic premise of our society since our founding.
And it's not just the broken English, why do I get a cookie?
I think as any other American citizen, healthcare workers should have a choice in what languages they have an interest in studying, if any!!
I do not intend to ever learn to speak Spanish, simply because I do not have an interest in learning it.
As with anything, you do have a choice, but you can provide better patient care if you are able to communicate effectively with your patients, why would you so adamantly refuse to provide better care if you had the opportunity to do so?
As with anything, you do have a choice, but you can provide better patient care if you are able to communicate effectively with your patients, why would you so adamantly refuse to provide better care if you had the opportunity to do so?
Not everyone HAS the opportunity to do so, whether the issue is time, money, lack of desire, or difficulty learning a language... the same reasons why some people here are defending Spanish-speaking people for not learning English.
The patient in the original scenario's statement that "healthcare workers should learn spanish" is a statement that our own professional practice groups agree with: From the ANA - "Nurses would be well-advised to learn a foreign language" and "Schools of nursing should include language in the curriculum," Malone continues. "Hospitals and institutions should put together language programs like those for business people going overseas. Many times, we encounter patients who are desperate, in critical situations. If this language ability is important for business people, how much more so for nurses?"
The patient in the original scenario's statement that "healthcare workers should learn spanish" is a statement that our own professional practice groups agree with: From the ANA - "Nurses would be well-advised to learn a foreign language" and "Schools of nursing should include language in the curriculum," Malone continues. "Hospitals and institutions should put together language programs like those for business people going overseas. Many times, we encounter patients who are desperate, in critical situations. If this language ability is important for business people, how much more so for nurses?"
Not a difficult challenge as it was only 1 page ago.
In case you didn't realize, the "enabler's" term you were agreeing with is that we enable immigrants to not learn English by not requiring that they do so.
Mmm. Thanks for putting words in my mouth. I'm glad that you knew what I meant when I didn't!
I think to a certain extent this is a moral/ethical issue, as opposed to simply a "patient care" issue. There is no law that healthcare providers in the US must speak any language other than English.. As others have said, by doing so you may be breaking your own moral/ethical standards as a US citizen by enabling what you consider to be an offensive/arrogant choice by that individual to move to a country and refuse to speak the dominant language. I am not saying that translation services should be avoided, but that instead they should be used just as they would for any other foreign-language speaker that enters the healthcare facility. Most HC facilities have rules that English is the only language to be spoken on the shift, except when on break. This is because you are not likely to have very effective communication amongst a team when multiple languages are being used. Translation services are thus used at the stopgap, and should continue to be used for any and all foreign-speakers that have not learned the dominant language.
Not everyone HAS the opportunity to do so, whether the issue is time, money, lack of desire, or difficulty learning a language... the same reasons why some people here are defending Spanish-speaking people for not learning English.
I realize not everyone has the opportunity, which is why I said "if you had the opportunity do so".
I realize not everyone has the opportunity, which is why I said "if you had the opportunity do so".
I guess that goes the other way too, then. If non-English speakers have the opportunity to learn English, why don't they? There's been multiple examples in this thread about those just not wanting to learn it. If I had the opportunity to learn another language, I absolutely would... but it would be for my own reasons and not because someone says I should because I'm a nurse.
I guess that goes the other way too, then. If non-English speakers have the opportunity to learn English, why don't they? There's been multiple examples in this thread about those just not wanting to learn it. If I had the opportunity to learn another language, I absolutely would... but it would be for my own reasons and not because someone says I should because I'm a nurse.
Providing better patient care and better patient outcomes would not be an incentive?
MunoRN, RN
8,058 Posts
Not a difficult challenge as it was only 1 page ago.
In case you didn't realize, the "enabler's" term you were agreeing with is that we enable immigrants to not learn English by not requiring that they do so.
What some call "enabling" others call "tolerance" in that we value diversity rather than mandating homogenization , which has been a basic premise of our society since our founding.
And it's not just the broken English, why do I get a cookie?