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 have a hard time with that concept of us learning "Spanish" to accomadate alien residents that might very well be over here illegally. I was a manager in the Atlanta area a few years back and we had a heavy influx of Hispanics. A good portion of them were illegal , however some way they could obtain SS cards and Alien Residency cards with no problem. When I first started in this position I would ask them to do something and they would polietly tell me , "No Coprende". My answer was ,"no coprende no checkie on Fri" , believe me in about a week they were all bilingual and understood my requests well.
They would come in and fill out an application , desiring a Spanish Application which I cheerfully provided. When they finished , in which most have to have help filling out i would ask them if they spoke English. They would always tell me no English. I would tell them in Spanish no speak English, no work here for you.Immediately they would speak a little English, I would tell them to work for me they had to speak good English.With that they would become fluent in English.I would then ask them, "five minutes ago , you couldnt speak any English?" They would try to convince me , how fluent they were, of course with that I would show them to the door. I actually hired very few through the application process and almost all my crew came through referrals.
My two cents is that if we go over there we must be able to speak their language, and likewise they should speak ours.
In a perfect world, anyone who came into the United States would learn perfect spoken English. But let's be real, this is far from a perfect world and this expectation is not realistic.
Most of the people coming into the US from Spanish-speaking countries are poor. They are coming here largely out of desperation...they need to feed their families and they cannot do this in their country. Let's put aside the legal versus illegal for a moment...when you are trying to put food on the table for your children and get them an education you do what you have to do, including break some rules. Can any one of us say that we would not do the same? If you have never seen the poverty that is rampant in Mexico...go there and see it. Then tell me that if you were in that situation you would not try to come over illegally to make life better for your children.
Anyway, regardless of how they got here, these people are here, and they speak Spanish. To say, "they chose to come here, they should speak the language" is arrogant. It's like saying those homeless bums should just go out and get a job, when we know there are so many barriers to that happening. Most of the Spanish speaking populaion I work with would LOVE to learn English...who wouldn't? But how are they going to do it? They cannot afford schooling, tutoring, or classes. They are working sometimes two jobs trying to provide for their families. Even if they could find free classes, where is the time? Many of them are barely literate in their native tongue, how can they learn a second?
In general, we are the ones with the education, and many of us (not all of course) have led relatively privledged lives. I do not think it is asking much for us to learn a few words of Spanish if we work with a predominantly Spanish-speaking population. The families I work with try very hard with their English, despite numerous barriers. And yes, they may understand more than they would admit to, but they are most comfortable communicating in their native tongue and I understand that. If I was in a Spanish speaking country, but had the option to speak with someone in my native English, of course I would be more comfortable with that too, especially where something as important as healthcare is involved.
I just wish that we as a country would be more understanding about the plight of these people before judging them so harshly. If we could walk a mile in their shoes, we might see that they are just doing what they have to do to provide a life for their families.
Specializes in Telemetry, Oncology, Progressive Care.
That certainly irks me. I would never think of moving to another country without learning that language. Even if I was going on vacation I would want to learn some of the language so I could communicate certain thngs.
It is ludicrous that someone would even expect that. Why should people in the US cater to that. The language of our country is english, so use it. I just can't get over how people can live here and not know the language. I think it is wrong that we just keep on catering to these people and giving them more and more options in their native language. Give me a break!
I agree with the idea that this is the US and an English speaking country. If I moved to or visited France I would know that this meant I would HAVE to learn French. If I moved to Spain, well, I'm gonna have to learn Spanish. I am not saying that we should not help out with a pt who doesn't speal English but they shouldn't expect us to know their language. I have had some deaf pts get angry because I don't know sign and were offened that I was writing to them and asking them to respond in writing. I did take a sign class years ago but VERY seldom using it, I have forgotten most of it. Just because we have a lot of Spanish speaking individuals in the US doesn't mean we should become a bi-lingual speaking country. There are countries with A LOT of American/English speaking people living in them and those people have to learn the language of the country. I am very tolerant of foreign speaking pts but don't feel obligated to learn another language.
when a non english speaking patient shows up with a translation book and tries to communicate and doesn't expect me to do all the work to meet their needs..... i'm jumping through hoops to communicate with the book as well.
until then... use the translator phone and no, family is not allowed to translate. there are way too many languages to expect me to be fluent enough to translate and it is simply unrealistic on the non english speaking pt.'s part.
if if was in a foreign country and being treated you dang well can be assured the translation book would not leave my hand. here illegally, even more reason as you call this country your own. imho. i will never, ever ever speak a word of spanish for the above reason. nor will i work in any facility that thinks i should.
I don't know why people get so offended at the suggestion that they expand their horizons and learn another language. In situations where someone is rude or entitled about it, then I understand being offended, but with a lot of people it seems like a knee-jerk reaction to get their feathers ruffled at the mere mention of another language. I've traveled to several different countries in Europe and Central America and almost everywhere I went people were at least bilingual.
I dread the day when nurses are required to test for proficiency in a foreign language to receive licensure.
How about dreading the day when a nurse must be proficient in 50 languages? Because someone is sure to cry foul if we are tested for Language X but not Language Y.
Just look at the number of languages in which ballots are available.....Someone else said it. If you come to live in a country, any country, learn that language.
i don't know why people get so offended at the suggestion that they expand their horizons and learn another language. in situations where someone is rude or entitled about it, then i understand being offended, but with a lot of people it seems like a knee-jerk reaction to get their feathers ruffled at the mere mention of another language. i've traveled to several different countries in europe and central america and almost everywhere i went people were at least bilingual.
my feathers are not ruffled, i have no way to be bilingual... in which language? there are far to many as i work in a military town for this to be done. i have no way to learn 10 languages and be fluent enough to speak; spanish, korean, and what not. my feathers are smooth, my ability to care for my patients is limited to their unwillingness to bring a translation book with them and demand my ability to accomidate them by speaking fluently. i would need to be fluent in at least 10-12 languages... come on...
While we are busy wishing to legislate away foreigner speakers by making English the official state language, I want to toss in my 2¢ about pi. 3.14 has always been a highly inconvenient number, and I think we should legislate it to be 3.0, even. Together, these joint legislative efforts should make communications and doing math in the United States much easier in the future.
I agree with most that the patient in the original post was entitled and certainly arrogant to expect caregivers be required to speak her language. Like another post - Ruby's, likely - I take it as just another rude patient and would shake it off. Meh. Can't please everyone, after all; at least she had family around her who could help to translate.
Where I work, we are required to use the translation phones unless the patient refuses them, (risk management fears what may be lost in translation.) Further, there is talk that those claiming fluency in other languages be tested for proficiency in translating medical terminology otherwise they too will be required to use the translation phones, even with patients with whom they can speak with in another language.
I'm from Texas and now live in the northeast. I speak adequate Spanish, (not good enough for consents or the like, however), and understand /read /write conversational French. This, ironically, doesn't help me in my current hospital, where most of my foreign language encounters are with Korean or Eastern European, (Polish, Russian, Czech) patients.
For all those saying we should make more of an effort....how much more? I treat all my patients with respect, use the resources available to me to help us communicate, and make every effort to involve family or fluent staff for assistance to help the patient feel comfortable. I already can communicate in two other languages yet it doesn't help me with the patients I encounter...
Most of the Spanish speaking populaion I work with would LOVE to learn English...who wouldn't? But how are they going to do it? They cannot afford schooling, tutoring, or classes. They are working sometimes two jobs trying to provide for their families. Even if they could find free classes, where is the time? Many of them are barely literate in their native tongue, how can they learn a second?
And yet many generations of immigrants from all over the world, struggling against the same barriers, managed to learn English (at least enough to get by), and took great pride in doing so.
soon2Bmurse
174 Posts
I have a hard time with that concept of us learning "Spanish" to accomadate alien residents that might very well be over here illegally. I was a manager in the Atlanta area a few years back and we had a heavy influx of Hispanics. A good portion of them were illegal , however some way they could obtain SS cards and Alien Residency cards with no problem. When I first started in this position I would ask them to do something and they would polietly tell me , "No Coprende". My answer was ,"no coprende no checkie on Fri" , believe me in about a week they were all bilingual and understood my requests well.
They would come in and fill out an application , desiring a Spanish Application which I cheerfully provided. When they finished , in which most have to have help filling out i would ask them if they spoke English. They would always tell me no English. I would tell them in Spanish no speak English, no work here for you.Immediately they would speak a little English, I would tell them to work for me they had to speak good English.With that they would become fluent in English.I would then ask them, "five minutes ago , you couldnt speak any English?" They would try to convince me , how fluent they were, of course with that I would show them to the door. I actually hired very few through the application process and almost all my crew came through referrals.
My two cents is that if we go over there we must be able to speak their language, and likewise they should speak ours.