I am curious how many facilities have an "English Only" rule, and how/whether it is enforced.
I work at a SNF in which the vast majority of the employees are from the Philippines. Although we have an "English Only" rule, it seems that they have no interest in abiding by it, although all are fluent in English. Since I am one of only two white employees, I guess there isn't much I can do about it. It does bother me, though, when we are on our lunch break, and all of them are speaking their own language and I am the only one who does not understand the conversation!
I am curious if others have the same situation where they work, and if so, how they deal with it. Thanks.
NORTON, Mass. - Imagine what could have happened to Angel Cabrera if he belonged to a tour that required its players to speak English.
A powerful Argentine who rose from an impoverished childhood, he won the U.S. Open last year at Oakmont by holding off Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk. In the hours after the trophy presentation, Cabrera made his way through a maze of media interviews in Spanish with an interpreter at his side.
Under a new LPGA Tour policy effective next year, Cabrera might have been suspended. Or, he might not have played at all if an official on that tour deemed he was ineffective in English.
"You don't have to speak English to play golf," Cabrera said Thursday in Spanish, joining a chorus of male players perplexed by the LPGA Tour's decision to be punish women golfers for not speaking English in pro-ams, trophy presentations and media interviews.... (for more, click on link)
But sports is a different cup of tea. It is a-entertainment, and b-the body gets across the communication...words are needed only after the fact to communicate commentary. In nursing, both with our patients and our professional community, communication is fundemental to what we do and how we serve. Each nursing community should have rules that reflect the needs of that community.
Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
I am curious how many facilities have an "English Only" rule, and how/whether it is enforced.
I work at a SNF in which the vast majority of the employees are from the Philippines. Although we have an "English Only" rule, it seems that they have no interest in abiding by it, although all are fluent in English. Since I am one of only two white employees, I guess there isn't much I can do about it. It does bother me, though, when we are on our lunch break, and all of them are speaking their own language and I am the only one who does not understand the conversation!
I am curious if others have the same situation where they work, and if so, how they deal with it. Thanks.
My first job coming to the US from the Philippines in the 90's was in a SNF as well where many other Filipinos worked. The Philippines is a country of many different languages and dialects even though a national language based on Tagalog is widely spoken. It may surprise you that majority of my Filipino co-workers at the time spoke a Philippine language I did not speak nor understand and chattered a lot in this language around me as well. And yes, I did find that very rude not being able to understand what they were talking about. I even remembered one of the residents remarked, "am I still in America?"
My building employs staff that speak Spanish, Creole, Russian, Polish, and Tagalog, in addition to English. We have a policy of English only in resident care areas, and it is generally followed. I have no issues with employees speaking another language while on breaks.
Recently, the resident council complained that employees were speaking another language during meal service at dinner. I personally spoke to the staff on evenings, and we haven't had any more issues.
It's a touchy subject--you don't want to be accused of discrimination, so a formal, written policy that is signed at admission is the best route to go, IMHO.
But sports is a different cup of tea. It is a-entertainment, and b-the body gets across the communication...words are needed only after the fact to communicate commentary. In nursing, both with our patients and our professional community, communication is fundemental to what we do and how we serve. Each nursing community should have rules that reflect the needs of that community.
I think the reason for the strongly visceral reaction--in both the case of nursing and golf--is that monolingual Americans feel threatened and intimidated. [strike up the theme from Twilight Zone.] "Danger. Danger. People speaking a language I don't understand." Tribalism (xenophobia) is a common human response. It's not the most generous one available, however. How do we rise above it? That's our challenge to solve.
Specializes in CTICU, Interventional Cardiology, CCU.
at my hosp. it is a literal melting pot of languages. But one thing that gets to me is this...I have no problem with people speaking their native language at all. But I have been working nights for thelast year and I have noticed that I get annoyed with the following....
On certain night shifts I may work with only nurses from india and they speak their language with eachother..fine...but when I have 5 of my co-workers all talking to eachother in their language while i am sitting with them and the only time they stop speaking their language is to make a comment to me in english, which is few and far between, makes me nuts. 12 hours of me sitting and listening to my fellow co-workers speak to eachother laughing and talking, while I can't even begin to understand what they are saying.
On a different night I may be working with all Fillipino nurses, and yes they all speak to eachother in their native language but they do include me in conversation and try to teach me words, and even tell me what they just said in Fillipino. And when ever they are speaking in their language they also tell me in english what they are saying and have become some of my best friends. They have taught me their culture, foods, and traditions. I love my Fillipino nurses.
On a different night I may work with a good mix of nurses from the west indies, phillipnes, india, africa, puerto rico, and of course me the only irish/italian/german in the night shift group. But I love working with some of my foreign nurses...
The only thing I don't like is working a 12 hour shift and listening to 5 of my co-workers talk to eachother all night and when I ask a question or have a patient related problem, I am laughed at and talked about in a different language by my co-workers. This happened once and I reemed the 5 co-workers out b/c my pt. was in respiratory failure, I called for a code, I was ignored first then I screamed for a code, was laughed at and talked about by my co-workers in their native language and they walked away and ignored me. I literally screamed till i was red in the face for help, finally an MD on another unit on my floor herd me and came running. The pt's O2 sat was in the 60's and stridor. The MD turned to the nurses, my co-workers and said what the (bleep) is wrong with you, call a code NOW. Later after the pt. was transferred to another unit, I took all 5 co-workers aside and said "Next time DO NOT IGNORE ME, do NOT LAUGH AT ME B/C I NEED HELP, AND DO NOT AND I MEAN DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK TO ME WHEN I AM SCREAMING FOR HELP AND MUMBLE SOMETHING TO ANOTHER CO-WORKER IN YOUR LANGUAGE AND BOTH LAUGH AT ME AND WALK AWAY AND IGNORE ME! If I didn;t scream like bloody murder, and that doctor didn;t happen to be on our floor on another unit, this pt. would have desated and possibly died. So keep this in mind next time I call for a code, if I am ignored or laughed at agian I will take action."
After that night nver agian was I laughed at or ignored. Infact I am the one those 5 co-workers come to now if a pt. is heading for the worst.
I have no problem with people speaking their language. If I could speak Galic,Italian or German I would. But when it is a situation where we require every one to be on the same level, I expect that as a nurse, and as a professional.
Wow, what a scary experience for you. I'm glad it turned out okay for the patient. Why do you think the five Indian nurses weren't helping out with the code? Did they not understand the urgency of the situation? Are they new or undertrained? If so, that's a dangerous situation waiting to happen in the future.
Sometimes laughter (especially in Asian cultures) is a sign of embarrassment, not of derision or mockery. If you now have a good relationship with this group, you may want to sit down with them and go over what happened and find out why they behaved the way they did. Not to level blame at anyone, but to find out what went wrong and how to avoid it down the road.
Obviously, the behavior looked "bad." My assumption is that most nurses, foreign or American, truly wish to help--not harm--patients. So, we need to get to the bottom of what's going on. Otherwise, we just label those committing the behavior as "wrong," "bad," or "those lazy, gossipy, good-for-nothing, job-sponging, so-and-so foreigners." And that creates a Them vs. Us mindset which will just fester and lead to more distrust and accusation.
It's not easy working with people who aren't from our tribe. Fear and miscommunication abound. And, without proactive intervention, the vicious circle continues.
Good luck in making your workplace more communicative and supportive,
Specializes in CTICU, Interventional Cardiology, CCU.
Morettia,
Wow, what a scary experience for you. I'm glad it turned out okay for the patient. Why do you think the five Indian nurses weren't helping out with the code? Did they not understand the urgency of the situation? Are they new or undertrained? If so, that's a dangerous situation waiting to happen in the future.
Sometimes laughter (especially in Asian cultures) is a sign of embarrassment, not of derision or mockery. If you now have a good relationship with this group, you may want to sit down with them and go over what happened and find out why they behaved the way they did. Not to level blame at anyone, but to find out what went wrong and how to avoid it down the road.
Obviously, the behavior looked "bad." My assumption is that most nurses, foreign or American, truly wish to help--not harm--patients. So, we need to get to the bottom of what's going on. Otherwise, we just label those committing the behavior as "wrong," "bad," or "those lazy, gossipy, good-for-nothing, job-sponging, so-and-so foreigners." And that creates a Them vs. Us mindset which will just fester and lead to more distrust and accusation.
It's not easy working with people who aren't from our tribe. Fear and miscommunication abound. And, without proactive intervention, the vicious circle continues.
Good luck in making your workplace more communicative and supportive,
Alan
when this happened I was only a few months into being a new nurse. I think they thought I was overreacting, but with the objective situation right infront of their faces they knew I wasn't. And the other thing is that all 5 of those nurses are very experienced, and have been nurses for years. I look back and think for the most part that b/c i was the new kid on the block I was just kicked aside. It never happened agian I will tell you that. I have thought about that night many times over the last year and I have come to realize that some people just don't work well together no matter what language you speak. Call a code means call a code plain and simple. I used to get upset when I would tell the story, now I tell it so share wha happened and how I will never allow it to happen agian...
Never seen that rule before but out of courtesy it's probably best to speak English when you're with the general population of your coworkers and your language when on break with your ethnic buddies. That way, when somebody has an issue with it the fault will be on their end for trying to eavesdrop on your private conversation.
you don't have to be zenophobic to resent people talking in another language in front of you..if they are capable of speaking english they should do so while at work, if they are not they do not need to be employedd as a nurse
""I think that all should speak a common language. Both myself and my student nurse don't speak spanish. But we both understood a nurse telling another coworker, "you take the students" (and my student nurse was uncomfortable after that). Just because someone isn't fluent doesn't mean they don't understand the gist of what you're saying. That's why I think, in the U.S., where english is the common language, "English only" should be enforced""
I am a latino nurse and the English only rule will take away the responsability of translating. I am a nurse and translator all the time but my wages are not different than the non bilingual nurses. Is that fear? I don't think so. I do agree tha in the lunch room bilingual people should be consider and speak english only in order to include others.
""I think that all should speak a common language. Both myself and my student nurse don't speak spanish. But we both understood a nurse telling another coworker, "you take the students" (and my student nurse was uncomfortable after that). Just because someone isn't fluent doesn't mean they don't understand the gist of what you're saying. That's why I think, in the U.S., where english is the common language, "English only" should be enforced""
I am a latino nurse and the English only rule will take away the responsability of translating. I am a nurse and translator all the time but my wages are not different than the non bilingual nurses. Is that fear? I don't think so. I do agree tha in the lunch room bilingual people should be consider and speak english only in order to include others.
We still need staff that can translate for assisting non English speaking patients. So no your translating ability is still needed.
This is made a rule because employees were communicating in whatever native language in front of patients, and to each other while on the clock.
Patti 2nd gen RN
100 Posts
But sports is a different cup of tea. It is a-entertainment, and b-the body gets across the communication...words are needed only after the fact to communicate commentary. In nursing, both with our patients and our professional community, communication is fundemental to what we do and how we serve. Each nursing community should have rules that reflect the needs of that community.