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.
We have an english only rule, but it's in front of pts. "English must be spoken in front of pts. at all times" As it was explained, English must be spoken to pts, and in front of pts, so that they do not feel 'left out' or that ppl are talking about them...we have quite a few paranoid pts.
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.
When in Rome?!?!? Does that mean the Romans spoke the native language of the countries/regions they controlled/ruled? Yah, right. They certainly refused to speak the local language because that wouldn've been rude.
Perhaps I should explain what I meant by "When in Rome......." It wasn't meant to be taken literally.
To me it simply means "go with the flow". If the native language of that country is X then we should make every effort to communicate in X's language when around them. Pure and simple.
Specializes in NICU, Mother-baby, home health care.
When in Rome?!?!? Does that mean the Romans spoke the native language of the countries/regions they controlled/ruled? Yah, right. They certainly refused to speak the local language because that wouldn've been rude.
Perhaps I should explain what I meant by "When in Rome......." It wasn't meant to be taken literally.
To me it simply means "go with the flow". If the native language of that country is X then we should make every effort to communicate in X's language when around them. Pure and simple.
That's all, again just my two cents! :-)
Bright eyes, I'm living this right now. I'm currently living in Germany, been here for over a year now, and am learning the german language. Even though German's are taught english in school, i don't expect the germans to HAVE to speak ENGLISH to me. Why should I make them speak MY language? It's ridiculous. Yes, sometimes its very difficult to communicate in their language, but believe me, I'm always walking with my german/english dictionary in my purse!! I think it is rude to "expect" them to speak english. Germans seem to really like it when we TRY to communicate with them in their language, they are more apt to speak english to us once they see we respect them and their culture and not automatically expect them to cater to us. So thanks for your post Bright eyes, I completely agree. :wink2:
And when you call your husband (if you have an American husband) or son from work, do you also speak German on the phone with them? If they come up for lunch, do you speak German in the cafeteria, or do you speak English? When you are out with them only, do you speak German or English?
No, BrightEyes, I didn't take your "when in Rome..." comment literally. My #95 response to that was to be taken in the very tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic tone it was written. I understood your POV, didn't agree with it, and my response was written in the mood I had at the time.
I respect everyone's opinion on this thread. To each their own. We don't all have the same experiences/personalities when it comes to speaking second/multiple languages/living in foreign countries. I lived in a foreign country for 20 years and the natives of that country did, for the most part, speak English adequately if not fluently. I worked very hard to speak to them only in their language because I wanted to learn it/work on my accent. Anyhoodles... I'm stateside now and here's my point/opinion once again:
People have a right to speak whatever language they want on their personal time. If you think that's rude because you don't understand them, that's YOUR problem, not theirs. You are NOT being discriminated against, you are NOT being excluded; you simply don't speak that language and you feel uncomfortable about that for whatever reason. The solution? Talk to them about it. Communicate your feelings about to them and see what happens. The whole "when in Rome" argument does NOT apply to personal/break time/time off the floor. Hostile environment because you don't understand the conversation in the break room? And your solution is what? Approach those foreign-speaking nurses to find some common ground? Sit there and pout/get paranoid they're talking about you? Go to HR? Or understand those foreign speaking peeps on break are communicating in their native language.... the way YOU would on YOUR break with YOUR fellow native language speakers.
This has been a very frustrating/interesting thread for me to follow. I never did get my doughnut but I did find a brownie.
:)
On the floor/in patient care/professionally speaking, yes. I agree, "when in Rome. IOW, speak the native language with all staff at all times.
I work with foreign born nurses and I dont see anybody getting the shaft.
What I do see happening is all nursing programs now in the US are qualifying the nurses in 18 months or less to help reduce the nursing shortage but what I dont see is nurses who are properly prepared for the harsh life of a nurse, so I forsee a future where there is a bigger burnout of nurses than there is already.
I am glad to hear that. There have been many nurses in NY-tristate area that have had all types of problems with the recruiting agencies and the facilities that hired them. They have been underpaid(less than promised), overworked, unsafely short-staffed, and most recently one group is being sued for refusing to accept assignment under dangerous circumstances. In personal experience, my friend needed an accepting facility for a work visa, but was forced to sign a 5 year contract, accept low pay, and within 3 months of hire has complete responsibility for her whole unit. SHE IS DEPRESSED, SICK EVERY DAY SHE WORKS, AND FEELS LIKE SHE IS IN PRISON! This from a woman with a past degree, an A student-top of the class, and just a nice person. I am sick for her!
As for the nursing students, I have been suggesting to our NM that we should take advantage of all of the nursing students and reinstitute volunteers out of them. Also, make sure our clinical technicians are nursing students with the reality that this will give them an edge when they are searching for RN jobs. A dose of reality will be available, long before they are questing for a job that will not work for them. Perhaps we need to go back to candystripers.
I was talking a an ex-coworker a few days ago. She and some other co-workers were called into the office. They were told by management that an employee complained that she was being excluded from their conversations. The group wasn't speaking a language other than English and they weren't talking about work. They just weren't inlcuding her. And they were CALLED in management's office for this. For those you you who believe it is rude to exclude someone from your conversation, do you think it was fair of this group to get CALLED in front of MANAGEMENT and basically be TOLD to include her in their conversations that have NOTHING to do with work?
What if people just started complaining to management that so and so was not including them in conversations spoken in English? Then there would be threads on All Nurses about being brought into the office and spoken to like children.
I was talking a an ex-coworker a few days ago. She and some other co-workers were called into the office. They were told by management that an employee complained that she was being excluded from their conversations. The group wasn't speaking a language other than English and they weren't talking about work. They just weren't inlcuding her. And they were CALLED in management's office for this. For those you you who believe it is rude to exclude someone from your conversation, do you think it was fair of this group to get CALLED in front of MANAGEMENT and basically be TOLD to include her in their conversations that have NOTHING to do with work?
What if people just started complaining to management that so and so was not including them in conversations spoken in English? Then there would be threads on All Nurses about being brought into the office and spoken to like children.
There are always two sides to a story...if someone is excluded and "frozen out" during work information meetings, committees, group activities, team nursing or whatever else is work related...THEN ABSOLUTELY, they should be reprimanded. However, while it's nice to be inclusive of our peers...it is not necessary to be everyone's friend, but one would hope that as a peer, there would be some interaction on a shift. It can be pretty lonely if you are the excluded one. Depending upon the situation, it may even be considered a "hostile" work environment.
While I don't agree I have to be everyone's friend, I do have to be their co-worker. There are several nurses who were not nice to me when I came off of orientation...they'd let me sink and wallow in problems...obviously 2+ years later I don't do that anymore, and as much as I swore I'd never help them...I DO. This also includes pleasantries, conversation, and doing things without being asked.
Work is hard enough....exclusion regardless of the reason, MAKES IT SO MUCH HARDER!
Hello All! I worked as a CNA in a LTC facility this summer. I was 1 out of less than a handful of white aides on my floor. All the rest were Brazilian, Haitian, or Hispanic. The only real problem the administration had was with the Brazilian girls speaking Portugese. The Haitian and Hispanic staff were not a problem because they were few in number and obeyed the "English only, on the floor" rule. The Brazilian girls would speak portugese non-stop on the floors even though this was against the rules. The administration clearly stated once you are off the floor, we do not care what language you speak! The nurses would hear them and do nothing! I do not mind people speaking their own language but the all of the residents spoke English not Portugese! The residents complained about the aides speaking Portugese so much and the aides were reprimanded but they never listened. At times, I felt like I didn't now what the heck was going on when they would all be talking at once and I would find out like 10 minutes later that we had to get Mr. so and so out of bed. Overall, many of the aides from different nationalities had broken English that was very hard to understand and was a serious safety risk. For instance, when lifting a patient or something and the other aide would misinterpret what I was saying or vice versa. I am not racist whatsoever. In fact I am half Irish half Vietnamese and my mother came straight from Vietnam. However, people working in healthcare NEED to be able to clearly communicate in English. If they don't it really does present a safety risk when working with them, as I experienced too many times.
I absolutely understand, and would never exclude someone with the intent of making them feel like they were in a hostile environment. Now, with this situation, I know all partiens involved personally and can understand why the group just had no interest in involving her. When I was there, all this individual and HER particular group would do is gossip, and start trouble. So no, I never involved her in my conversations either. In addition, when I used to work there the private conversations usually consisited of the latest louis vitton bag, comparisions of their bags and which ones cost the most, the baby daddy drama, the lastest sex partners of the week, which co worker was sleeping with who, etc, etc, etc.
I usually kept to myself and only spoke to a hand full of people, and they were people who knew who to hold a conversation about things I was interested in (career and educationals goals, increasing our incomes, etc) and not the other nonsense. A coworker who was a good friend of mine was apporached by another coworker and I became the topic of converstion. The woman complained that I was too quiet, blah, blah, blah. My friend explained to her that I wasn't quiet, I just wasn't interested in alot of the conversations that were taking place.
When I was a teenager I had a summer job where I worked with other teenagers for a summer camp. For the first week, all my coworkers talked about were how cute the guys we passed were and how much money they must have since there are wearing the latest name brands, blah, blah, blah. Since I was not interested, and they weren't interested in anything I had to talk about, I just kept to myself and the kids. They complained to the supervisor and we had a "meeting". Yeah, tell on me because I won't be your friend. That'll show me.
Again, if it has to do with patient care, then yes, I think English should be spoken. But when I am on my own time and having my own personal conversation, I shouldn't be obligated to inlcude everyone around me.
There are always two sides to a story...if someone is excluded and "frozen out" during work information meetings, committees, group activities, team nursing or whatever else is work related...THEN ABSOLUTELY, they should be reprimanded. However, while it's nice to be inclusive of our peers...it is not necessary to be everyone's friend, but one would hope that as a peer, there would be some interaction on a shift. It can be pretty lonely if you are the excluded one. Depending upon the situation, it may even be considered a "hostile" work environment.
While I don't agree I have to be everyone's friend, I do have to be their co-worker. There are several nurses who were not nice to me when I came off of orientation...they'd let me sink and wallow in problems...obviously 2+ years later I don't do that anymore, and as much as I swore I'd never help them...I DO. This also includes pleasantries, conversation, and doing things without being asked.
Work is hard enough....exclusion regardless of the reason, MAKES IT SO MUCH HARDER!
It's not ridiculous. I work in a LTC facility. The whole point of the facility is the residents. Many older residents ONLY speak English and it does make them uncomfortable.
We enforce an English only rule to make the resident comfortable. It is all about the resident. If you can't handle that then find another career.
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SunnyAndrsn
561 Posts
We have an english only rule, but it's in front of pts. "English must be spoken in front of pts. at all times" As it was explained, English must be spoken to pts, and in front of pts, so that they do not feel 'left out' or that ppl are talking about them...we have quite a few paranoid pts.