I'm currently a peds home health nurse and met with the parents of a client I might me working with. The parents have had bad experiences with foreign nurses mainly from African countries due to their accents. All through the meeting the parents kept mentioning how much they want a nurse who speaks clear English. The parents have had difficulty with communicating with these nurses that have led bad consequences. I have empathize with the parents but at the same time feel sorry for those nurses whom English is hard to understand.
I have worked with nurses and docs who were foreign with thick accents and know how challenging it can be, I can imagine how frustrated the parents may be.
I've been on both sides of the accent debate. I'm a native New Englander, but my parents and extended family are Southern or Midwestern. Remember the guy from the Cajun Spice Ruffles commercials? Half of my family sounds like that.
My brother-in-law lives in Newcastle, England. When Hubby and I went to visit him a few years ago, the only people I understood were him and his (Australian) wife. Everyone in town spoke English, but their Geordie accents were completely unintelligible to my American ears. They didn't understand me, either.
On the other hand, I had a lab instructor my first semester of school who was West African, and unintelligible. She had a thick accent, and muttered very quickly through her nose. I didn't understand a word she said, and I tried to work with her as little as possible.
If the parents of a child with special needs really can't understand the nurse taking care of their child, they shouldn't feel bad about asking for a new nurse.
I still have an English accent that i will never change but i am able to communicate effectively and never had a problem...and oh i hate it when you think my accent is cute. I expect everyone to be clear and concise from people or patients i encounter and no i don't speak Spanish and since you are in America how come you can't speak English?
I absolutely cannot understand one of the docs I work w/ on the phone. When we are face to face, it's easier to understand him. This problem was solved by sending him a text message when requesting new orders. There is no doubt about the order, because it's on my phone.
Now that's what I call using your head. Very smart idea.
Has anyone been @ a workplace that had an effective solution to this problem? Like offering the services of a Speech Pathologist to help employees communicate more clearly? Or seen any other creative approaches?
When my son was trying to learn to read, I got him involved w/a reading program that emphasized "phonemic awareness". By helping him discern the differences in phonemes, it helped him finally acquire that skill. I discovered that the same process could help people reduce speech "accents".
The hospital where I used to work offered free ESL and accent reduction classes to all employees. Employees could take paid time for the classes. One co-worker who took them made huge improvements in her English skills and in turn her confidence with patients.
people living in usa and do not speak english for 5-10-20-30 years and get mad when you dont speak their language irks me the most. why am i getting a frown from you when you're in my country and not able to speak my language? why must i cater to you?
they blame not knowing/speaking english on the fact that they have "right" to freedom and "right to health" so i am automatically responsible to learn their language?!
the entitlement attitude needs to end. only in america. and thus, its downfall.
royal prince,wow where is your country? i am very sure you dont know what
true american is. i know i have to speak out here.........
royal prince,you need to take more electives at school, and if you
have taken them i dont really think you assimilate anything.
this is america. what makes america believe it or not is not the uniqueness of anything
but many different values and cultures.
as for the patient who complained about the foreign nurses accent.
nursing or medical is not a language or idea. its skills and scientific process
with rationales. if this particular patient knows how to medically help themselves
they do not need to hire a professional at all.
by the way, isn't it through that nurses have special knowledge to care for the patient-that the family dont have and cannot perform. how is the accent affecting the care?
nurses is an art-there are many creative ways to get information across to the clients without accent being a barrier. nurses are allowed to write teachings down other than mere word of mouth that clients can forget easily.
paramount, do you know american accents can be terrible too?- just the way
many speaks so fast without proper grammar usage.
language is not what you speak, its what you can write down.
also you talk about people taking your job? - what job is yours? - you re just a joker.
american jobs doesn’t belong to many anyone if you take a closer look at it.
you were just fortunate to be born here and trust me if you go out of the country
or some part of europe, you will know that speaking an american accent is not what you think
there are many intelligent, doctors, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, and engineers that don’t speak
american accents but contribute immensely to this great nation.
before that is available, it’s a process that had involved many foreigners too.
in the end, why are you being so selfish that at the end of your statement- that you think of
america's downfall because of this issue.
just a side note, go watch a and e (the first 48) and
learn that americans commits highest numbers of homicides in the world- this is what can lead to downfall
as population decreases with untimely death of good people.
Has anyone been @ a workplace that had an effective solution to this problem? Like offering the services of a Speech Pathologist to help employees communicate more clearly? Or seen any other creative approaches?
When my son was trying to learn to read, I got him involved w/a reading program that emphasized "phonemic awareness". By helping him discern the differences in phonemes, it helped him finally acquire that skill. I discovered that the same process could help people reduce speech "accents".
Huh...like how outsourced call centers overseas train their employees to have almost impeccable "American" accent.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
Those who know me on here know my story. When my son was in PICU and nearing the end of his life, the hospitalist we got assigned to was a wonderful man - kind, attentive and best of all, straight forward. But he was IMPOSSIBLE to understand. I was constantly having to ask a nurse to interpret even though he theoretically was speaking English. That is all well and good, but the nurse was not always available to interpret and the newer ones to the unit were not always able to understand him either. I asked to be reassigned to a different hospitalist and was bluntly refused. Needless to say, this made an already heartbreaking, scary, stressful situation that much worse. I didn't feel confident he could understand US....and didn't feel confident that I was getting all the information we needed about what was going on with our son.
In the end, he was the physician who advised us to consider DNR (the only physician on the team who was courageous enough to say it) and was the physician there when we chose to discontinue treatment and let our son pass on. He was a very decent, compassionate human being. It is hard to say I wish someone else had been there, as in the end the accent didn't matter much...his gentle demeanor and obvious pain for our grief meant a lot. But the "during" part of our son's treatment was definitely made harder and more stressful than it needed to be by our being unable to understand him and being flat out refused when requesting a different physician despite our concerns made us feel very, very helpless. A heavy accent is something that should be addressed.
I am grateful for his skill and his bedside manner. It is a shame his accent was so heavy it was impossible to make out what he was saying and embarassing to have to continually ask him to repeat himself, write it down or ask for a translator....and frankly, given our emotional and physical depletion at the time, it was beyond exhausting. We were at the breaking point as it was. It had to be frustrating for him as well.
It is grossly unfair to ask a family in this kind of stress to deal with it or compensate for communication issues from a provider of care, to the point of being unethical in my opinion. It has nothing to do with being prejudiced. He was an awesome doctor and wonderful human being. But this only became evident in hindsight. At the time, we felt pretty far out of the loop. To compensate, I took to reading his chart every day, which made one particular nurse bat sh1t crazy for some reason. She "told on me" to this physician and he simply shrugged and let it be. It was the only thing that kept me from making a big stink about the whole situation.
Specializes in Mental Health, Medical Research, Periop.
royal prince,wow where is your country? i am very sure you dont know what
true american is. i know i have to speak out here.........
royal prince,you need to take more electives at school, and if you
have taken them i dont really think you assimilate anything.
this is america. what makes america believe it or not is not the uniqueness of anything
but many different values and cultures.
as for the patient who complained about the foreign nurses accent.
nursing or medical is not a language or idea. its skills and scientific process
with rationales. if this particular patient knows how to medically help themselves
they do not need to hire a professional at all.
by the way, isn't it through that nurses have special knowledge to care for the patient-that the family dont have and cannot perform. how is the accent affecting the care?
nurses is an art-there are many creative ways to get information across to the clients without accent being a barrier. nurses are allowed to write teachings down other than mere word of mouth that clients can forget easily.
paramount, do you know american accents can be terrible too?- just the way
many speaks so fast without proper grammar usage.
language is not what you speak, its what you can write down.
also you talk about people taking your job? - what job is yours? - you re just a joker.
american jobs doesn't belong to many anyone if you take a closer look at it.
you were just fortunate to be born here and trust me if you go out of the country
or some part of europe, you will know that speaking an american accent is not what you think
there are many intelligent, doctors, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, and engineers that don't speak
american accents but contribute immensely to this great nation.
before that is available, it's a process that had involved many foreigners too.
in the end, why are you being so selfish that at the end of your statement- that you think of
america's downfall because of this issue.
just a side note, go watch a and e (the first 48) and
learn that americans commits highest numbers of homicides in the world- this is what can lead to downfall
as population decreases with untimely death of good people.
just open your mind..................
quote=yercy121;5484723]royal prince,wow where is your country? i am very sure you dont know what
true american is. i know i have to speak out here.........
i think you are saying this country is a country built on immigration, i agree.
royal prince,you need to take more electives at school, and if you
have taken them i dont really think you assimilate anything.
this is america. what makes america believe it or not is not the uniqueness of anything
but many different values and cultures.
as for the patient who complained about the foreign nurses accent.
nursing or medical is not a language or idea. its skills and scientific process
with rationales. although this may be true, you must be able to communicate to the client in order for it to be effective. if this particular patient knows how to medically help themselves
they do not need to hire a professional at all.
by the way, isn't it through that nurses have special knowledge to care for the patient-that the family dont have and cannot perform. how is the accent affecting the care? they cannot communicate with the caretaker, this causes stress which in the end affects the care.
nurses is an art-there are many creative ways to get information across to the clients without accent being a barrier. nurses are allowed to write teachings down other than mere word of mouth that clients can forget easily.
paramount, do you know american accents can be terrible too?- just the way
many speaks so fast without proper grammar usage. i agree with this, accents regardless of origin must be taken into consideration. i having mentioned that many people say i have a southern accent. i have learned to speak slowly and clearer to make sure that my client can understand me.
language is not what you speak, its what you can write down. i must disagree, language can be both spoken and written. what if your client cannot read? what if your client is blind? how will this be effective for this client?
also you talk about people taking your job? - what job is yours? - you re just a joker.
american jobs doesn't belong to many anyone if you take a closer look at it.
you were just fortunate to be born here and trust me if you go out of the country
or some part of europe, you will know that speaking an american accent is not what you think
there are many intelligent, doctors, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, and engineers that don't speak
american accents but contribute immensely to this great nation.
before that is available, it's a process that had involved many foreigners too.
in the end, why are you being so selfish that at the end of your statement- that you think of
america's downfall because of this issue.
just a side note, go watch a and e (the first 48) and
learn that americans commits highest numbers of homicides in the world- this is what can lead to downfall
as population decreases with untimely death of good people. what does this have to do with anything?
Bortaz, MSN, RN
2,628 Posts
Laughed out loud. Haha.