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.
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
I will repeat for the last time.....
The issue is not the language spoken, the nationality or accent of the nurse in question, but simply that the parents cannot understand what the nurse is saying at all which is causing problems with communication and a need to change nurses to one they can understand.
There is no right or wrong or politics or anything else involved. It does not mean the original nurse needs to learn a different language or is not a perfectly skilled and caring nurse.
All that exists is the need for the parents and the caregiver to be able to communicate and that is not happening so they are choosing a different nurse and have every right to.
I think it is one of the problems with nursing in general Leslie. They want to solve the perceived problems of the world instead of just focusing on the situation at hand.
well, it IS an effective way of distracting oneself from the subject at hand.
if you were to attempt to convey your message through written communication in the clinical setting, you might find yourself being asked to clarify and re-clarify. i would hope you would do so with grace and dignity rather than excoriate the asker for being anti-american or anti-immigrant.
and once again, this thread is not about the value or bigotry, for or against foreigners.
it is about the ability of pts to understand what is being said to them.
this would then, apply to americans with a speech impediment, or any other obstacle that prevents the pt from understanding us.
it has nothing to do with where one is from.
you just need to communicate in a way that the pt understands.
if you cannot, then you do what is necessary to ensure that they do.
I'll admit that I haven't read this entire thread, but I don't see anything wrong with the need to understand your nurse. Straining to understand everyday speech - let alone important or sensitive communication - is an unneeded source of additional anxiety for a patient and family.
When I first moved to the east coast, I still had a thick southern accent. In business, it was undesirable - viewed as 'simple' and 'irritating'. I took classes to minimize my accent and eliminated some of the words and phrases I knew were unfamiliar to northerners. My accent still creeps out when I'm relaxed (or really upset!) and another southerner can always pick me out, but it wasn't fair to expect others to understand me in this environment and it would have undoubtedly affected my career.
I was simply talking about risk and money in my old job; imagine if I was imparting medical information or discussing care? Eesh. We need to understand one another and there isn't anything insulting or personal about that, IMO.
Communication difficulties r/t accents are not helped by the addition of medical terminology and health care jargon. Medical-speak is a language all its own. So you might have a person who can get past the accent if the topic is how to make a particular recipe or where to buy light bulbs, but is thoroughly tripped up when the the accented person starts discussing what to do about the patient's distended abdomen or the action of a new medication.
Then we're talking about a double language barrier. The accent makes even familiar words harder to recognize. Throw in a bunch of words that are not well known to the listener and now you have what sounds like gibberish because there is no easy frame of reference.
This double barrier is what makes communication problems so serious in health care. Add to that the idea that emotions run higher than normal when a patient or family member is worried about their health condition and you end up with a perfect storm of frustration on both sides.
It seems imperative that those with thick accents who want to work in health care should work to reduce their accents to an understandable level. Not because anyone is racist or has a grudge against foreigners, but because medical-speak is a challenging enough language even in clear and precise English.
Those who employ large numbers of people who speak English as a second (or third or fourth) language might consider providing help to those whose accents are strong enough to cause a problem. Docs included (even though they aren't technically employees). From a liability standpoint, taming accents could prevent confusion and errors to the extent that the classes would pay for themselves.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
I think it is one of the problems with nursing in general Leslie. They want to solve the perceived problems of the world instead of just focusing on the situation at hand.
Interesting perspective, given that as nurses we are tasked with treating the symptoms and complications of the overall medical problem, not with curing the problem itself. This subject is no different. Too many thinking they know the cure to the problem (they don't) instead of focusing on how we cope with it in this moment.
This topic has gone wild! I just want to make a couple of statements:
(1) My great-grandparents came to the United States from Germany just after they were married. They wanted to have a family and rear them in the U.S. They came to this country to live a better life. My grandmother said that German was spoken @ home between her parents, but the children were only allowed to speak English. She said if the children were caught speaking German, it would earn them a spanking from her father. He told them they were American and should only speak English.
(2) I live in south Louisiana and along the bayou Cajun French is spoken by many of the old folks. Many kids had never heard English spoken before they started school. I'm talking about 50+ years ago. One lady told me how she had to sit in school and not speak until she was able to speak English.
Now, to the OP: Sorry your post has been taken over, but I feel the parents are right in requesting a nurse who speaks clear English. It's their child and if they can't understand what the nurse is telling them, then she really isn't providing a good service.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
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.
I find difficulty working with nursing assistants from Africa many times d/t their accents. Some speak very clearly and it is no problem, but there are certain ones that I have to ask to repeat themselves once or twice to get it. I don't mind it usually, but I think that having a nurse or doctor with a thick accent would pose some major problems for the patient, especially if the patient/family is not accustomed to hearing accents. In the case of a pediatric pt, I'm sure it would be even more difficult.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
One of the reasons I got a Mac was because I was sick of calling tech support and having to deal with someone from another country who spoke minimally intelligible English. Fortunately, I haven't had to need tech support much with this computer, but the few times did call I always got someone who spoke English clearly.
It is sad to know the way you feel... My father and I came to YOUR USA less than 20 yrs ago, my mother joined us 11 yrs ago. I DO NOT have an accent at all, but my parents DO NOT speak YOUR language. It is not because they are ignorant but because once you hit a certain age, it is extremely hard learning a new language. The only reason my parents would frown is because they feel helpless of not being able to understand the language, not because they want anyone to cater to them. They are hard working people, in fact, my father is a US CITIZEN just like YOU and I. They are very proud that their daughter is an RN. I would give anything to help them learn.
YOU must go back and retake a culture class, or maybe have neighbors like my parents, because you sound so ignorant and offend many people with your racist comment.
CrunchRN, ADN, RN
4,558 Posts
I will repeat for the last time.....
The issue is not the language spoken, the nationality or accent of the nurse in question, but simply that the parents cannot understand what the nurse is saying at all which is causing problems with communication and a need to change nurses to one they can understand.
There is no right or wrong or politics or anything else involved. It does not mean the original nurse needs to learn a different language or is not a perfectly skilled and caring nurse.
All that exists is the need for the parents and the caregiver to be able to communicate and that is not happening so they are choosing a different nurse and have every right to.