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.
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.
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.
lucky, you need to reread his post.
he was only referring to those who act entitled.
obviously, your parents do not fit that description.
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.
This description is not only for people that feel entitled, but I will not argue.
It sounds racist and rude. "My country, My language"
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
Forgive me for not reading through all of the posts, as my comment will likely be redundant.
It seems that the crux of the matter is that these parents have verbalized bad experiences with nurses who don't speak English clearly. They probably commented about this again and again to you because they were scared. This is their baby: they want to be able to understand what is going on.
It can be frustrating dealing with populations of medical care professionals who are difficult to understand. Some laypersons confuse this with ineptitude, which we as health care professionals KNOW is not correct.
Again, they were probably just scared, and wanted to make their point again and again because they want to avoid this in the future.
I don't have kids, but I can only liken this to a recent experience that I had. My hubby and I were going out of town for a funeral, and we had to leave our dog (she is our only child) with our BFF. He is Russian, and I have known him FOREVA. I told him several times that she was scared of thunder, and that if she starts acting weird, just let her sit next to him and try not to coddle too much, but to act normally. I told him probably 3-4 times. He finally got fed up with me and said, "Dude, I GET IT!" It was just my own anxiety that I was projecting, not his ineptitude in comprehending.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I'm not sure why they kept bringing it up.
The nurse they want to replace seems very nice and competent. The parents never complained of their skills.
I wrote two answers last night and my computers (one laptop and a desktop:mad:) ate my drafts so I am stepping carefully over the last few pages. . ..:uhoh21:
It could be that they actually feel uncomfortable with it and maybe felt they could confide in you? When we work private duty and there is a communication problem for any reason it must be addressed because there is nobody else around. It can't just be allnurses members who sometimes insinuate that someone is a xenophobe because they can't understand a person's accent. They may be sensitive to that. To me, it really doesn't matter what the person's first language is - it could even be English with a heavy regional accent going on there . .but if I was in Swedish Muppet Land I'd try very hard to sound like xtxrn's grandpa did---- LOL!!!
In home health and PDN it can be doubly difficult with a pre-verbal child, a child who "talks" but only the parents understand (this can be a noise, a facial expression, etc)or it can be an adult client with a diagnosis that causes weak or distorted voice or who has a trach, a vent, etc. Nothing can reduce both parties to tears faster than several hours of frustration due to the inability to communicate and this is a health and safety issue, not a "how tolerant are you of other cultures" are you? Most of the time they can adapt alright. Most of the nurses I work with have an accent of some kind.
A few threads ago on this subject someone wrote "you nurses in the US need to understand that sometimes your American accent is very heavy and hard for foreign patients to understand"---- head-whack---huh? No. That's the epitome of back***wards.
I can't help myself...politically correct or not, but that IS funny. I can just picture the Dr. telling patient to open up and say "ahhhh" while looking for a green jumping object.
:lol2:If he doesn't also listen for the distinctive "ribbet ribbet" he isn't doing a proper assessment!! A nurse would never fail to check for the ribbet!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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.
leslie
one also needs to communicate in a manner that the other members of the health care team can understand -- both in written and in spoken english. the post i was referring to was very poorly written and difficult to decipher. that is just as much of an issue as accents.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
royal prince,
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.
at the risk of being deemed a racist myself, i have to comment that royal prince's post seemingly had nothing to do with racism. what i thought it said was that anyone who goes to france to live ought to learn to speak and understand french -- and if they don't, it's their problem not the problem of the french people they encounter. if someone comes to live in the united states without learning to speak and understand english, it isn't my fault or my problem. it's theirs. that isn't racist.
my family -- the european side -- have been here since the sixteenth century and the other side is native american. my husband was born in the united states (barely) to a german jew fleeing the nazis and a nicarauguan aristocrat fleeing a difficult transition in power in her country's government. his father came to this country speaking seven languages, one of which was english. mamita spoke spanish only for the next sixty years, even though she could understand english perfectly well especially when it suited her. she expected everyone else to cater to her. she got by with it for years because of the large spanish speaking population where she lived. but she would have annoyed the ever livin bejesus out of me if i'd been forced to deal with her as a patient. mamita firmly believed that the more difficult it was for you to understand her, the more attention she'd get. she was probably right.
clear, concise, and effective communication is a necessity, and not something you put on your wish list.
whether we americans should or shouldn't learn another language, is a moot point.
the bottom line it is critical that patients understand anything/all that is being explained to them.
understand ALL.
'shoulds' have nothing to do with it.
leslie
Good points, and I agree. I've often pointed out to people when I don't think a patient has understood an explanation and need someone/something else to aid in communication. In my other post, I think I was straying from the topic at hand, and also being a bit reactionary to a situation recently in which a patient didn't want to use our langauge bank phone to communicate with his doctor/nurse. He requested someone who spoke his language to come to the room...unfortunately on that particular shift there didn't happen to be someone who was fluent in it on duty. So, we tried to accomodate him with the phone, which I know can be a pain to use, but he became annoyed when we brought it in...
This description is not only for people that feel entitled, but I will not argue.
It sounds racist and rude. "My country, My language"
Please explain, where.....just where, the phrase "my country, my language" is racist. Help me understand which microscope you used to find that emotion in that statement.
People need to chill out and stop taking benign statements so personally! We have to communicate with each other-people can DIE if this isn't done properly!. How on earth anyone can argue this, frankly, boggles my mind.
Please explain, where.....just where, the phrase "my country, my language" is racist. Help me understand which microscope you used to find that emotion in that statement.
People need to chill out and stop taking benign statements so personally! We have to communicate with each other-people can DIE if this isn't done properly!. How on earth anyone can argue this, frankly, boggles my mind.
I am not here to make enemies. The way he expressed himself was rude, maybe not to you.
He doesn't sound bad to you, then I respect your opinion. When I read his reply the only thing
I thought of was my mother going to an appointment and not being able to express herself and
someone expressing themselves like that.
I gave my honest opinion and I don't expect anyone to agree, unless you understand where I am coming from. I also understand what the original post was about.
i wonder how parents would react if agcy sent a black, american nurse as the replacement.
their concerns should be resolved, but would they be?
that'd be one way to see if parents are bigoted, or if their concerns are legit.
leslie
Hi Leslie
This would not matter and would be a waste of time for the agency and the nurse if this were the case. Unlike the agency or other employers, families are not bound to the equal employment law of regarless race, religion and creed.. It is their house and they determine who comes into it. Personally, I would not want to be around a family who disliked me just because of my skin color. This would make my job way too stressful and not worth the hassle.
During my second rotation of clinicals in nursing school, I was assigned a nurse from Africa. I could not understand anything she said and when asked her to please repeat, she flipped out and went to my instructor. I got a new nurse to follow because even the instructor did not know what she was saying. The second nurse I was assigned to was also from Africa but she was much easier to understand.
LuckyRN07
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