"You're gonna need to learn Spanish...."

Sheri257 · Feb 12, 2007

by the way i think that calif is wrong to punish someone who is not bilingual by withholding money..going to cause some hurt feelings

Well ... you also have to work in a job that involves speaking Spanish. If you have a desk job that only involves speaking English then you can't get it. It that case, it doesn't matter if you're biligual or not.

I don't think it's a punishment per se. They're paying you for an additional skill that you use on the job.

You either pass the test or you don't. I personally know of one employee who didn't pass the test, even though he speaks a lot of Spanish on the job. Since he didn't pass, he doesn't get the extra money.

Basically you have to have a 30 minute conversation on various topics in Spanish with three different people to pass the test. That's how they determine if you're really fluent or not.

:typing

MomNRN, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2007

[banana][/banana]
I also think it is crazy to have Spanish speaking coworkers that must break away from their patient care to assist with another nurse's translation. So the time the Spanish speaking nurse spends translating could be spent doing things that would benefit his/her patient.
Question is, should those on the floor that are bilingual be compensated monetarily for their help with translations? I think they should!

At our facility, we have several Spanish-speaking employees. We are no longer able to pull them away from their duties to interpret for us in the ED.

My feelings are those who don't speak English should bring an interpreter. And I don't mean a 4-year-old child. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have had to have a child ask their mother intimate questions regarding the possible cause of their vag bleeding.

Plan ahead - either learn the language or bring an adult with you.

TazziRN, RN · Feb 12, 2007

My feelings are those who don't speak English should bring an interpreter. And I don't mean a 4-year-old child. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have had to have a child ask their mother intimate questions regarding the possible cause of their vag bleeding.
Plan ahead - either learn the language or bring an adult with you.

YES!!!!!!!!

Immigrants from every other country do!

gitterbug · Feb 12, 2007

The two most awful patients I ever had were non-english speaking, older women, both in terrible medical shape, no family present, and I needed to insert a foley . One was Japanese, the other Arab. We got through it, pictures, sign language, pain med, and teeth gritted. These women had been here for over 40 years, so I do think it was a choice they made not to learn our language and not to interact with Americans. Too bad the doctor husbands who brought them to this country died, leaving adult children with busy, working lives the duty to care for these old world women.

Diahni · Feb 12, 2007

I'm a new RN, just started orientation last week. I met with my preceptor on the floor for the first time a few days ago and he made the comment, "Working here, you're gonna need to learn Spanish". I was only on the floor for a couple hours for a 'tour' but my preceptors pt needed assistance so I went in to help.
The patient only spoke Spanish and we had to provide care that was very messy, uncomfortable, and embarrassing for the pt. There ended up being 3 of us in the room to try and resolve the problem but it wasn't going well. The pt had tears in her eyes and I wanted so badly to provide comforting words and reassurance, but couldn't. All I could do was look softly into her eyes and stroke her hair, meanwhile feeling like a total failure because I couldn't communicate with her in her time of need.
There wasn't time to use the language line, my preceptor only spoke a couple words, and the other nurse didn't speak Spanish either. For 45 minutes we turned and cleaned only to have to turn and clean, it was terrible. I'm sure she had no idea what we were doing, she was exposed, and no one could tell her anything. All I kept thinking was why wasn't the need to learn Spanish emphasized before now. Sure I've had Spanish patients during clinicals, but I usually had a classmate who was fluent or I used the language line. I had every intention of learning Spanish in the future because I knew it would be beneficial... but now I'm going to do everything in my power to learn it as quickly as possible because I NEVER want to go through that experience EVER again! I had to do everything in my power to keep my tears at bay while silently comforting the pt. Even now as I write I try to avoid imagining myself or a family member in her situation.
Has anyone else had an experience where they felt so strongly about wanting to learn a language? Or, did you learn a language and have a situation where you were so happy that you did?
Thanks for listening....

Smkiya,

Go for it! Spanish is probably the easiest language to learn and it will be a great asset in your job. I used to go to music festivals, where I was the only person who spoke one language - English, natch! It was a real inspiration. Don't worry about your accent, you will make yourself known, and better still, you'll understand your patients.

Diahni

letina · Feb 12, 2007

There is no other country in the world that accomodates people from other countries living there.

Take a look at the UK. Now there's a country in one helluva mess right now because of (imo) the way it "accommodates" people from other countries.

smkiya, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2007

Wow! I'm surprised at the number of responses on this thread... not what I expected. I do understand why many feel the way they do about learning another language to accomodate others in this country. I've taught myself to speak French, not fluently but well enough to communicate meaningfully with others. I've even immersed my daughter in as much French as I could because learning another language has proven effective in perfecting your ability to speak in your native tongue. Studies have shown that children who speak more than one language perform better in many other academic areas.

The reason I began this post is because the area I work in has a large Spanish speaking population. I will most likely have at least one Spanish only speaking patient per week, realistically one per shift. Politics aside, in order for me to provide the care I believe every patient deserves, I need to be able to communicate with them. Sometimes even when people speak a second language, but find themselves in a stressful situation, they lose that ability to communicate. I had a patient in a nursing home who spoke perfect English, she moved to the US from Italy 20 years prior. Whenever she became disoriented, she would only communicate in Italian. There are certain areas here that have a large Russian population, in that case I might feel it beneficial to learn Russian if I worked in a hospital in that area. My reason for wanting to learn Spanish for my patients will also help with time management, assessment (sometimes even patients who speak the language don't know medical words), and allow me to become a little more personal.

I realize immigration is a hot political topic these days, and arguments from both sides have valid points. I hope that if I find myself in a hospital in a French speaking country, (as I love to travel) the stress of my illness/injury won't prevent me from being able to communicate. However, many people in France and many other countries in the world speak respectable English, because of the impact English speaking nations have on world affairs... it just makes sense.

Thanks.

nurseangel47 · Feb 12, 2007

Not to be mistaken for cold here, but they ARE in our country, most obviously by THEIR choice....why can THEY not be the ones who learn English. Free health care, no taxes, US learning their language, hmmmm.....what a life!

MS. ICANDOIT · Feb 12, 2007

here is a link to purchase a book written by a friend of mine. She gave me a copy of this book when I told her I was starting in Nursing school last year and it is AWESOME. Easy to read and makes assessments so much easier. http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780071442008&itm=1

Rnandsoccermom · Feb 12, 2007

My 2 cents. I live in an area where there is a large Hispanic population. My friend works at the local bank. We would have these parents come in the school for bookfairs etc... and not speak a word of English. Things were a little different at the bank. Surprisingly, when at the bank discussing their money, oh my gosh, they spoke English!

My family is originally from Poland. My grandmothers were both born here. No one speaks Polish. You know why? We are Americans and proud of it!!!!

My coworkers are from India, the Philippines, Africa, Mexico, Poland, Lithuanian etc.... Just how many languages should I speak to pease all of them? When you actually talk to them, many of them still own homes in their respective countries and plan on retiring there, not here.

Does anyone want to be American anymore? No, they want to be fill-in-the-blank/American and at some point go back "HOME". This is the problem I have with learning other languages.

Jo Dirt · Feb 12, 2007

Not trying to sound harsh or anything, but ethically, it should have been accomodated, as I'm sure your hospitals Pt Bill of Rights says something about the right to have all procedures explained to you in the language that you are most comfortable with.

That is not realistic.

Sheri257 · Feb 12, 2007

My 2 cents. I live in an area where there is a large Hispanic population. My friend works at the local bank. We would have these parents come in the school for bookfairs etc... and not speak a word of English. Things were a little different at the bank. Surprisingly, when at the bank discussing their money, oh my gosh, they spoke English!

Isn't it amazing?

My husband works in law enforcement and he deals with a lot of Hispanic truck drivers. One time they pulled a bunch of trucks over for several violations and the drivers pretended they didn't understand and couldn't speak English. I guess they thought it would somehow get them out of the violations.

But, once it became clear that the trucks were going to be impounded ... lo' and behold ... they could speak English. All the sudden they were yelling, "Don't take our trucks! We'll do whatever you want! We'll fix it! We promise!"

Apparently this happens a lot once they learn that they're going to lose their vehicles. For my husband ... who doesn't speak Spanish ... the word "impound" works like a charm. He just tells them that he may have to take their truck and, all of the sudden, they can communicate just fine.

So yeah ... sometimes they actually can speak English but pretend that they don't.

:typing