Sooo tired of patients complaining about foreign nurses' accents....

[nervousnurse, ASN]

I'm sorry, but with our severe nursing shortage, it just HACKS ME OFF when our patients complain about their

foreign nurses having an accent. Sometimes I just want to say "yknow what.....be glad you HAVE A NURSE to care

for you at all !" I am just SO tired of it.....if it's THAT bad, the patient should just ask the nurse to WRITE things......:typing..

No, I'm not foreign nor do I have an accent..........I am just SO TIRED of our patients complaining about that.

Yes, they're sick and they don't want to have to "work" to understand staff, but if they realized how BADLY

we need nurses, they might rethink how rude their comments are!

I was also appalled hearing a doctor speak to a foreign nurse VERY rudely due to her accent.....get over

yourself, doctor!

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

I agree !

I don't have a accent, however my voice is really soft, and little. I really sound like a 4 year old. I don't like when patients talk about my voice. Some of them even made fun of it. I don't take it personally, but it does annoy me ! Especially when they try to mock me. Oh well, its nothing we can do but vent.

[leslie :-D]

sorry, but i find it a valid concern.

pts have the inherent right to understand everything that is being communicated to them about their medical care.

whether it is r/t an accent or an md not using layman's terms, pts should understand what is being said to them.

our shortage is not their problem.

leslie

[prmenrs, RN]

While no one should be treated rudely by anyone, sometimes the complaint is legitimate.

I often have a hard time understanding folks w/accents @ drive-thrus. I think part of it may be that I think I'm getting a bit hard of hearing, so that may be a factor for some of the older pts. Just sayin'

[llg, PhD, RN]

While no one should make fun of somebody because of their voice ... or be less than polite and professional to someone with an accent ....

It is a legitimate problem. A person who is sick or injured who comes to the hospital (in there home country) should be able to expect to communicate with their caregivers in a reasonable fashion. The ability to communicate well with the vast majority of patients -- not just minimally -- is a reasonable requirement for a nurse. Good communication is a requirment for safe care.

I remember interviewing a nurse from another country whose English language skills were so poor that it was difficult to conduct the interview. So, we decided not to hire her. However, we had trouble telling her that she was not hired because she could not understand what we were saying! We tried multiple people trying to state it as clearly as we could that "We are not hiring you. You will not have a job here. etc." and she could not understand us and kept asking about when her first day of work would be. What is most amazing about this story is that this person had been working as an ICU nurse in another state for over a year! How did she function? How could she handle communication in an emergency? etc.

The "nursing shortage" is not severe enough to justify hiring nurses who can not communicate effectively with their patients. If a nurse has an accent, but can communicate with ease -- I have no problem with that. Many foreign nurses are quite capable of being successful in the U.S. I respect them as colleagues. But if their English language skills are so poor that the patients are complaining about it -- that's a problem that should be addressed.

[LovingNurse, BSN, RN]

The only time I've had patient's mention it, they were not really complaining or meaning it to be rude at all- they just didn't understand what was being said to them and needed clarification. A lot of us in the work force are used to different accents and dialects, whereas some of our senior citizens are not. Add to that that what is being said to them may not be terms they are familiar to begin with, such as medical terms, names of tests and procedures, etc. and some folks being hard of hearing, can add up to a bit of a communication barrier.

When my own husband had surgery, and had a foreign nurse, he had to ask me to "interpret" a few times. He would never want to offend anyone and did not want to have to keep asking her to repeat herself. She gave good care, it was just very difficult for him to understand her sometimes.

I have had many patients ask me to repeat what their doctors say too... both foreign and American - because they don't understand. It's frightening and frustrating being on the other side of the bed rail, too. There's no excuse for rudeness, but sometimes I just don't think they mean to be rude. Maybe some do though, which is unfortunate.

:redbeathe

[Yin Yang]

I also believe it is a valid concern. Even some of my nursing instructors had such thick accents that I would have to ask them to repeat themselves several times in order to get the information I needed to do what was expected. Some of them would get very irritated at having to repeat themselves. As a patient, who's life may depend on receiving and understanding information/teaching, I would not want to struggle to get the information I need. I agree that it presents an even bigger problem with older people or those with hearing impairment. The nursing shortage (which is limited to some areas, not nationwide) should not mean that any warm body will do, regardless of their ability to provide good care, or to communicate effectively with patients and other staff.

Yang

[CHATSDALE]

we have more doctors who are foreign born than nurses, usually if you are on a floor where they frequently have patients you learn what they are saying and can relay this to a patient

too many times they will learn to speak to the minimal skill...then they no longer attempt to improve

rudeness is not to be tolerated but communications is a large part of nursing

[Yin Yang]

we have more doctors who are foreign born than nurses, usually if you are on a floor where they frequently have patients you learn what they are saying and can relay this to a patient

too many times they will learn to speak to the minimal skill...then they no longer attempt to improve

rudeness is not to be tolerated but communications is a large part of nursing

Yes, it's not just nursing - anyone who is responsible for communicating effectively with a patient needs to be able to do so. It's not about being foreign born or native. I've met some people who were born here and have NO excuse not to be able to speak proper english that one can understand, yet they use so much slang and such that you can't comprehend them. I worked with a veterinarian once that was cajun and he would just leave verbs out (and other unimportant parts of speech lol) - the pet owners would just look at us with this blank stare - you could see the little word bubble over their head going "HUHHHH?????" . Nobody should have to "translate" or clarify to a patient what another professional means.

Yang

[RedCell]

Patients are always going to be disgruntled over something. This is just another item to tack up on the complaint list. I have all the patience in the world for foreign nurses/physicians that are atleast attempting to speak English and I always try to do what I can if they need assistance communicating with gomers/inpatients/downtrodden. I find it extremely shameful however, that there are still some that refuse to learn our language yet expect an Amercian paycheck. I also find it inappropriate when these foreign physicans and/or nurses talk in any language other than English while at work.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I can see both sides. I have nothing against foreigners, or people with accents, but sometimes their accents are so heavy that they're impossible to understand.

One of my lab instructors was from Nigeria. She muttered very quickly, talked through her nose, and had a very heavy accent. I couldn't understand a word she said.

[leslie :-D]

I can see both sides. I have nothing against foreigners, or people with accents, but sometimes their accents are so heavy that they're impossible to understand.

One of my lab instructors was from Nigeria. She muttered very quickly, talked through her nose, and had a very heavy accent. I couldn't understand a word she said.

this has absolutely nothing to do with a bias against foreigners.

as another poster pointed out, effective and therapeutic communication is HUGE in nursing and the medical fields.

we lost many foreign students in nsg school, r/t communication barriers...

and i was heartsick, since i felt many of them would have made wonderful nurses, if only they could have understood or spoken english better.

leslie