Specializes in Home Care, Primary care NP, QI, Nsg Adm.
There are many Saudi nurses. I think I have close to 80 Saudi nurses, out of 250 and I'll be hiring another 10-15 in a few weeks.
The majority of nurses in the country are expats western, middle eastern and Asian countries but nursing is growing. The government is also offering scholarships for nurses to study overseas both undergrad and post grad.
A serious issue now are private nursing institutes that are 2 year programs. Low quality education overall and we are dealing with this at the Ministry level. The BSN programs at the Universities are currently only for women. There are also 3 year government diploma programs.
I have some very motivated nurses and have started instituting a mentoring program to prepare some Saudi nurses to move up and into nursing management.
There are issues we deal with here that might be hard for some to understand if you don't have a reference point outside of one type of experience.
Many nurses learn Arabic while here especially Filipinos and Asian staff. They often pick it up quickly.
Overall, despite frustration, which we all experience at one time or another, it is both challenging and rewarding to be part of developing the nursing here and to see a strategic plan starting to meet our mission and vision.
I have many MD's that are foreign born. If I don't understand them I ask them to please ask someone else to come and see if they can understand it and relay it to me. It's NOT a big deal. But everyone is making it a big deal.
So do patients need to go get other patients to see if they can understand what their nurse is saying then relay it back to them? Patients have a right to understand what is being taught or said to them. Their life may depend on it!
I think either that this is a valid concern. Nurses from other countries who speak English as their second language should adapt and try to study the accent that can be understood by their patients. As carers they should be the ones who would adjust to their patients and not the other way around. That is the reason why we foreign nurses are required to take English exam which includes listening, reading, writing and speaking, so that we could meet the minimum requirement needed to effectively deliver the communication process to our patients. Any miscommunications might jeopardize the safety of our patients. We cannot afford to commit any form of malifecense considering we are patient's advocates.
Maybe it's that the current proficiency exams place the minimum bar too low. Maybe it needs to be raised some so that a higher level of proficiency and COMMUNICATION is required to pass it. Just a thought...
yes, I do have an accent. But quite frankly, I am at a stage where you complaing about my accent has got nothing to do with understanding.
This guy had a big problem being cared for by a foreign nurse. We all knew it, he was extremely rude and angry, didn't want 'no blacks' caring for him, 'no chinese' (they were filipinos), he just wanted a 'nice english rose'. I brought in the matron, a nice english rose, former farmer, former prison nurse, mother of 4 boys, born up north.
Hmmm... Accent huh, I'm actually an Asian nurse(filipino to be specific) with a Pending Immigrant Petition to work there.. Still waiting for it to be processed. Actually, I guess the problem here is JUST THE ACCENT... Honestly, foreign nurses who aspire to work in the US has to undergo tremendous amount of EXAMS. and most of all ENGLISH proficiency exams..
I do agree that I myself carry a little of my Native accent when dealing with my patients and a foreign colleague..
And I've recognize a lot of Difference as to Pronounciation.. i.e. Lasix and Losec, two different drug, Lasix can be mistaken by Losec as pronounced by Americans. So these simple things, is really a big concern..
So hard tongues need to be practiced..
But let me clear things, ACCENT is not a BASIS for SKILLS, COMPETENCY and KNOWLEDGE... it's very different...Accent can be dissolve in years time...
Has anyone stated that having an accent means that one's skills, competency, and knowledge are in question?
People need to be open to cultures more...I find a lot of cultures other than U.S to be more hospitable,cheerful and generally speaking more happy!
Funny how ironic this is,since we are a melting pot of mixed cultures....
We're being taxed to death, enslaved, and mortgaged, our economy is dying, we're going bankrupt because our insurance stinks when compared to that of other countries, we're not allowed to discipline or rear our kids the way we prefer, our leaders are sometimes greedy and are ripping us off, and so forth. I could go on. don't get me wrong. There is a lot right in America. But there are many stressors, too. So if we're not cheery, happy, and hospitable, there is a reason.
If people are happy, they don't understand the problems.
Some foreign nurses are competent in delivering care to patients, however, a prerequisite to practicing nursing in this country (the U.S.) and to being a fully competent nurse is to have a facility with English such that patients and staff can understand you. Not only does a nurse's language deficit interfere with providing competent care to patients (and the patients should be the primary concern) it potentially creates legal liability for the nurse and the facility. For example, there was a fairly recent legal case in which a physician who failed to provide a sign language interpreter to a hearing-impaired patient was sued and damages were awared, including punitive damages, because the patient could not understand the physician and therefore could not successfully participate in decisions about her treatment. You may think citing this case (brought under the ADA) is a stretch but consider that patients do have a right to understand their healthcare providers in order to participate in their own treatment. Those nurses who have marginal facility with English need to remediate and improve their language skills or practice somewhere it is not an issue; frankly, it amazes me that some of the foreign-born nusrses with whom I have interacted even got through nursing school as they could not have met the English requirement to have done so, or, in the alternative, the standard is VERY low in order to pass and get a credential. Again, some foreign nurses are very good healthcare providers and care deeply about their patients, however, good communication between patient and care provider is such an essential element in delivering quality care that ignoring its importance puts patients, providers, and facilities in peril.
Finally, I agree with the nurse who said that foreign-born nurses should not speak in their native language in the workplace (in front of others who do not speak their language) as such behavior is unprofessional and just plain rude; in addition, I agree that it is not the patient's problem that we have a nursing shortage and must hire people to provide care whom the patient cannot understand.
Just wondering - the deaf person presumably had been deaf for a while. Why did he not get an interpreter himself? why did he not use writing to communicate with the doctor? Why was it completely up to the doctor to get an interpreter? Yes, an interpreter was needed but couldn't the patient or family have taken the initiative?
Specializes in LPN in the Navy, completed paramedic crs.
This also bothers me a great deal. I work as an NA on an acute psych ward, and we have a nurse from Germany, and she catches alot of flack from the mentally ill about Nazi's and WWII (I work in a VAMC). All of our psych doctors are foreign, and they also get alot of angry vets-particularly with one doctor whom is a little hard to understand when he speaks and is Middle Eastern.
I get angry sometimes because I feel they are treated as being subpar, incompetant or "Un-American".
Saifudin
234 Posts
There are many Saudi nurses. I think I have close to 80 Saudi nurses, out of 250 and I'll be hiring another 10-15 in a few weeks.
The majority of nurses in the country are expats western, middle eastern and Asian countries but nursing is growing. The government is also offering scholarships for nurses to study overseas both undergrad and post grad.
A serious issue now are private nursing institutes that are 2 year programs. Low quality education overall and we are dealing with this at the Ministry level. The BSN programs at the Universities are currently only for women. There are also 3 year government diploma programs.
I have some very motivated nurses and have started instituting a mentoring program to prepare some Saudi nurses to move up and into nursing management.
There are issues we deal with here that might be hard for some to understand if you don't have a reference point outside of one type of experience.
Many nurses learn Arabic while here especially Filipinos and Asian staff. They often pick it up quickly.
Overall, despite frustration, which we all experience at one time or another, it is both challenging and rewarding to be part of developing the nursing here and to see a strategic plan starting to meet our mission and vision.