Trouble c accents at work?

[Suninmyheart]

I have a really hard time with language accents be it either foreign or regional dialects. I had an altercation with a house supervisor the other day who accused me of not listening when I did not understand her and asked if she could repeat what she said. When I explained I have a hard time with accents she became very offended and further accused me saying "you just do not listen and I do not have an accent!" Well, she DOES have an accent and a strong one and I barely understand half of what she says. This supervisor continued to berrate me accusing me of not listening and I literally had to walk away from her because she was being so innappropriate. Most of the NAR's also have a strong accent and I have a hard time understanding them. This is starting to feel like a problem. I think the supervisor took it as a racial issue and this I do not understand - I had the same problem when in Ireland last year and again when in New Orleans several years ago. Anyone have any input to share?

[AliRae]

Once I got back to work from being at home, the people at work would tease me saying they knew I had gone home to get "charged up!"

As an dual citizen with Canadian parents and a hybrid Toronto/North Jersey accent, I can totally relate to this one. Within 5 minutes of meeting me, most people ask "Wait, but WHERE are you from?" I say Jersey, they get confused, I explain about my parents and my Canadian pride, and we're pretty much good to go. I get some good-natured ribbing from my fellow nurses, especially after being up north visiting family. They say they can always tell. It's never bothered me though. It actually keeps things easy- I share a name with one of our HNs, and they just call me Canada when we're both working. =)

[rehab nurse]

http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have

this is a cute quiz that will tell you which American "accent" you have, based on the regions of the US. It was accurate for me. I live in the midwest and reading the quiz I could picture different areas I have friends from and seeing THEM saying the words.

For the OP, I mostly have trouble with accents when speaking on the phone. When I'm in person, I can usually understand them because I read their lips. However, I do have to have people repeat theselves occasionally, and once someone did become upset because I had to ask her to repeat herself so much. This was a co-worker who is originally from India. I still work with her, and out of 6 years, this was the only time I could not understand. We laugh about it now, but she was upset with me at the time. A lot of the doctors have difficulty understanding some of the nurses. We do have a lot of foreign born nurses, mostly from the Philippines and from India.

One time in fact, a nurse did not hear a physician give orders and some orders were missed (stat CBC and lytes, BC's, U/A, vitals, CXR) and the patient did have sepsis. The doc called back four hours later (our turnaround time for labs and xrays...LTC) and was livid that nothing had been done. Had to start a IV for some IV ABT and she went out for a PICC the next day. She recovered, but only after many weeks of ABT. She was relatively young and healthy to begin with, but became septic after a hip replacement. That was very scary for all involved. I don't know if anything happened to the nurse, but she still works there. I was called over to do the blood draws, that's the only reason I know. The nurse came to me, very upset.

I know myself, that people have difficulty understanding me if I talk to fast. I really have learned to slow down my speech if I am upset, or working very quickly (code for example) because people have said I am talking to fast and running my words together.

I hope the OP can find a solution.

*sorry for any grammar or spelling errors, my keyboard is sticking and driving me crazy*

[Anagray, BSN]

I am a foreigner (from Russia), but I don't have much of an accent thank God.

I think it is totally OK to tell someone to repeat what they are saying and tell them why you are not understanding them. I can see if we were doing a job on which human lives did not depend, but in this case things must be clear.

I joke around at work, that since I got my citizenship last year I can now say to my immigrant friends "speak English" and " you are taking our jobs" !

Nat

[EmerNurse, BSN, RN]

Wow that quiz pinpointed me RIGHT to the city I was raised in - how cool.

Guess I do have an accent after all, huh?

hehe!

[prmenrs, RN]

I took that quiz--it said I came from Boston! So NOT true.

[nursecammy]

Everyone has an accent - I am from the Caribbean where English is our language, and when I first came to America I had people tell me that Americans don't have accents only people from outside America have accents. Within America there are various accents according to what State you come from, and everyone has an accent specific to their country. So yes Americans do have an American accent; people from Britian have a British accent; people from Africa have an Arfican accent, etc.

We are in a profession (health) that is made up of people from all over the world - doctors and nurses come from all over - so we need to try our very best to be versatile and get to understand other accents.

Also people should realize that if someone does not understand what they are saying, then they need to be patient, and not get angry at that person.

My boyfriend is also from the Caribbean and he is in medical school in the US right now. We both have the same accent, and sometimes people don't always understand what we say, especially if we talk fast. I have realized that in my country we do not pronounce "r" with as much stress as Americans and people from other countries do, so I have actually started stressing on my "r", and it has helped tremendously. I have told my boyfriend about it since he being a doctor in training will need to better communicate with his patients.

So I am making a great effort to better my communication skills since it will be essential when I start working in the hospital, even though most people already understand me.

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

Well, the quiz had me from being from the West, but it did say that I could be from a big Southern city like Dallas. And that's close.

tvccrn

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Quiz has me pegged all the way - definitely from the South.

[LTCRNJILL]

I have had doctors very upset over asking them to repeat there orders because of there accents, any suggestions on how to approach the situation in a reasonable way.

[missdeevah, NP]

i usually have no problem with most accents, except for a couple of indian doctors/nurses who were reared in africa. .

you mean they were raised/grew up in africa? reared sort of makes them sound like animals. no offense meant.

[TazziRN, RN]

The quiz was so wrong for me!!! I'm an army brat and grew up all over, but I have never been the the Chicago-Wisconsin area, which is where the quiz said I'm from. My father is from New York/PA, my mom is from another country, so go figure!!!

My own story: a few years ago our ER relied heavily on travelers, and we had one from one of the Carolinas....can't remember North or South. Anyway, her accent was so thick I was frequently asking her to repeat herself, and she got upset with me. I even told her, "I'm sorry, I'm not used to hearing someone speak with such a thick southern accent." That made it worse!

[Rnandsoccermom]

Ha, ha, the quiz pegged me perfectly. I grew up smack in between Milwaukee and Chicago. And I drink "pop".

I once had a Jordanian MD (the house doc) call me in the nursing office in the middle of the night and ask me to call the Fillipino RN on the 3rd floor and ask her what she wanted because he couldn't understand her.

I find that I have difficulty understanding people when I have too many things on my mind or I am tired. If I don't give the conversation my full attention, I don't get it. I sometimes have to mentally slap myself into giving people my full attention.