What was missing?

[MoLo]

If you could have added one thing to your nursing education, what would it be?

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Learning medical Spanish along with any predominate international language in your area - my HS French useless, spattering grandparents Polish helped in one NE Philadelphia home health office.

Upon becoming Manager of Home Health Central Intake department in Philadelphia area with only English speaking nurses + clerks, made it a priority to hire some bilingual staff Spanish, Korean and Cantonesse along with males to increase ability to communicate with referral sources, clients calling to inquire when nurse/therapist/aide coming for a visit and representative of Philly population.

[Davey Do]

As an LPN, I got one of my pre-reqs out of the way before actually starting the RN program by taking an ASL (American Sign Language) course, as we had a few recidivistic psych patients who were hearing impaired. 

It came in handy several times throughout my career.

[MoLo]

Wow, hadn't thought in that direction, but so right! Communication gets harder and harder as the population becomes more diverse. The translator equipment is definitely getting more user-friendly, but it does not work in some situations (like some psych), or is not quickly available as needed. 

OK, not to mix my threads, but here is another way to use retiring nurses - as consultants to schools on what may be of value to the schools to look into for program improvement!

[DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN]

Cultural awareness and diversity training.

I trained in a lillywhite area of South-West England and the odd time we did get non-white patients the racism and lack of cultural understanding amongst some staff was astounding. As for LGBT+ patients - well. Some of our tutors were openly homophobic.

I stress this was 1983-1986. I hope it's improved now, however having experienced a 6 month period in rural Lancashire (north west England) in the very early noughties, sadly racial attitiudes there hadn't moved on a jot. 

[MoLo]

David,

First, I am excited to here from England! Cheers! 

Diversity issues are huge here, and are front and center on the National Academy of Medicine (2021)'s report on The Future of Nursing 2020-2030. So much need for equality of care and outcomes, which requires a more diverse workforce, more access to communication tools, more understanding, and more awareness of personal issues and beliefs. Some of this can be taught, and much of it needs to be demonstrated by clinical instructors, mentors, and working peers.  

This is a really big issue.

[DavidFR, BSN, MSN, RN]

MoLo said:

David,

First, I am excited to here from England! Cheers! 

 

I'm actually in France where I've lived for many years and am a naturalised French citizen, so enchanté, but yes I'm originally British. We're not so rare on here - check out the UK section in World Nursing if you're interested in British issues.

[MoLo]

tres BON!

Merci.

[vintagegal, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

De-escalation techniques.