Working with foreign born nurses

if it is impacting the care of the patient, then you should say something. I have had a similar situation, and I just say "its really hard for me to understand what's going on when I don't understand what your saying". They were a bit shocked that I just came out and said that, but it did help. You need to say what your comfortable with saying. But I would first try talking to them before going to a manager.

Two parts to this: speaking a language the pt does not understand while doing care and speaking a language you don't understand during a private conversation.

First part: nope, no, non, nyet ... I have been known to ask a coworker to leave the room for this. I remember an incident when 2 workers were talking in their own language about the pt they were changing at the time. Imagine their surprise when the pt talked back! Anyway, it borders on emotional abuse to do this, especially confused elders and is totally out of line, IMHO.

Part two: this is a little trickier. Personal conversations are none of your business, so who cares what language it's in? Taking personal calls in the nurses' station is another bucket of worms. Not acceptable, if you ask me ... I agree that the first thing to do is to talk to the manager.

Theoretically, no conversation should really be private/personal while working. This is why some organizations have policies that state that a foreign language can only be spoken at lunch or on break.

So, it would have to be judgement call and people who speak a language other than English will see nothing wrong with this. I've never known a foreign language speaker to think that this is wrong, or rude or unprofessional.

To tell the truth, I believe that the Nurse Administrator is aware of this-it's a big fight to have when your staff of foreign born nurses is larger than the natural born.

Hello,

I am a Filipino RN. I am sad to read about this particular incident. I agree that native language must not be used in the workplace esp. in front of patients and co-workers of different nationalities. Although others use their native language just to simply exchange pleasantries and not intentionally gossip about others, it is still rude. As foreign nurses, whether in the US or anywhere in the globe, we should be ethical. We were taught in class about transcultural nursing here in the Philippines and this specific issue was even emphasized. Perhaps others forgot. I guess, as professionals we can confront our fellow nurses politely as they may not be aware of their behavior. Filipinos can be very receptive and do welcome constructive criticisms as long as they are well-meant and said courteously. Above anything else, the welfare of our patients/clients must come first. Thank you for bringing this up.

God bless us all.

It's nice to know that some foreign born nurses are sensitive to this issue. You represent yourself well. In regard to pleasantries, that would only last seconds, maybe only a couple of minutes. At the facility in which I work, this goes on the entire shift. It's fairly easy to hear sprinklings of names during a long conversation. So, there is some talk of others, positive or negative. Some, more ethnic names, cannot be disguised. It's also hard to imagine that they don't realize what they're doing.

During my orientation, I was told that these nurses have lunch breaks only with each other and it's true so there's a clique-ish issue as well. It'll be interesting to see what happens during the coming holidays where work places have parties, etc.

These nurses are quite ingrained in the facility so I doubt that a polite comment would change these bad habits, it would have to come from above and since they are relied on quite heavily for staffing I don't think the culture of the facility would change easily and the patients and families that we provide care for are economically and educationally depressed, they are not people who would complain or support a complaint. The CNAs rely on them for extra hours, etc., and are somewhat at their mercy. Like I said before, it would be a big fight that no one wants to take on.

Thank you for your response. Though, it's easy to feel that it's just a really unattractive part of the culture, it also helps me to feel that it may not be the same everywhere.

I worked with a lot of Russians and they never tried to exclude me by speaking Russian. however, it is natural to laps into one's native tongue and I think that that has to be expected.

Now, if they did this to me about work I'd have been mad. But that never happened.

:)

I think this is really a serious concern in your facility. I just hope something better will happen soon. It's a universal thing that even if I am a Filipino and the ones involved are also Filipinos, I may not like their behavior and ways of doing certain things. I really hope and pray that health care professionals of varied cultures may be more sensitive and observant in the workplace most especially in the way they conduct themselves.

Obviously, we do things simply because that is how we are brought up and exposed to in our respective countries. However, as we go to other places which have different cultures, that's when our ethics should come in. I guess if we only observe properly and follow with strict compliance our facility's policies (like no using of native language in the facility except during breaks), there would be no problem. In the first place, rules and regulations are established to promote order, when these are violated, chaos takes place.

Thank you also for being open-minded and please do believe that this is really not happening everywhere.

God bless us all.

:nurse:Another side of the coin:

I am American born, of Mexican descent. I had the same issue when I worked in Phoenix, AZ. They did not want us speaking Spanish at the nurses station, but of course when they need a translator for a patient that only speaks Spanish, well then they ask me to go find out what their patient needs. I think it is rude to be told to only speak English at the nurses station and a few minutes later to be asked to act as an interpetor. I am a nurse, not hired as an interpretor, (that is another issue-we should be paid extra to function as translators).

The problem is that for me, Spanish is my first language, I think in both English and Spanish, it just depends on what I am doing/thinking. If someone asks me a question in a certain language I will respond in the language I was spoken to, I do not have time to stop and figure out if I am "in the nurse's station' or in a patient's room, the hallway, the med room etc. I do not mean to excdue anyone in hearing range from a conversation, nor do I mean to be rude. I am more then happy to help a co--worker that is working on learning Spanish, that has also been the case, and the only time I can do that with a nurse co-worker that is learning Spanish is when we are working together.

sailornurse, I would love to work with you!

When I worked with my Russian friends I started picking up Russian - and their fractured English grammer, which upset them since they wanted their English to improve, not deteriorate.

:)