12-03-09
How does your place of employment handle language barriers between colleagues?
Between you & your patient(s)?
2 Comments on “How does your place of employment handle language barriers between colleagues?”
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Between you & your patient(s)?
The majority of my fellow colleagues speak English as a second language (their native languages are varied; Philppipino, Korean, Chinese, Spanish and Taiwanese). I am in the minority as a native English speaker and have a mixture of accents myself (from Pennsylvania to Brooklyn NY, Long Island, NY, and Boston). I have trouble understanding my charge nurse and other s because when they speak quickly and their accent and pronunciation is unfamiliar and difficult for me to understand. Our facility provided cultural competency training and communication resourses for communicating with patients with different languages and background, but inter-staff communication issues was not discussed. We handle communication difficulties on a personal,and professional level among us. Mutual respect, honesty and patience has been how we sucessfully handle problems. One successful/ helpful strategy I use is one that I was trained in as an ER nurse to enhance communication during crises such as suring a trauma or arrest recusitation. It was developed and used by fighter pilots and in other areas where accurate communication between members is vital for everyone’s saftey. It basically is a feed bak model where all important comminication is repeated, from the intended receiver of the message back to the originator. This repitition ensures the message was received and interpreted accurately by the receive and that the intended message was accurately sent. This strategy reduces errors and misunderstandings” such as “oh, I thought you said this….” or helps prevent problem situations where intended messages are not what was actually received or perceived. It is very effective. When I’m not sure I heard everything said to me accurately for any reason, I repeat back what I understand I heard or repeat the instructions back. Again, patience and mutual professional respect and the fact that we share ideals of saftey for the patients in our care and good rapport with each other as colleagues gives us the incentive to work this way.
01-30-10 » 12:29 pm »
Dianne,
Would you be interested in speaking with us further about your experiences in this area? This would be a great subject for our next eNewsletter.
Thanks,
Phoebe Taylor
DiversityNursing.com
03-03-10 » 1:03 pm »