As a travel nurse, you'll likely encounter a wide variety of patients. After all, your career calls you across the nation, which can lead you to places where Spanish is particularly common. For instance, The Washington Post reported that southern Texas and California and the whole states of Arizona and New Mexico are awash with counties where at least 10 percent of the population speaks Spanish at home.
Despite such a large Spanish-speaking population, hospitals still face certain challenges with English as a second language patients. For instance, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, patients with limited English proficiency often undergo longer hospital stays when an interpreter isn't present, causing a higher risk for infections and falls.
You'll likely care for ESL patients at some point in your journey as a healthcare professional. Here are some tips for treating ESL patients to ensure safety, quality and efficiency:
Know some helpful words
Foreign languages are tough barriers to overcome for both the nurse and patient. However, the health professional is the one tasked with providing quality care, so a lot of the responsibility falls on travel nurses to make communication easier. As such, you may benefit from knowing a few helpful Spanish words, as this is an especially popular language in the U.S. This way, you can at least begin to understand the patient's concerns, which will prove particularly advantageous during an emergency. For instance, if a patient experiences serious symptoms like chest pain, you wouldn't necessarily have time to wait for an interpreter to begin treatment.
Here are just a few phrases to get you started, though MedicalSpanish.com offers several other helpful terms:
- Corazón (heart).
- Dolor (pain).
- Agudo/punzante (sharp).
- De hormigueo (tingling).
- La reacción alérgica (allergic reaction).
Make race, ethnicity and language data a priority
The HHS explained that part of encouraging safety for ESL and LEP patients is to collect REL data at the beginning of the care process as early as registration. This will help healthcare professionals track and identify risk factors for these patients in regard to medical errors so the hospital can make improvements for future ESL individuals. The HHS also advised this information be included in electronic health records.
Use a patient-centered approach
Communication is important with all individuals under your care, but it's even more crucial for ESL patients, as there is greater room for error. As such, it's vital to find effective ways to convey and receive messages with these individuals. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing found that nurses who used the patient-centered approach had better communication skills, but not all hospitals value this form of relationship building. As such, it may be up to the nurse to take this initiative. To do this, you'll have to tap into the patients' values and convey empathy.
If you work in a hospital that aids a lot of ESL patients, speak with other staff members on what tools and resources they use to better communicate with people in their care. If one experience doesn't go as well as planned, review the situation and ascertain how you can improve for next time.