Many Healthcare Workers Need to Know English

It might be tough to overstate the significance of nurses. They provide about ninety percent of all health care services internationally. As vital as nurses are, many nations are experiencing a shortage. The World Health Organization has mentioned the large need for international health care employees, particularly nurses and midwives. Even America and other English-speaking international locations have huge shortages. But no matter what country nurses paintings in, they may be required to speak in English at some point in their careers. The motive is simple: The use of English in medical settings global continues to develop.

When you think of nurses, you might imagine hospitals. But nurses paintings in infinite different places, including health clinics, faculties, non-public houses, and assisted dwelling centers. The paintings on military bases, in refugee camps, and catastrophe conditions around the arena. There also are many specializations in nursing. Surgery, cardiac care, oncology, midwifery, and anesthesia are only a few examples. Throughout their career, nurses may match in one or many specialized regions. Charlotte Nwogwugwu is aware of all approximately nursing, having labored in some of the specializations and settings.

During her thirteen years in health care, she has served as a surgical nurse, orthopedic nurse, psychiatric nurse, and global health nurse. She has also taken students overseas for their subject enjoy in global fitness. A native of Nigeria, Nwogwugwu studied nursing in the U.S. And holds a doctorate diploma in public health. She is now Assistant Professor-Global Health at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She joins us by using a smartphone to speak about nursing and a number of the language challenges and victories that include the activity.

AB: Thanks again for being with us today.

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: You’re very welcome.

AB: Could you inform us a bit about what you revel in maximum about your work as a nursing expert?

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: One of the main matters that I enjoy approximately nursing is the variety within the position.

The middle of what drives me is the ability to connect to people because I am a carer at heart at the quit of the day. And, it’s still people that make my paintings treasured. So, once I speak about the diversity inside the function, it surely is centered around connecting with humans and inspiring me to hold going to do what it’s far I do. So, I always look at it from that perspective – wherein what I am doing with this character affected person goes to impact the lives of other human beings, now not just that affected person but their family participants.

AB: OK, awesome. In an average day on the process, maybe in an interplay among nurse and patient, are there not unusual expressions and terms that they might use?

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: Absolutely. One of the matters that we are doing as nurses are assessing this patient the moment we stroll in. We are assessing their pain. So, to do this, to verify…how alert the patient is, I might ask the affected person questions like, “Can you inform me of your call?” and “What is your date of delivery?” And by way of that, I suggest we certainly are assessing their degree of focus.

And, of direction, I’ve had sufferers – many, very many – who may be a piece confused. Maybe they’ll not be able to inform me their date of start, so I might similarly probe and ask questions like, “Can you inform me what these days are?” or what day of the week it is, or who the president is.

AB: So, could you deliver me an instance of the way a language barrier may additionally affect a nurse’s interplay with a patient? Or you could speak about it with a doctor, other fitness professionals.