4mo ago

Waikato Hospital staff told to speak English only

www.rnz.co.nz Waikato Hospital staff told to speak English only

A memo sent to all nursing staff in Waikato was clearly aimed at Indian, Filipino and Pasifika nurses, a doctor says, while nurses say it "reeks of systemic racism".

This is the thin end of the wedge. Whichever racist PoS manager at TWO whom sent this is simply emboldened by our current racist PoS government. It gets worse from here.

Objectively, even to the stupidst person, that a distressed patient and stressed nurse will be most effective when using a shared native language in interactions with the patient.

Communication with the rest of the staff obviously should be in the common language.

It's extra stupid because while we can assume a nurse has competency in English there's no guarantee the patient or patient's support does.

5 comments

I would like to give some benefit of the doubt with regard to intent since the memo itself doesn't specifically say they can't talk to patients in their own language, and I can imagine scenarios where a staff member doesn't know what is happening because discussions are happening in a language they don't speak.
But... holy shit, how could you write a memo like this and not expect to end up in the media? It's like the person writing it can't imagine a world where English isn't the best language for all circumstances.
I feel like there is potentially a problem but management lacks the problem solving skills to come up with a real solution.
- Looking at intent, this could very well be "speak English internally". Translating instructions from a doctor to (for example) Chinese, communication in Chinese between staff then translating to English to someone carrying out the instructions does add two more places something can get missed or go wrong. It also leaves out opportunity for someone who doesn't speak that language to overhear any mistakes.
  Patent to staff communication needs to be done in the best way possible- this could be own language, but a common language may deliver better results. Staff are trained, let them make the call.
  This could also be people bitching "I thought this was a NZ hospital, not China" and management having to deal with that issue. Sorry, we don't make enough and train enough doctors, nurses and general staff to meet national requirements - if you don't like it pay more tax, study yourself or fuck off and reduce the load.
  Could also be people being moody we use Maori names. Quite simply, fuck off.
  Let's be honest, it's probably my last two points.
- management lacks the problem solving skills to come up with a real solution
  Spot on. This kind of rot comes from the top down.
  It also smells like the manager in question has absolutely no experience with or tolerance of multilingualism. There are times when a multilingual person needs to clarify a translation, usually in the translated language, to be able to properly translate. E.g translation or explanation of idioms.
  The article also had a weird segue to the patient requesting non-Aisan nurses... so there's evidence of management acquiescing to racist bullshit.
- Shouldn’t translations and interpretation be done by a trained professional, especially in a medical setting?
  
  Ideally, yes, if we are talking about communicating critical information to patients.
  However, the first issue is that the translator needs to be medically trained. If they aren't, they risk translating critical technical information wrong. We can't even get enough medical staff, let alone extras to be dedicated translators.
  There are also other circumstances where I don't think a certified translator should be needed. For example, day to day interactions with a patient that aren't about communicating critical medical information (e.g. asking how they are doing). I think most nurse interactions with patients would not justify a translator if the nurse spoke their language. Many doctor interactions would, but those are generally more structured and could have a translator organised in advance, unlike most nurse interactions.
  But also, as I mentioned there is likely a valid problem the memo is trying to address. The issue I see here is that the memo just decides the solution is that everyone has to speak English. This is just bad problem solving. They need to address the specific issues not have blanket rules that make the environment worse for patients.
  I suspect speaking to patients isn't the problem (it's not specifically mentioned in the memo), and so translators may not actually be relevant.