Persuasive letter
University of Phoenix
Healthy Communities: Theory and Practice
John Marshall
NUR 405
February 13, 2012

To the Editor, For the last 10 years I have practiced as a Registered Nurse and have also been a resident or our community. I feel that there is a significant amount of language barriers in our community and the language barriers between Hispanic and Caucasian populations have continued to delay needed healthcare services. There has also been an undue burden placed on the community due to an increase in tax payer dollars because of a lack of insurance. I believe that in our community we could use wasted tax dollars in other areas, decrease hospitalizations, and increase tax dollars. The frustration of being misunderstood when trying to communicate is something that everyone has experienced. It is a very helpless and frustrating feeling and when on vacation we have all experienced this communication breakdown. Imagine this same frustration and helplessness when you are unable to receive the correct healthcare or because of a language barrier you were unable to understand the medical professionals and could not follow through with your own treatment. Many of the hospitals in our area feel that by providing an interpreter there will always be clear communication between the staff and patients. This is not so. We deal with many different cultures on a daily basis and are hard to communicate effectively. The words we use can mean something different to patients of other cultures and as nurses we need to remember this ("Cultural barriers to effective communication", 2010). The potential for misunderstandings increases when the languages are different, and translation has to be used to communicate ("Cultural barriers to effective communication", 2010). There have been many times when non health care professionals are used in the medical setting to translate to a non English speaking patient, such as cleaning staff. This is inappropriate and increases the risk of error due to the lack of medical and terminology knowledge. Our community population is made up of thirty percent Hispanic. My experience in the emergency room and clinical floor setting tells me that there is a large number of the Hispanic population that is not able to speak English. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, Only 12 percent of adults have Proficient health literacy ("Quick guide to health literacy", 2010). Due to a lack of understanding of self care and low literacy levels there is a higher risk for poor health and higher rates of hospitalization ("Quick guide to health literacy", 2010). People with low income levels, non speaker of English, people with compromised health status, racial and ethnic minorities, people with less than a high school degree or GED, and older adults are populations most likely to suffer low health literacy rates ("Quick guide to health literacy", 2010). Being an advocate to your patients is part of our responsibility as public health nurses. We should encourage and provide them with the tools necessary to learn the English language and understand medical terms related to their illnesses. I believe that our community should make English and medical terminology classes part of the lives of every patient who is unable to comprehend the terminology and etiology of their disease because they do not speak English. I would also like to see the community pull together and make Spanish class a mandatory part of the curriculum for the local nursing programs due to the large population of non-English speaking Hispanics in our community. This will require work on both the part of the nurse and the patient but will help them communicate together more effectively by closing the gap. This will bring an increased compliance from the patient on he/she’s part and a better understanding of what is needed to maintain and improve health. This will also help to educate the patients on identifying signs and symptoms to look for when a problem is starting and when to get early treatment. We as a community will save by providing the nurses and the patients with the necessary tools to communicate effectively. With most noncompliance issues originating from a knowledge deficit the education will allow patients to take control of their lives. The UN Global Health Decade has aimed initiatives at making families stronger and care for the mother and child ("Implementation of the Global Health Initiative", 2012). This includes the education and the responsibility of the community to assist with the meaning of health and wellbeing and putting it into cultural context. This is the form of effective communication that makes a community stronger. This is a plan the will include the Dean of Admissions at our local university to get the mandatory Spanish classes for all nursing students. This second part of my plan will require the local hospitals and community based programs to require English. I will also request as previously discussed in my letter, the hopes of mandatory disease/illness classes to better educate our community. This in return will increase knowledge and decrease unplanned hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and death rates in our community. Our community will be able to save county funds with the decrease in hospital visits and hospitalizations.

References

Cultural Barriers to Effective Communication. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/problem/cultrbar.htm
Implementation of the Global Health Initiative. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/home/Publications/docs/ghi_consultation_document.pdf
Stanhope, M. & Lancaster, J. (2008). Public health nursing: population-centered health care in the community (7th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.
Quick Guide to Health Literacy. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/