Experience on Nurse-Patient Interaction with Filipino Clients among Non-Tagalog Speaking BSN Students

Abstract

The Philippines have experienced an increase in international students in various programsespecially in the nursing program and medical program. This programs required students tohave clinical exposure where the students are expected to have good interaction with thepatient. This study aims to explore the experience of non-Tagalog speaking nursing studentson nurse-patient interaction with Filipino clients. A qualitative design was used in this study.A Semi-structured interview with three questions was conducted to 13 respondents selectedwith purposive sampling technique. This study included seven main informants or non-Tagalogspeaking nursing students and six general informants or Filipino nursing students’ perceptions.The respondents were recruited from one university in the Philippines. Qualitative data analysiswas done following Giorgi’s phenomenologist method. Several themes were established in thisstudy: (i) translation of words which is a mean for patients and nurses to communicate theirthoughts; (ii) the use of nonverbal (gestures, technology) to facilitate nurse-patient interaction;(iii) Importance of trust to confidence in giving care to patients; (iv) preference in giving careto English speaking patient, unsatisfied feeling when communicating with patient; (v)individual initiative in learning Tagalog which is mean to help in communication preparationto Tagalog speaking patient; (vi) support from clinical instructor and Filipino friends aremethods being used to help in communication; (vii) institutional support is one way to help thestudents in the preparation before clinical exposure. This study suggests that the support fromseveral instances such as fellow local nursing students, clinical instructors, staff nurses, and theuniversity are critical in helping the students dealing with communication problem to help theirstudents increase their self-confidence. Furthermore, willingness to learn and practice newlanguage plays an important role in effective communication and interaction with localpatients.