Patient Demand for Bilingual Bicultural Nursing Care

Posted: 14 Jul 2016

Date Written: July 13, 2016

Abstract

This paper charts a range of factors which have contributed to the growth in demand in Australia for the provision of bilingual bicultural nursing care over the past two decades. This demand has been generated by health policy makers and ethnic organisations, as well as select nursing and migration academics. Key reasons have included the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity of the Australian population (derived from over 140 source countries), limited patient access to translation and interpreter services, and strong indications of the existence of ethnocentrism in existing health service provision. Given nurses' position as the 'frontline providers' of hospital based care, calls have increasingly been made for the recruitment of non-English speaking background (NESB) nurses to service major ethnic communities, in addition to the inclusion of transcultural training in nurse education courses. Based on bilingual interviews with 182 NESB patients from five migrant communities who have received recent hospital based nursing care this paper reveals that some 90 per cent of patients believed the nursing care they had received in Australia was excellent or very good. Though two thirds stated that it was important to them to have culturally similar nurses in attendance.

Suggested Citation

Hawthorne, Lesleyanne, Patient Demand for Bilingual Bicultural Nursing Care (July 13, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2808957

Lesleyanne Hawthorne (Contact Author)

University of Melbourne ( email )

185 Pelham Street
Carlton, 3053
Australia

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