‘You find yourself.’ Perceptions of nursing students from non-English speaking backgrounds of the effect of an intensive language support program on their oral clinical communication skills

Abstract

Nurses of ethnically diverse backgrounds are essential in providing multicultural populations in western societies with culturally and linguistically competent health care. However, many nurses from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB) are at high risk of failure in university programs particularly during clinical placements. Few studies investigate the clinical experiences of students from NESB and strategies to support their learning. This study describes perceptions of fifteen undergraduate nursing students from NESB about their first clinical placement in an Australian university program and the effect of a language support program on their oral clinical communication skills.Three categories arose:

•	Wanting to belong but feeling excluded;
•	Wanting to learn how to …;and
•	You find yourself.

While many students find clinical placement challenging, it appeared difficult for students in this study as language and cultural adjustments required some modification of their usual ways of thinking and communicating, often without coping strategies available to other students.

Key Words:

• clinical
• communication skills
• cultural diversity
• English as a second language
• immigrants
• students
• nursing