By Agnes Black, RN MPH, Nursing Research Facilitator for Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care
Pictured Left to Right: Andrea Kwok, Priscilla Taipale (mentor), Erin Tang and Bonnie Leung. Love, MumThe cardiac ICU at VGH is a busy place. Machines whir, nurses bustle, stretchers are wheeled in and out, and several languages can be heard on any given day.
What happens when a nurse is assigned a post-cardiac surgery patient who doesn’t speak English? Does a non-English speaking patient take longer to recover from surgery, spend more days in the CSICU, more days away from home and more days in the costly environment of the acute care hospital? If so, how could nurses work more effectively with this group of patients and their families to improve recovery?