Bilingual Nurse Advantage

Many times patients gravitate to a healthcare provider that speaks their language.  This makes a lot of sense as it makes it less difficult  to describe symptoms and feelings to someone that understands. 

The bilingual nurse does not replace the provider’s interpreting staff.  They are invaluable in their own right. 

There is a huge advantage for the patient with the opportunity to interact with a bilingual nurse, specially when they are involved in a complicated medical condition or a workers compensation case that has rules and regulations they must abide by over and beyond the medical treatment plan.  When trying to communicate with a patient via a translator there is the tendency to forget to ask certain questions or you can miss the minute clues that may lead to a clearer understanding of the patient’s needs and concerns thus facilitating a good medical outcome.  Often patients will express their concerns to a bilingual nurse that they would not feel comfortable asking through a translator.  The relationship is built on mutual understanding of both the language and the culture. 

Herlinda Rodriguez joined NurseValue in 2011 with background in orthopedics  and  workers' compensation nurse case management.  She was an integral participant in Liberty Mutual's telephonic  case management program; 2004-2005,was a translator for Princeville Medical center, and was a community outreach worker for a year with the Hispanic Outreach Partnership.  We knew she was a team player with a penchant to pay it forward.  Today, we find that our injured workers depend upon her for calm understanding, careful direction and comforting demeanor to move their recovery forward.  NurseValue depends upon Herlinda's never ending optimism!