(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Many Healthcare Workers Need to Know English
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of nurses. They provide about 90 percent of all health care services worldwide.
As important as nurses are, many countries are experiencing a shortage. The World Health Organization has noted the huge need for health care workers worldwide, especially nurses and midwives. Even the United States and other English-speaking nations have massive shortages.
But no matter what country nurses work in, at some point in their careers, they may be required to communicate in English. The reason is simple: The use of English in medical settings worldwide continues to grow.
When you think of nurses, you might imagine hospitals. But nurses work in countless other places, such as health clinics, schools, private homes and assisted living centers. They work on military bases, in refugee camps and in disaster situations around the world.
There are also many specializations within nursing. Surgery, cardiac care, oncology, midwifery and anesthesia are just a few examples. Throughout their career, nurses may work in one or many specialized areas.
Charlotte Nwogwugwu knows all about nursing, having worked in a number of specializations and settings.
During her 13 years in health care, she has served as a surgical nurse, orthopedic nurse, psychiatric nurse and global health nurse. She has also taken students overseas for their field experience in global health. A native of Nigeria, Nwogwugwu studied nursing in the U.S. and holds a doctorate degree in public health. She is now Assistant Professor-Global Health at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.
She joins us by phone to talk about nursing and some of the language challenges and victories that come with the job.
Thanks again for being with us today.
You're very welcome.
Could you tell us a little bit about what you enjoy most about your work as a nursing professional?
One of the major things that I truly enjoy about nursing is the diversity in the role.
The core of what truly drives me is the ability to connect with people because, at the end of the day, I am a carer at heart. And, it's still people that make my work valuable.
So, when I talk about the diversity in the role, it really is centered around connecting with people and how that inspires me to keep going to do what it is I do.
So, I always look at it from that perspective – whereby what it is I am doing with this individual patient is going to impact the lives of other people, not just that patient but their family members.
OK great. In a typical day on the job, maybe in an interaction between nurse and patient, are there common expressions and terms that they might use?
Absolutely. One of the things that we are doing as nurses is that we are assessing this patient the moment we walk in. And by that, I mean we really are assessing their level of consciousness. We are assessing their pain. So, to do that, to be able to assess…how alert the patient is, I would ask the patient questions like, “Can you tell me your name?” and “What is your date of birth?”
And, of course, I've had patients – many, very many – who may be a bit confused. Maybe they may not be able to tell me their date of birth, so I would further probe and ask questions like, “Can you tell me what today is?” or what day of the week it is, or who the president is.
So, could you give me an example of how a language barrier may impact a nurse's interaction with a patient? Or you can talk about with a doctor, other health professionals.
Some nurses – maybe for those from Nigeria, for example, which is where I'm from…when we are speaking to individuals in positions of authority or even to patients that are elderly, we A. don't call them by name and B. would use expressions or phrases such as, “Yes, ma.” And, for some individuals, they may find that offensive, because they don't know what that means. But, from a cultural perspective, that is actually a sign of respect.
I think that when we have nurses who speak a different language, there are also different terminologies that kind of make it challenging. For example, it wasn't until I came to the United States that I understood that “pants” [in Nigeria] were actually underwear [in the U.S.].
But then there are some biases between the nurse as well as the patient, in terms of 'the nurse does not have a quote American accent so perhaps they may not be able to provide the quality of the care that I expect.'
So, how can – or do – nurses overcome such challenges?
I think that nurses, at least in my experience, have truly done an amazing job with overcoming this. And by this, I mean becoming lifelong learners.
I was really open about my own deficits in terms of what I didn't know, what I needed to learn because that truly is one of the first steps to really be able to make the change or improve your own quality as a nurse and your own ability to speak the English language fluently. And for me, also, it is important that I practice. And, a lot of nurses will tell you that they do do that.
I'm a firm believer that it takes a village. So…administrators in hospitals also need to take an interest in the nurse workforce and also identify this as an area of improvement.
That's a great, very thorough answer and it partially answers my next question. So, if someone were interested in the nursing field, what path of study do you suggest for a foreigner who wants to become a nurse in an English-speaking country?
I truly believe that the individual has to make that personal decision whether they would want to study in their own country or here.
Now, with that said, if an individual studies, say, in Spain, for example, or in Nigeria…or whatever country it is, for them to become a nurse – a licensed nurse – here, they still have to take the board exams. So, you know, my response is really – they have to make that personal decision as to where they would want to get their degree from.
OK great. Well, thank you so much.
Thank you. You're very welcome.
And, in addition to her job as a global health professor, Nwogwugwu continues to practice nursing. She works part-time at the Perry Point VA Medical Center in Maryland.
I'm Alice Bryant.
重点解析
重点讲解：
1. think of 考虑；想到；
I can't think of anything in my life that's going right.
我想不起我的生活中有任何一帆风顺的事情。
2. a number of 大量的；很多；
Two significant constants have been found in a number of research studies.
若干研究已经发现了两个重要常量。
3. at the end of the day 最终；在一天结束时；
At the end of the day it's up to the Germans to decide.
最终得由德国人来作决定。
4. be interested in 对......感兴趣；对某方面感兴趣；
I thought she might be interested in Paula's proposal.
我觉得她对葆拉的提议可能会感兴趣。
参考译文
许多医护人员需要懂英语
护士的重要性怎么强调都不为过，他们提供全球大约90%的医疗保健服务。
与护士一样重要的是，目前许多国家正面临人员短缺。世界卫生组织注意到，世界各地对卫生保健工作者，特别是护士和助产士存在巨大的需求。即使是美国和其他讲英语的国家，也存在巨大的短缺。
但无论护士在哪个国家工作，在他们的职业生涯中的某个阶段，都可能需要用英语交流。原因很简单：在世界各地的医疗环境中，英语的使用在持续增长。
说到护士，你可能会想到医院。但护士会在其他很多地方工作，如卫生诊所、学校、私人住宅和护理中心、军事基地、难民营和世界各地的受灾区。
护理也有很多的专业细分，手术、心脏护理、肿瘤学、助产和麻醉只是几个例子。在整个职业生涯中，护士可能在一个或多个专业领域工作。
夏洛特·诺格武格对护理了如指掌，他曾在多个专业领域和机构工作过。
在13年的保健工作中，他曾担任外科护士、骨科护士、精神科护士和全球保健护士。他还将学生带到海外，以在全球卫生领域获取工作经验。诺格武格是尼日利亚人，在美国学习护理，他拥有公共卫生博士学位，现在是马里兰大学护理学院的全球健康助理教授。
他通过电话和我们一起讨论护理，以及工作中的一些语言挑战和取得的胜利。
再次感谢你今天参加我们的节目。
不客气。
能给我们讲讲，从事护理专业的工作，你最喜欢的是什么吗？
关于护理，我最喜欢的一个方面是角色的多样性。
真正驱动我的核心力是与人联结的能力，说到底，我是一个护理者。而且，与人接触使我的工作变得有价值。
所以，当我谈到这个角色的多样性时，它实际上是围绕着与人的联系，以及它是如何激励我继续做我该做的事情。
所以，我总是从这个角度看待它的，就是我对这名患者的所作所为将影响到其他人的生活，不仅仅是那名患者，还有他们的家人。
真不错。在一个典型的工作日里，也许在护士和病人的互动中，有没有他们可能使用的常用表达和术语呢？
当然有，作为护士，我们做的事情是在接手病人时进行评估。我的意思是，我们要评估他们的意识水平，评估他们的疼痛程度。所以，为了做到这一点，为了能够评估患者的警觉性，我会询问患者一些问题，比如，“能告诉我你的名字吗？”，“你是哪天出生的？”
当然，我也接手过很多病人，他们可能感觉混乱。也许他们不能告诉我自己的出生日期。所以，我会接着询问这样的问题：“你能告诉我今天是几号吗？”，或者今天星期几，或者总统是谁。
那么，你能给我举个例子，说明语言障碍是如何影响护士与患者的互动的吗？或者你可以和医生或者其他健康专家谈谈。
有些护士，比如可能是来自尼日利亚，我就是来自尼日利亚的，当我们和一些有权势的人，甚至是老年患者说话时，我们第一不要用名字，第二会使用诸如“是的，夫人”之类的表达或短语。对于一些人来说，他们可能会觉得这很冒犯，因为他们不知道那是什么意思。但是，从文化角度来看，这实际上是一种尊重。
我认为，当我们有说不同语言的护士时，也会存在不同的术语，使工作具有挑战性。例如，来美国后，我才明白尼日利亚语中的“裤子”，在美国实际上是内衣的意思。
但护士和病人之间也存在一些偏见，比如“护士没有美国口音，所以他们可能无法向我提供我所期望的护理质量。”
那么，护士怎样才能克服这些挑战呢？
至少在我的经验中，我认为护士们在克服这个问题时，确实做得很棒。我的意思是，成为终身的学习者。
对于我不知道哪些事情，我需要学习的方面来说，我对自己的缺陷非常坦诚。因为这确实是真正能够做出改变或提高自己作为护士的素质，以及提高自己流利说英语能力的第一步。对我来说，练习也很重要。而且，很多护士会告诉你，他们确实在这样做。
我坚信，这需要共同努力来解决。所以，医院的管理者也需要对护士队伍感兴趣，并将其视为改进的一个方面。
这是一个很棒的、非常全面的回答，它还回答了一些我的下一个问题。因此，如果有人对护理领域感兴趣，你建议一个想在英语国家成为护士的外国人怎么学习？
我认为，当事人必须做出决定，他们是想在自己的国家学习，还是来这里学。
如果一个人在西班牙，或尼日利亚，或其他国家学习，然后成为一名有执照的护士，他们来这里后仍然需要参加标准考试。所以，我的回答是，他们必须做出决定，确定在哪获得学位。
很好，非常感谢。
谢谢，不客气。
除了担任全球健康教员外，诺格武格还在继续从事护理工作。他在马里兰州佩里角弗吉尼亚医学中心兼职。
爱丽丝·布莱恩特报道。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
