The Importance of Program Collaboration to Educate Nursing Students in Bilingualism

Purpose: With a growing Spanish-speaking population, communication is becoming more important in the healthcare field. It is important to address the needs of this population and one of the ways this can be achieved is by increasing the number of bilingual nurses. The overall purpose of this project was to discover the impact of bilingual nurses in health care and use that information to inspire and educate current and future nursing students. The findings from our review of literature were synthesized along with a survey to create resources for nursing and Spanish double majors and minors at Winona State University (WSU). The focus is on monolingual English speakers and aiding them in becoming bilingual in Spanish. This will be accomplished through a major/minor course map, including a concise list of additional resources for nursing and pre-nursing students. Method: Through convenience sampling, a survey was conducted on the opinions of future and current nursing students at Winona State University. The survey consisted of six multiple choice, free response, and short response questions related to interest in bilingual nursing education. All the pre-nursing and current nursing students at Winona State University received the survey (n=620) and were given seven weeks to respond. Results: The results from this project indicated that the surveyed students (n=164) at WSU showed interest in materials regarding a course timeline and better available information on bilingual education. The participants were aware of the prevalence of Spanish-speaking populations in the healthcare field. The review of literature showed the significant effect of bilingual nursing education on positive patient outcomes. Additionally, nursing students have shown interest in immersion in world language and nursing programs. Lastly, bilingual student nurses develop cultural competencies to decrease cultural bias and discrimination in healthcare. Conclusion: The surveyed nursing students at WSU showed a significant interest in bilingual ...