Factors related to difficulty in caring for foreign patients among nurses in Japanese hospitals / 国際保健医療

ABSTRACT

AbstractObjectives  To explore factors related to difficulty in caring for foreign patients among Japanese nurses.Methods  A self-administered online survey was conducted with nurses working in a university hospital and a general hospital in Tokyo using Google Forms. The survey involved participants’ demographics, including language ability and international experiences, and 16 questions on difficulty in caring for foreign patients.Results  A total of 138 nurses completed the survey (response rate of 11.3%). The average nursing experience was 14.1 (±10.6) years, and 50% of the participants had a bachelor’s degree. The higher-difficulty items were predominantly related to communication, followed by insurance or payment. The most difficult item was “communication in a language other than English,” but no factor was associated with it. The path analysis showed that “being able to speak a foreign language” was directly and significantly associated with a lower total difficulty score (β＝−0.313, p＝0.011). Higher educational degree was associated with higher “self-evaluated English level” (β＝0.282, p<0.001), which was associated with “being able to speak a foreign language” (β＝0.396, p<0.001). Higher educational degree was also associated with “international experiences (study)” (β＝0.161, p＝0.044), which was associated with both “self-evaluated English level” (β＝0.256, p<0.001) and “being able to speak a foreign language” (β＝0.286, p<0.001). Lower educational degree was associated with more nursing experience (β＝−0.454, p<0.001), which was associated with a higher “number of foreign patients cared for” (β＝0.291, p<0.001) but not with lower difficulty. Although “international experiences (sightseeing)” was highly correlated with “international experiences (study)” (β＝0.338, p<0.001), sightseeing was not significantly related to higher “self-evaluated English level” or lower difficulty. Conclusion  Learning foreign languages, including English, and international study experiences could reduce difficulty in caring for foreign patients. An intervention study that evaluates the effect of training that includes a language aspect on caring for foreign patients may be necessary.