How Malaysian nurses deal with language barriers during meetings with patients with another language

Abstract: Background: Effective communication is vital to establish a patient-nurse relation and in order for the nurse to deliver good nursing care. Mistakes and errors are more frequent when there is a language barrier between the nurse and the patient. Method: The study was made as a qualitative interview study with a phenomenological analysis. Aim: Describe how Malaysian nurses deal with language barriers during meetings with patients with another language. Result: To deliver good nursing care to patient with another language could be difficult depending on what strategies the nurses used: how nurses experience the effectiveness of non-verbal communication, how interpreters were used and who interpreted during the patient meeting, strategies nurses used when interpreter was not an option, nurses’ interest in learning about the patient’s culture. Conclusion: To overcome language barriers is complex and often more than one strategy is needed. Patient safety is compromised when there were language barriers between the nurse and the patient.