Nursing students who either speak or are willing to learn to speak another language are in a good position for professional success. One of the biggest challenges facing the health care community today is the difficulty in helping patients who don’t speak English. Unless medical professionals can communicate about care, procedures, and even symptoms, there is a good chance that a wrong diagnosis will be made or the incorrect treatment regimen will be undertaken.
Hospitals have so far done a good job bridging the communication gap by hiring translators, using translation services via phone, and by printing medical instructions in several languages. However, this doesn’t always work. Translators tend to be costly, phone services can be unreliable, and there are often complicated and rare medical procedures that need to be discussed. Having a nurse on staff who not only has the education needed to provide care, but who can also translate medical terms and procedures on site, is rapidly becoming a must-have in the medical world.
Nursing and Native Bilingual Speakers
If you speak a second language fluently, or if English is your second language, use it to your advantage starting with nursing school. When you learn complex medical terms, take the time to learn both forms of it: your native language and English. This way, you’ll become a valuable part of a health care team, since you’ll be one of the few individuals who can translate complex medical procedures for those who don’t understand English.
In fact, you can use this to your advantage during the hiring process. In many cases, hospitals and doctor’s offices will pay a large sign-on bonus for nurses who can provide this service. You might also find greater opportunities for advancement or for travel nursing to high-need areas.
Learning a Second Language in Nursing School
If you want to learn a second language while you’re at nursing school, it’s a good idea to select a language that’s predominant in your area. For example, if there is a large Hispanic or Russian population where you live, learning these languages can make you more employable at area hospitals. Although you aren’t likely to become fluent in your two to four years of nursing school, you can learn basic conversational skills that will help put your patients at ease and improve the quality of care you provide.
In most cases, you’ll need to attend a four-year university or community college in order to take foreign language classes at your school. Most private, vocational nursing education facilities don’t have the staff or capabilities to teach a foreign language.
Related Topics:
Multi-Lingual Nursing Students a Plus
As a nursing school graduate, one of the most important tests you’ll ever take is the 
Nurses work on the front line of health care—and their health is often at risk as a result. Whether it’s due to the potential for bloodborne or airborne illnesses that come with working so closely with those who are sick, or if it has more to do with the long hours that put a necessary strain on the body, nurses have a higher risk for illness than many other types of professionals.
If you enjoy nursing as well as the more business-oriented side of health care, you might be suited for a nursing job in public health. Public health nursing jobs tend to offer more stable hours, greater professional autonomy, and the chance to make a real impact in your community. By working for the government to enhance education, safety, and health services for everyone, you can keep one foot in nursing and the other in health administration and advocacy.
If you look at the lists of top-paid nursing positions and best nursing opportunities in the United States, you’ll probably find operating room nurses somewhere near the top. This RN specialty is one that is popular among professionals who enjoy a little bit more autonomy and a little more direct patient interaction than more traditional nursing. Although you will always be working under the supervision of the operating team and surgeon in charge, this position is one that requires you to be able to make assessments and think on your feet in a high-stress situation.
One of the common themes of any discussion of the nursing career is that the field is one of the most stable and fastest-growing in the entire country. Job outlooks over the next ten years will only continue to increase, and nursing salaries are expected to increase right alongside them.
Education for nurses is an ever-continuing thing. Even after you receive your RN license or complete your RN-to-BSN degree, there are plenty of opportunities to advance your education and, by extension, your career. One way in which many professional nurses are doing this is by moving beyond the MSN (Master’s of Science in Nursing) degree to including post-Master’s nursing certificates.
There are many different avenues open to nursing graduates: you can work in a hospital, work in a doctor’s office, continue your education, or find employment in any number of government and health care facilities. One less common path is to turn to 
