Reducing communication barriers for employment of Spanish-only speaking workers in a long-term care setting

Staffing shortages in LTC facilities are a major problem. Studies indicated that very few from the active labor force are willing to spend their productive years in an organization that neither pays well nor provides-good benefits or career advancement opportunity. As the US population composition changes, a new constituency of workers mostly from Mexico, has grown more evident in Texas LTC facilities. However, these workers often are unable to speak or understand English. The purpose of this project was to develop a protocol for teaching non-English speaking Spanish staff adequate amounts of 'nursing home-English' to become more effective (higher retention, more job satisfaction). Eight non-English speaking staff (5 females and 3 males) participated in weekly sessions. All except one had less than 12 years of schooling with an average age of 33. The Oral Proficiency Interview revealed that all staff but one scored in pre-novice category (< 15 English words). Each of 10 sessions introduced 12+ words focusing on emergency issues, illness, organizational directory, unit locations, ASLs, people descriptives, room content, personal items, OSHA terminology, etc. English words were introduced using various media, i.e. tape recordings, flash cards, and phonetic written and oral presentations. Results showed Spanish speaking staff learned an average of 50 words with increased willingness to participate, learn more, and remain on the job longer. Responses by this group defy the misconception that Spanish speakers prefer not to learn English.