Caring for Patients with Limited English Proficiency

Evidenced Based Care: Caring for Patients with Limited English Proficiency
Name
Institution
Evidenced Based Care: Caring for Patients with Limited English Proficiency
Introduction
One of the most prominent issues in nursing is the assurance of a Safe and Effective Care Environment. According to the NCSBN Website, a safe and effective care environment is one where the nurse is actively involved in promoting the attainment of patient outcomes and offering and giving patient care that betters the care delivery environment as a way of protecting clients and the health care staff. There are two topics that are involved in the section of this exam. The two topics are management of care and safety and infection control. These two topics are important as they help in ensuring that the patient gets the right kind of treatment in a safe environment and in an ethical way. The NCLEX_RN Test Plan which guarantees the provision of a safe and effective care environment was formed out of the realization that every person is a finite being with differing capacities to function in the society (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2012). In the provision of safe and effective care, a problem usually occurs when dealing with patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). This is an important clinical issue as care should be offered to all people regardless of the population from which they are drawn from. In ensuring a safe and effective care environment, the nurse is supposed to promote the attainment of client outcomes by offering and guiding nursing care that improves the care delivery setting in order to protect the patient despite their population (Flores, 2005).
Importance
The assurance of a Safe and Effective Care Environment is an important role for the registered nurse. This section of the NCLEX-RN treats the nurse as an advocate for the LEP patient. Ideally, the RN is the person who spends the most time with the patient and as such it is important to put in place measures that ensure the wellbeing of the patient (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2012). This is an important point as it guides the registered nurse on how to ensure that the patient consents to the care that they receive in order to ensure that no ethical concerns emerge later on thus hindering treatment. This cannot be possible if there is a language barrier between the nurse and the LEP patient.
By leaving this nursing issue unresolved, the confidentiality of the patient would not be assured and this would leave room for lawsuits for the nurse and the institution. It is important to ensure that medical records concerning patients are not divulged to second parties without the patient’s consent and as such failing to resolve this nursing issue creates a scenario where the patient confidentiality is guaranteed. Apart from this, failing to resolve the issue puts the patient at risk since this is the section that ensures that patients get the right kind of treatment and also makes sure that the patient is cushioned against any type of harm while they are at the hospital.
Patient Population
The patient population that is cared for by nurses varies widely. While a nurse might be working at a particular unit, the duties of...