During her 13 years in health care, she has served as a surgical nurse, orthopedic nurse, psychiatric nurse and global health nurse. She has also taken students overseas for their field experience in global health. A native of Nigeria, Nwogwugwu studied nursing in the U.S. and holds a doctorate degree in public health. She is now Assistant Professor-Global Health at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

She joins us by phone to talk about nursing and some of the language challenges and victories that come with the job.

AB: Thanks again for being with us today.

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: You’re very welcome.

AB: Could you tell us a little bit about what you enjoy most about your work as a nursing professional?​

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: One of the major things that I truly enjoy about nursing is the diversity in the role.

The core of what truly drives me is the ability to connect with people because, at the end of the day, I am a carer at heart. And, it’s still people that make my work valuable.

So, when I talk about the diversity in the role, it really is centered around connecting with people and how that inspires me to keep going to do what it is I do.

So, I always look at it from that perspective – whereby what it is I am doing with this individual patient is going to impact the lives of other people, not just that patient but their family members.

AB: OK great. In a typical day on the job, maybe in an interaction between nurse and patient, are there common expressions and terms that they might use?

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: Absolutely. One of the things that we are doing as nurses is that we are assessing this patient the moment we walk in. And by that, I mean we really are assessing their level of consciousness. We are assessing their pain. So, to do that, to be able to assess…how alert the patient is, I would ask the patient questions like, “Can you tell me your name?” and “What is your date of birth?”

And, of course, I’ve had patients – many, very many – who may be a bit confused. Maybe they may not be able to tell me their date of birth, so I would further probe and ask questions like, “Can you tell me what today is?” or what day of the week it is, or who the president is.

AB: So, could you give me an example of how a language barrier may impact a nurse’s interaction with a patient? Or you can talk about with a doctor, other health professionals.

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: Some nurses – maybe for those from Nigeria, for example, which is where I’m from…when we are speaking to individuals in positions of authority or even to patients that are elderly, we -

A. don’t call them by name and B. would use expressions or phrases such as, “Yes, ma.” And, for some individuals, they may find that offensive, because they don’t know what that means. But, from a cultural perspective, that is actually a sign of respect.

I think that when we have nurses who speak a different language, there are also different terminologies that kind of make it challenging. For example, it wasn’t until I came to the United States that I understood that “pants” [in Nigeria] were actually underwear [in the U.S.].

But then there are some biases between the nurse as well as the patient, in terms of 'the nurse does not have a quote American accent so perhaps they may not be able to provide the quality of the care that I expect.'

AB: So, how can – or do – nurses overcome such challenges?

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: I think that nurses, at least in my experience, have truly done an amazing job with overcoming this. And by this, I mean becoming lifelong learners.

I was really open about my own deficits in terms of what I didn’t know, what I needed to learn because that truly is one of the first steps to really be able to make the change or improve your own quality as a nurse and your own ability to speak the English language fluently. And for me, also, it is important that I practice. And, a lot of nurses will tell you that they do do that.

I’m a firm believer that it takes a village. So…administrators in hospitals also need to take an interest in the nurse workforce and also identify this [strengthening English skills] as an area of improvement.

AB: That’s a great, very thorough answer and it partially answers my next question. So, if someone were interested in the nursing field, what path of study do you suggest for a foreigner who wants to become a nurse in an English-speaking country?

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: I truly believe that the individual has to make that personal decision whether they would want to study in their own country or here.

Now, with that said, if an individual studies, say, in Spain, for example, or in Nigeria…or whatever country it is, for them to become a nurse – a licensed nurse – here, they still have to take the board exams. So, ya know, my response is really – they have to make that personal decision as to where they would want to get their degree from.

AB: OK great. Well, thank you so much.

CHARLOTTE NWOGWUGWU: Thank you. You’re very welcome.

And, in addition to her job as a global health professor, Nwogwugwu continues to practice nursing. She works part-time at the Perry Point VA Medical Center in Maryland.