When dealing with foreign nurses, who as colleagues are often unable to implement the language requirements in this sector, or cannot do so completely, a lot of patience and attention is required from experienced nurses. Petra Rahn, experienced teacher of „German as a foreign language“ and managing director of the „Education Professionals“, gives hints and advice to native speakers as colleagues of these foreign nurses, so that they can understand and implement everything they have been told. For example, it is important to be attentive and to observe yourself how you speak. Furthermore, one should speak slowly, not louder, and formulate clear, relatively simple sentences. Patience is also required. If a person makes mistakes towards you, they should be corrected. Also, sentences should not be shortened in order to understand them better. Pronouns and unclear location information must also be avoided. In order not to endanger patient safety, one should have the information repeated in a read-back in the foreigner’s own words. The Gesellschaft für Qualitätsmanagement in der Gesundheitsversorgung (GQMG) (Society for Quality Management in Health Care) views the language requirements for nurses and doctors from abroad with mixed feelings because expert language skills are essential in the nursing sector. Therefore, according to the GQMG, in order to receive professional recognition, every foreign employee in the health care sector should have at least the language level C1 and not the lower levels like B2 or even B1.
