Administration Officer Yong-Soon Barnett proudly showing off her badge
The RBWH’s Ophthalmology department is leading the way in caring for our multicultural patient cohort, with 14 staff members now wearing badges that identify their second and in some cases third languages.
The staff members from medical, nursing, allied health, pharmacy, and administrative teams are now wearing their badges and using their multilingual talents to help patients feel more comfortable moving around the hospital and attending appointments.
Administration Officer and Korean native Yong-Soon Barnett knows firsthand the challenges faced by non-English speakers today, having moved to Australia from Korea more than 15 years ago.
“I can remember how I felt going to the GP after I had first moved here and my English wasn’t great,” Ms Barnett said.
“Being in a new culture with health issues that you can’t convey can be scary and anxiety inducing.
“I love how my first language can help our patients to understand simple instructions when an interpreter is not present.
“It has also been great learning what other languages my colleagues can speak, knowing I can call on them to help with translation if I need in the future.”
Ophthalmology Clinical Nurse Consultant Sarah Patrick said she has seen the benefits of having multilingual staff working in health, after her own child fell ill on a European holiday.
“My husband and I didn’t speak enough Italian at the time to be able to convey what we needed to a pharmacist,” Ms Patrick said.
“We were lucky that one of the pharmacists spoke fluent English and was able to translate the health needs of our daughter, which was a great relief at the time.
“Since the introduction of the badges here, even conveying simple information to patients such as the date and time of their next appointment, has improved our clinic flow.”
Ms Patrick has also noticed how the small but meaningful change has improved patient care outside of the department.
“Patients are stopping staff outside of the department, asking for directions or simply saying hello and making a connection,” she said.
“It has been great to highlight the talents of our staff members and to see them wearing their badges with such pride.”