Abstract
Objective: To investigate the reality and issues about the current communication situations and quality of nursing care between ward nurses and international inpatients by comparing situations with or without the use of interpreters.
Method: The questionnaire survey (anonymous self-administered question paper) was conducted in October 2018 on 224 ward nurses working in A hospital. The data of the questionnaire were analyzed using simple- and cross-tabulation.
Results: When asked whether they were able to provide international inpatients with the same quality of the nursing care as Japanese inpatients, 39.2% of nurses who took the help of family/friend interpreters agreed with the question. On the other hand, only 16.2% of nurses who did not take the help of any interpreters agreed with the question(p < 0.001). Many nurses agreed with both questions " Do you think it took more time to respond to international inpatients than to Japanese inpatients? " and " Have you ever struggled or felt confused while taking care of international inpatients? " irrespective of whether they took the help of any interpreters(p=0.099 and p=0.711, respectively).
Discussion: Taking the help of interpreters lets nurses provide better quality of care and more sufficient explanation to international patients. Irrespective of the presence of interpreter, tending to international patients is a big burden for ward nurses. Thus, it is necessary for health care facilities to improve the system to respond to international inpatients.
https://ror.org/053d3tv41 
