Connecting Communication, Literacy, Perceived Barriers, and Career Development: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of English Language Needs in Nursing Clinical Practice

This study aimed to examine the interrelationships among dimensions of English language needs in nursing clinical practice, including clinical communication, medical literacy and documentation, barriers and challenges, and career development and curriculum. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 nursing alumni of a private university in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, recruited using convenience sampling. Data were collected using a previously validated and reliable English language needs questionnaire. Participant characteristics were analyzed descriptively, while interrelationships among the dimensions were examined using Spearman’s rank-order correlation. The participants had a mean age of 28.79 ± 5.01 years and mean work experience of 3.55 ± 3.53 years; 70% were female and 79% held a professional nursing (Ners) qualification. Significant positive correlations were found between clinical communication and medical literacy and documentation (ρ=0.721, p<0.001), clinical communication and career development and curriculum (ρ=0.626, p<0.001), and medical literacy and documentation and career development and curriculum (ρ=0.645, p<0.001). Barriers and challenges were not significantly correlated with the other dimensions. Nursing English curricula should integrate clinical communication, professional literacy, documentation, and career-oriented competencies, while language barriers should be addressed as a distinct component.