Understanding the lived experiences of English as a Second Language (ESL) novice nurses can help people who work with students in this population find ways to support their success and reach their goals. This author had three goals for doing this study. They were: 1) to gain insight about the lived experiences of novice nurses who have English as a second language and thereby increase the understanding about their experiences as nursing students, 2) to explore ways to use this new knowledge to help ESL nursing students succeed, and 3) to use this new knowledge to improve nurse to nurse, nurse to patient, and faculty to student interactions supporting the overall good of health care and patient welfare. Contributing to the success of these students is one way the American educational system can address the needs of an ever changing and increasingly diverse U.S. population. Nurses are needed who can effectively communicate with, understand, and meet the needs of a diverse patient population whose primary language is not English.

In this study, the researcher collected written reflections about the lived experiences of ESL novice nurses. Questions focused on what they believed contributed to their successes as well as stimulated them to share insight about what it was like to iv complete nursing school, pass the NCLEX-RN, and begin careers in nursing when their primary language was not English. This study is one of the first to explore ways to help this population by reaching out to members of this group for answers and directions about ways to support their success.