A Research Study On Patient, G.v, And The American Language Essay

In 2004 my grandmother and I moved from Haiti to United States without a speck of English in our language. After few years living in the states, my grandma started to get ill and she had to seek monthly medical assistance. At the time, my mother was working multiple jobs and I was a full time undergrad student that lived on college campus. Our busy schedule posed a challenge for us to bring grandma to her medical appointments. Most times it was hard for us to find someone to go with her and assist her with language translation. When it was time for her to go by herself, the health providers would have trouble finding a professional translator on the spot to assist my grandma. This became a repetitive problem and my grandma’s case was not getting any better. If she had the ability to communicate with her provider using her own language, she would have been able to be more expressive about her symptoms and the doctors would have assisted her to her needs. Just like my grandma, many people that speaks little to no English, are having trouble interpreting their medical diagnosis and communicating with their healthcare providers.

Non-English speaking citizens and immigrants are receiving improper medical care because of the miscommunication. The people who cannot speak English well are misunderstood, when they go to free clinics or hospital emergency rooms and attempt to explain their symptoms and illness or cannot understand the doctors or medical profession that are trying to help them. ” Interpreters are omitting questions about drug allergies. Patients are not telling nurses the correct symptoms. A mother misunderstood by putting oral antibiotic into the ears of the child instead of the mouth. The Puerto Rican word for mumps is not the same in Central America, so a child was mistreated. A doctor mistakenly told a parent to put a steroid crème on entire child instead of just the face” (Yolanda Prtida, 2005). Language barriers in the medical field are dangerous and some times even fatal. There is definitely a need for more translators in hospitals and doctors office. Clear communication is essential for safe quality healthcare. Poor communication can lead to disastrous outcomes, especially for patients with limited or no English ability.

Before any nursing plan of care or intervention can be implemented or evaluated, the nurse assesses the

Language is one social and cultural barriers that may have made it difficult for the doctors to communicate with Jessica’s family. It creates the trust that exists between a patient and a doctor and their guardians. When using a translator, meanings may change and the desired communication result may not be achieved. The trust that should exist between the doctor and the patient and the guardians

Who is the person the nurse is caring for? Where is that person from? Does this person speak English, or understand what the caregiver is saying? What is this person’s cultural background? What are the health beliefs of this person, what are their illness beliefs and practices? These questions are answered differently depending upon the person and their heritage. As healthcare providers it is important to have a broad knowledge base in regards to different cultures and people’s practices to deliver effective health care. In 2006, the population of

I was able to check the patient in a systemic order and to make her feel comfortable around me allowing openness and honesty about medical conditions. I responded to the patient in a professional way as to not make her feel uncomfortable and to represent myself as a professional. The patient felt very comfortable with me during the interview, I had asked her upon completion if I was professional and if she felt comfortable. She said that I was very gentle in examining her and that she was very comfortable speaking to me. During the examination there were moment when the patient and I had light conversation, as I did not want the experience to feel cold and calculated. She showed me picture of her family and the books that she loves to

The staff person did not take the correct approach in trying to communicate with the patient. The staff person should have made an effort to obtain a trained interpreter to speak with the patient. If unable to do this, the staff person could have sought to find a staff member who spoke Spanish. However, after touching basis on what the patient is seeking care for, a trained interpreter should be obtained. It is not appropriate to use family members as interpreters since this can result in a breach of confidentiality and misunderstanding of information. The patient son is also a minor, which is another reason he should not be used as an interpreter. This situation was not an emergency that required immediate need of a translator, thus an appropriate interpreter would have been the best approach.

The purpose of effective communication in healthcare is to provide first-class medical care, minimal to no medical errors and have precision; and without it there is room for medical errors, poor patient care and an ineffective team that produces undesired outcome. In the professional and patient relationship, the lack of good communication causes the patient to be apprehensive in asking questions, to worry about being bothersome because they feel other patients are sicker, and there is an assumption that the patient does not have any concerns. There are barriers to communication that include only one between the sender and receiver of the message understands the message, cultural differences, and lack of education. In sending the message it is essential that the message is received with clarity, it is concise and complete. If the patient has a language barrier, it can be masked by the patient not responding to information and it is detected as a result of poor or no compliance. In literacy concerns, all information should be presented on a 5th grade level to aid in the comprehension of the information. The care of the patient should be patient/family centered which helps in detecting any language, cultural or literacy barriers (Schyve, 2007). For example, a 46 year old single male patient that is functionally literate is admitted with a diagnosis of acute angina. During the

Family members, at times, can be of great assistance, but then HIPPA comes into play. The patient may not want a particular family member to know about their health problems. The language barrier does inhibit sufficient care, and this should be addressed with the utmost of care and consideration for both the medical staff and patient.

While reading the case, I was shocked that the physician did not call for a medical interpreter during his first encounter with Rico. Though Rico’s son offered to translate the physician’s words to him, it is general practice to avoid using family members as translators; in order

and tasked with reviewing his medical notes and past history to determine what was the most likely condition.

JM is a 32 years old female who was admitted on 02/09/2016 for a planned C-section. As we entered the room, she was lying on her bed talking with her husband in Spanish about her incision pain. Also, she was talking in Spanish with two of her kids that were visiting and sitting on her bed. When the nurse approached her bed, JM preferred to speak in English with her nurse. While I was doing the interview, she spoke to me in Spanish. This patient dominates both languages perfectly. She is Mexican, but grew up in this country.

Effective communication is important in providing safe health care. Miscommunication can lead to many errors, which can inadvertently affect compliance, accurate diagnosis, and health promotion. There are a variety of translation services offered in the United States; however,

It is important to approach the patient in the appropriate manner to prevent jeopardizing the nurse-patient relationship. The first step a nurse should take is to eliminate any communication barriers. Most Arabs can speak fluent English, but it may be necessary in some cases to facilitate an Arabic interpreter. The nurse should then document the interpreter as an intervention in the patient’s chart (Khalifa, 2012). In the case of the patient not speaking fluent English, the nurse should be aware of nonverbal cues and implement strategies to successfully

This patient needs an interpreter for Spanish to assist with discharge instructions. He needs to be informed of the medications the MD discontinued, new meds that are ready to pick up at his pharmacy, the co-pay involved for those medications, proper administration of the medications, side effects and when to call the doctor if there are any adverse effects. He also needs to be taught the importance of fluid restriction to 1500mL/day. This includes water, ice, gravy, soup, ice cream, dairy, soda or other fluids. He needs to be shown an example of how much 1500mL of fluid looks like and taught the importance of daily weights. This patient did not have a scale at home, so he needs to be informed that there are scales available for low cost at a local store. Dietary restrictions of potassium, calcium, phosphorus and protein should also be addressed. He