Language Barriers Research

Establishing effective communication with the patient is a critical factor in promoting patient quality care. Good communication is fundamental when providing safe and effective care at the beside in order to increase the quality of patient care. One of the many communicative barriers that exists between patients and the healthcare team are language barriers. Language barriers are considered an initial problem of translation or code-switching. Individuals who speak different languages require a certain code breaker in order to facilitate effective communication (Gregg & Saha, 2007). Furthermore, language barriers may hinder the quality of patient care and interfere with optimal clinical outcomes. According to Happ et al., 2011, nurses have the unique responsibility to engage in communication with patients and have control over the timing and method of communication. Evidenced based interventions such as communication boards are needed to improve nurses’ communication skills in order to achieve effective communication.

Can you imagine the how the healthcare industry would be without language, what seems to be impossible to imagine is the everyday reality of some patients because of their native language. Language is a major contribution to the health disparities that some populations face, because it makes it difficult for some patients to communicate their problems as well as understand the care they provided. Language contributes to the health disparities that some populations face because it creates a barrier between the patient and the care provider, making it difficult for a patient to receive proper care. Language barriers create a communication gap between a patient and a provider, forcing the patient to feel misunderstood and unable to trust his/her provider to properly care for them. I come from a family that speaks more than one language, so I have seen the impact language barriers can have on someone who doesn’t speak fluent English.

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.

For example; If a patient does not speak the language of which country they are in, interpreters or translators may be needed in order to help communicate with people from the local area. These are important to keep the person informed about what is happening and what is going to happen. Supporting individuals to express their needs and

Effective communication with patients is critical to the safety and quality care. From the last two decades ,number of researches has been conducted on the impact of language barrier on health and healthcare. It is observed that language barriers are the main cause of medical errors, complication and adverse event. But due to data limitations ,limited researches on impacts of language barrier has been conducted in Canadian setting. However, the researches conducted on other countries on the impact of language barrier on quality of care is applicable in the Canadian context. Some researches shows that there are several barrier which affect quality of care and patient safety. Now, researches has begun to know the complexity of language, culture, race, health literacy that may affect patient care. Current approaches are moved towards the knowledge of risk of language barrier rather than implementation of effective, evidence informed strategies.

Jacobs, E. A., Shepard, D. S., Suaya, J. A., Stone, E. (2004). Overcoming language barriers in health care: costs and benefits of interpreter services. American Journal of Public Health, 94 (5), 866-869.

The most effective method of communicating with patients with limited English is the use of a certified translator. When using this method, it is important to speak to the patient, not the translator. Eye contact should be utilized in the appropriate manner for the patient’s culture. The same terminology used with English-speaking patients

Caring for the elderly who have hearing loss, vision loss and other normal diminishing physical and mental abilities make conversation difficult. And caring for patients from a different ethnicity creates that much more of a barrier. Having a language barrier prevents healthy communication. I have taken care of a patient from Russia, because of the language barrier I felt that I was not able to provide therapeutic care to that patient. I was very upsetting to me because I could see how frustrated and upset he was

I see many challenges in regards to providing care to patients that do not speak English especially in the healthcare realm. From the very beginning we need to know what is wrong, what happened, how long it has been going for, what medical history they have, allergies, and medication taken. How can we treat what we do not know is wrong? In order to probably do some root cause analysis you need to drill down and see what is going on, which cannot be done if you cannot communicate. Also, you do not know what I making things better. These non-English speaking individuals will have unmet needs because of my inability to

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

Encourage AC to use body language to express herself – if language barrier is related to difficulty communicate, try to ask AC to use hand gesture or pointing to show her thoughts. Nurses can also gather informations from her facial expression

Discussing fear was a great way to start the discussion. Often, counselor educators speak of being a leader and an advocate, which may lead to discomfort among their students. Personally, I am excited to break through my comfort zone to expand my knowledge of counseling. The more practice I have, the more comfortable counseling will become.

The language barrier includes healthcare employees who are from different areas of the country. The learning style for communication in these different areas might include different words for the same thing (Kinn’s p 348). Communication within the medical clinic can be improved with the employees by encouraging an acceptance of cultural differences between employees. There is also the communication challenge for when the patient and healthcare employee do not speak the same language. As the country becomes more diverse, being able to communicate with the patient has become more difficult. Bringing in an interpreter or having the patient bring in a family member to interpret may ease the communication (Partida).

A key element to overcoming cultural barriers during interacting with the patient is the use of effective communication. A diabetes patient who does not speak English well would be hard to communicate for who speaks English as the first language. Especially, when educating a patient, you would need to speak as simple you can. Since the cultures are different, some of the non-verbal communications also different. Sometimes misunderstanding could happen to each other.