Lep Patients: A Case Study

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.

According to the 2011 U.S. Census, twenty-one percent of the population speaks other language at home besides English. Hence, one of the biggest challenges in Healthcare is the language barrier between the providers, Health care administrators and patients that speak foreign languages. This poses a challenge for medical entities,

In the state of Massachusetts the state law states that the emergency department patients with limited English proficiency have the right to a medical interpreter (Ginde, Clark, & Camargo, 2009). Having a medical interpreter for patients that have limited English proficiency will increase the quality of health care they receive; it also increases patient compliance and increases patient satisfaction. The use of professional interpreters is shown to decrease revisiting the emergency department, and increase this population’s use of outpatient clinics for follow up care (Ginde et al., 2009).

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.

Insuring that the patient fully understands what is being done to them is of great importance. As patients, they have the right to understand what is being done and why. Informed consent must be given; the patient should be able to repeat what they have been informed of before the procedure is done. Currently “only 33 percent of U.S. hospitals have quality improvement efforts underway to improve the quality of their language access programs.” (Armand and Hubbard, 2010). The goal of the interpreter is to assure that the LEP patient has no doubts or concerns and totally understands what is going to happen, why, and any options they may have.

They must be comfortable with the idea of discussing “sensitive or personal issues” as a result of having to interpret symptoms and the reason why each patient visited a healthcare center. Also, interpreters must be able to “understand and present information of a scientific or technical nature” considering they must translate physician’s questions and answers in order for patients to be able to understand them and respond appropriately. The main focus of an interpreter communication (Santiago, 2014). Even so, responsibilities of an interpreter are continuously changing as they evolve to meet the needs of patients and become higher valued members of a healthcare team (ExploreHealthCareers.org,

One patient was an 11-year-old girl who came in for a wellness visit, the patient spoke English and Spanish but her family only spoke Spanish. The staff got an interpreter to help educate and update the family about the child’s visit, but there was a delay with the interpreter. The nurse practitioner started her assessment, so the staff wouldn’t fall behind for the day, then figured she’d update the family once all the information was gathered. While the little girl was getting assessed, she kept talking with her family but was relaying false information so she could miss a couple extra days of school. Once the interpreter arrived she clarified all the information and the issue was resolved but it was interesting to see the psychosocial aspect of this patient’s care and how easy it is for medical information to get lost or changed in translation. The next patient was a 9-month girl who presented with a smaller than normal head circumference and a lower Chadis score. The nurse had to work with this parent to make referrals for further assessment that would work for this parent and

To communicate seems easy enough to most of us. We have been doing this from the moment we were born. We expressed ourselves with grunts, moans, crying, smiling and yelling. We started communicating even before we made words with our nonverbal forms of communication. Communication is important. It allows individuals to share information and messages in the form of ideas and feelings (Giger, 2013). It gives us direction and allows us to interact with others. Can you image getting the entertainment system in parts in the mail with no instructions as to how to put it together? It is essential that we all communicate effectivity in order to ensure the best quality of care. Language barriers threaten the patient safety and overall quality of care of these individuals. By having efficient practices in place it will lower those risks and increase quality care.

The intervention was based on the length of time that was added to a patient 's visit who required an interpreter. The comparison of the results aimed at reducing problems within the health care practice due to language barriers by providing interpreters. The outcome of the study established that encounters within the clinic took 30 percent longer for those who required interpreters compared to those who did not. Although the length of time can put a strain on staff and presents clinical challenges, the benefits of quality of healthcare that come with interpreters outweigh the costs.

“Being able to access service such as health and mental health care is very important and in some cases can even be a matter of life or death. It is estimated about 11 millions of people or 4.2% of the population of U.S experiences some level of difficulty in speaking english well to not all”(Linguistic Diverse Population, 2010). It can be expected that these numbers will increase, because of the changing demographic of U.S population. The situation prompted in the video that this is the rising number of foreign patients seeking care here at U.S is becoming an ever expanding challenge for health care providers across the the country so the organization of Fluency their interested in getting people to go their website and ask for help from interpreters. The PSA from Fluency is effective at convincing the audience to those who need help in understanding that person language to go seek those interpreters in their website because: the speaker at the end of the PSA states facts of new language, it warns foreign people if they don’t seek the proper help it can lead to life or death, and use the saying of “We

One key skill which is essential to nurses is being able resolve a way to communicate though barriers. Language barriers is something which be very challenging to overcome. For this barrier to be overcome it is common that a translator or an interpreter is brought into the setting. This requires specific training and allows the conversation to happen much more smoothly. Interpreters however can be a negative factor in communication, this is due to the nursing becoming reliant on the interpreter and not the patient themselves. For this not to occur it is essential that the nurse talking is speaking to both the interpreter and the patient. This could be making sure that eye contact is given to both. Unfortunately, interpreters aren’t always available meaning that the communication faces a barrier. This can make the patient feel angry and upset leaving them to feel unsatisfied with the care they are receiving. During a short placement in the North West there was a situation where a man could only speak Mandarin and no interpreter was available. The man was due to be discharged yet a discharge chat was needed to be made. The man himself began to get annoyed and aggressive as he wanted to

During the study, Davidson said that the scarcity of time become the factor of the patient in medical interview. It is because the patients who used interpreter often were left alone for sometimes an hour while they waited for the interpreter to arrive (Baker, 2010 p.160). Moreover, Davidson said that the interpreters are possibly conducted the interview with the patient before the physician arrived (Baker, 2010 p.160). They took a charge of physician’s position by asking questions the patient about the illness before they convey it to the physician. This affects the process of elaborating a Chief Complaint from patient which becomes shorter. Besides, the interpreters also would occasionally go so far as to conduct the initial portions of the interviews itself. According to Davidson in Baker (2010, p.164) the interferences of interpreter in medical interview create harms for the physician. For instance, in