CLAS Standard #4

Health care organizations must offer and provide language assistance services, including bilingual staff and interpreter services, at no cost to each patient/consumer with limited English proficiency at all points of contact, in a timely manner during all hours of operation.

This week, we discuss the importance of providing language assistance and interpretive services to patients.  Regardless of the patient’s English proficiency (the ability to speak, write, or read), health care providers must ensure the patient receives linguistically appropriate services. 

Health care can be compared to building a house.  You can have all the proper supplies (the bricks, the concrete, the tools, etc.), but without a blueprint, the supplies are futile.  Communication is the blueprint to healthcare.  A patient may be given all the tools for treatment.  However, without a clear, linguistic understanding of his condition, the patient’s progress will be as steady as a house of cards.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health identifies adequate language services as:

·      “The availability of a bilingual staff who can communicate directly with patients/consumers”

·       “Face-to-face interpretation by trained staff”

·       “Or contract or volunteer interpreters”

·      “Telephone interpreter services.”

The availability of a bilingual staff is crucial at a practice.  Some practices may not have the resources to hire a part-time or full-time interpreter.  However, there are other effective ways to provide interpretive services.  For example, one can hire a bilingual staff and identify those who can have dual interpretive roles at the front office, call center, or registration staff. There isn’t a quick fix to the shortage of bilingual staff or interpreters, but it is important for practices to think outside the box in order to meet their patient’s linguistic needs.

Interpreters can be onsite staff or operators at a language bank.  However, a phone operator may not always be available based on the demand and/or volume. A face-to-face interpreter is usually the best choice; we also need to examine the interpreter’s training and skills.  In addition to interpretation skills, interpreters must also be knowledgeable about medical terms and communicating medical content in a comprehensive manner.