Interpretation time in an ethnically diverse pediatric orthopedic clinic

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Clinical Operations
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Language barriers pose significant challenges in diverse healthcare settings.
• Effective communication is crucial for quality patient care, especially in pediatrics.
• Previous research has not quantified the impact of interpretation services on clinical encounter times.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare clinical encounter durations between English-speaking patients and those requiring interpretation services.
• To identify differences in time allocation for new versus established patients needing language assistance.
• To provide data for resource allocation in pediatric clinics serving diverse populations.

Main Methods:

• A comparative analysis of 310 patient encounters at a pediatric orthopedic clinic.
• Utilizing ANOVA to compare encounter times across four patient groups (English-speaking vs. interpretation needed, new vs. established).
• Data collected from a setting with over 18 primary patient languages.

Main Results:

• Encounters requiring interpretation services were 30% longer (25 vs. 16 minutes) than those without (p < 0.01).
• New patients needing interpretation experienced a 53% increase in encounter time (36 vs. 23 minutes).
• Established patients needing interpretation had a 25% increase in encounter time (20 vs. 16 minutes).

Conclusions:

• Interpretation services add significant time to clinical encounters, particularly for new pediatric patients.
• Adequate resource allocation for interpretation is essential for equitable and effective healthcare delivery.
• Findings highlight potential system-wide implications for clinical encounter time and resource management.