Increasing Language Interpreter Services Use and Documentation: A Quality Improvement Project.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Communication
• Health Equity

Background:

• Hospitals must provide qualified interpreters for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients per the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Official interpreter services were underutilized and inconsistently documented at the institution.
• Baseline data showed low reported use (median 43%) and zero documented use of interpreter services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To improve the utilization and documentation of official interpreter services for LEP patients.
• To enhance communication and ensure compliance with language assistance requirements.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project was conducted at a children's hospital over 4 months.
• Interventions included developing best practices, integrating language identification into workflows, empowering families, and standardizing documentation.
• Data were collected via surveys to inpatient LEP families and analyzed using run charts and descriptive statistics.

Main Results:

• Following interventions, reported use of official interpreter services increased to a median of 73%.
• Documented use of interpreter services rose to a median of 59%.
• Improvements were observed across all inpatient units after specific intervention periods.

Conclusions:

• Targeted interventions significantly improved both the utilization and documentation of interpreter services for LEP patients.
• The project demonstrated success in enhancing language assistance and patient communication within the hospital setting.