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Eliminating language barriers for non-English-speaking patients
J C Hornberger1, C D Gibson, W Wood
1Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5092, USA.
Medical Care
|August 1, 1996
Summary
Remote-simultaneous interpretation improved communication quality and physician/mother satisfaction in medical visits. This innovative service enhances care for non-English speakers by reducing language barriers.
Area of Science:
- Medical Communication
- Health Services Research
- Language Interpretation
Background:
- Over 31 million individuals in the U.S. do not speak English, leading to potential communication barriers in healthcare.
- Language discordance can hinder effective and cost-efficient medical care delivery.
- A novel remote-simultaneous interpretation service was developed to address these challenges.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the quality of communication and interpretation between remote-simultaneous interpretation and traditional proximate-consecutive interpretation.
- To assess patient, interpreter, and physician satisfaction with both language services.
- To evaluate the impact of remote-simultaneous interpretation on the number of utterances and interpretation accuracy.
Main Methods:
- A randomized protocol comparing proximate-consecutive interpretation (control) with remote-simultaneous interpretation (experimental).
- 49 mothers and their newborns participated in their first postpartum visit.
- Outcome measures included physician/mother utterances, interpretation quality, and participant preferences.
Main Results:
- Remote-simultaneous interpretation resulted in significantly more physician and mother utterances.
- Fewer inaccuracies were observed in physician and mother utterances with remote-simultaneous interpretation.
- Mothers and physicians expressed a significant preference for the remote-simultaneous interpretation service.
Conclusions:
- Remote-simultaneous interpretation shows promise for enhancing the quality of medical care for non-English-speaking patients.
- This technology can improve communication in healthcare settings with language discordance.
- The findings support the broader implementation of remote-simultaneous interpretation to improve health equity.
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