"Patient Safety in Any Language" Podcast

Viewing Patient Safety Through the Lens of Language and Culture

"Welcome to Language Line^® University’s round table discussion: Patient Safety In Any Language. An educational forum made possible through a collaboration between:

• Grady Health System,
  
• The International Medical Interpreters Association,
• The Joint Commission, and
• Language Line^® University

"I’m Christine Barney.  Today we’re going to talk about patient safety as seen through the lens of language and culture. There’s no debating that good communication between a patient and a physician is key to positive health outcomes.

"And many of us take for granted that when we visit our doctor for a regular checkup or when we have to go to the emergency room, we are able to describe our medical symptoms and conditions in great detail.

"But this is not the case for the nearly 23 million people in this country that are considered to have limited English proficiency. The miscommunications that happen all too frequently in today’s hospitals can be costly and even life-threatening."

So begins an important exchange of ideas...

...recorded and transcribed, between health care and language interpretation experts:

• Dr. Peter Angood, Inaugural Chief Patient Safety Officer and a Vice President for the Joint Commission
• Izabel Arocha, President of the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA)
• Marty Conroy, former Director at the Division of Acute and Primary Care Services with the State of New York and current Senior Manager for Public Sector Programs for Language Line Services
• Linda Joyce, a language access consultant, professional medical interpreter, and language proficiency tester
• Louis Provenzano, President and Chief Operating Officer of Language Line Services, and
• Sandra Sanchez, Director of Multicultural Affairs at Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia

Professional background information is available here

You are invited to download both the recording and transcript of this round table discussion...

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More information on the issue of Patient Safety:

The Joint Commission

 
Developing Culturally Competent Patient-Centered Care Standards
 
In August 2008, The Joint Commission, with funding from The Commonwealth Fund, began developing accreditation standards for hospitals that will promote, facilitate, and advance the provision of culturally competent patient-centered care.

This 18-month project, running August 2008 through January 2010, will increase national attention to cultural competence, highlight its intersection with patient-centered care, and improve the safety and quality of care for all patients.

In collaboration with the National Health Law Program, The Joint Commission will design an implementation guide to prepare Joint Commission surveyors and accredited hospitals for the release of the new standards addressing culturally competent patient-centered care.


 
Hospitals, Language, and Culture:  A Snapshot of the Nation, Compiled List of Resources

The Joint Commission has compiled a list of resources consisting of websites, reports, guidelines, training tools and other information that addresses issues of culture, language, and diversity for the benefit of organizations in their efforts to provide safe, quality health care to all patients.



Facts About Patient Safety

Here you will find all kinds of information on their 2007 national study from The Joint Commission, "Hospitals, Language and Culture a Snapshot of the Nation" by Amy Wilson-Stronks and Erica Galvez
 

Grady Health System

Communication - Key to Patient Safety (MS PowerPoint Download)

Thousands of preventable deaths occur yearly in the U.S. health care system due to errors, and communication problems are at the heart of these errors. Communication between health care providers and patients is sometimes difficult, even when everyone speaks the same language. When you add different languages, cultures and literacy levels, the challenges become more profound.

Limited English proficient (LEP) patients are the most vulnerable to be effected by these errors due to language, culture and literacy levels. The report below discusses the crucial role that a sound language services program, including qualified interpreter and translators, plays in insuring patient safety and how to form healthy, collaborative alliances.
 

International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA)

IMIA Standards of Practice (PDF)

The standards of practice presented in the Medical Interpreting Standards of Practice created by the Massachusetts Medical Interpreters Association (now the IMIA) and Education Development Center, Inc. were adopted in October of 1995.

Read the following excerpt from the Introduction here

Language Line Services

Language Access May Help Hospitals Comply with Stricter Regulations, Enforcements

When it comes to meeting the multiple objectives of caring for patients, protecting the bottom line, and complying with the law, the great challenge presented by our new multilingual society can be met with one clear solution: a formal language access program.

 

Also:

The California Endowment

http://www.calendow.org/

Searchable web site with many articles on Patient Safety.

 

The National Patient Safety Foundation

http://www.npsf.org/