JCAHO rules to address diversity, language, health literacy

The Joint Commission plans to revise hospital accreditation standards to include diversity, language and health literacy requirements for patient care processes. The commission won’t tell hospitals what technology to use but will lay out expectations and quality guidelines. For example, hospitals could train bilingual staff, hire an interpreter or purchase technology-based interpreter services.
http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/HLC/HLC_Develop_Culturally_Competent_Pt_Centered_Stds.htm

National Coalition charts path for Healthcare Interpreter Certification

June 13, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Don Schinske
NCHCIC Coordinating Committee
(916) 444-1506
dschinske@chiaonline.org

National Coalition charts path for Healthcare Interpreter Certification

CHICAGO – Members of a nationwide coalition of non-profit associations, language-service companies, hospitals, consumer groups and educators last week committed to developing a single national certification in medical interpreting.
Once developed and implemented, the certification will assure the minimum [...]

Resource: Health Information Translations Site

The Health Information Translations site includes lots of bilingual resources with value for medical interpreters, health care organizations, and patients. All materials are available free, in PDF format.
Health care interpreters can prepare for appointments and further their knowledge of medical terminology and procedures by using translated materials in 17 languages, from Arabic to Vietnamese. [...]

Report: Language help better for patients at NY hospitals

By MARCUS FRANKLIN
NEW YORK (AP) – Two years ago, Aida Torres rushed her feverish daughter to the emergency room. Doctors at the Brooklyn hospital tried telling Torres that her mentally retarded daughter, Madayeli, needed surgery for an ovarian cyst, but the scared mother didn’t understand them because she doesn’t speak English.Frustrated and desperate, the native [...]

Annotated Bibliography by Alice Chen, M.D.

Annotated Bibliography

Hospital program helps minorities, immigrants navigate health care

Some Maryland hospitals are adjusting to the increase in immigrant and minority patients by developing education programs that focus on these populations to improve care and reduce emergency room admissions. The programs discuss prevention within the context of the immigrants’ cultures and languages, using community leaders and laymen. Washington Post, The (2/5)

Trained interpreters: a necessary expense

Scenario: Why should doctors provide interpreter services, and how can they afford to?
Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of ethnicity by any entity receiving federal funds, directs that physicians who receive Medicare and Medicaid funds must arrange interpretation for patients with little or no proficiency in English. [...]

A paper on pediatrics interpreter errors

I have been doing some literature search on the subject of errors made by medical interpreters, be it ad hoc or hospital interpreters with little or no training. I found a paper that I thought you might find interesting and relevant, and it perhaps could even be used as a complement to your curriculum. It [...]

RWJF project offers video on hospital language services

A new video from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Speaking Together project describes the role that language services play in delivering high quality health care. The video features Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts and Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where medically trained interpreters are contributing to safety and clinical outcomes for patients who speak or understand little English. [...]

New Mexico Needs Healthcare Interpreters

“Intoxicado” has been called the $71 million word. That’s the award a Florida hospital was to pay in a malpractice suit that left 18-year-old William Ramírez a quadriplegic due to the wrong interpretation of the word.
http://www.thecitizen.info/2007/01/state_needs_hea.html