[lg policy] US: Bilingual staff valuable in healthcare, but lack of training is liability

[Gareth Price]

Bilingual staff have become a valuable asset to healthcare
organizations. They’re often pulled from their daily responsibilities
to assist nurses, physicians, techs and other support staff in
communicating with limited English proficient (LEP) patients. As
language barriers persist, “helping” is the word commonly used to
describe the role these bilingual employees have assumed as they
attempt to facilitate the communication between patients and providers
who do not share a common language.

These requests sometimes are extended to bilingual family members and
even strangers nearby who want to “help.” The issue is regardless how
much they would like to help, most have little or no training in
medical interpreting or the importance of accurate communication in
the prevention of adverse health outcomes.

Full story: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/bilingual-staff-valuable-healthcare-lack-training-liability

-- 
Dr. Gareth Price
Visiting Assistant Professor
Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies
316 Languages Building, Box 90259
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0259
USA

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