Finally, bridging language barriers is also our legal responsibility;
U.S. law requires healthcare facilities to provide interpreter services
to patients with LEP.
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Facilities must "take reasonable steps" like oral
or written translation to provide LEP patients "meaningful access."
The translation has to be free and high quality; facilities may not rely
on unqualified staff to translate. Facilities must also post patients'
rights in the 15 top languages of their states. With all that in mind,
here are 9 tips for negotiating language barriers.
1. Use trained bilingual staffers
If a member of your staff is fluent in another language, consider desig-
nating him or her as an interpreter. There's no interpretation better than
in-person interpretation. However, there are important caveats.
First, remember that health care is almost a language unto
itself.
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Multilingual nurses or other staff trained in health care are
almost always the best option. Relying on an untrained staffer like a
housekeeper who speaks a dialect, but doesn't understand health care
can be risky.
Second, if you're fortunate enough to have such a person on staff,
strongly consider investing in training and certification before using
them. Employees who function as interpreters should have a formal
language skills assessment and understand medical terminology in the
languages they speak.
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It's not required, but I strongly recommend sending your employee
to a course in medical interpretation. These typically require at least
40 hours of study and live demonstration of ability. It's possible to
take a national exam to become board certified by either the National
Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters or the Certification
Commission for Healthcare Interpreters.
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