Guest Blogger, Emely Barragan- Diaz
That feeling of hopelessness when you scramble for words to try and express how you feel, the symptoms you’ve been experiencing, how long ago, and any allergies you could have to medications can mean life or death. In the healthcare field, communication barriers can arise when the patient and the healthcare provider do not speak the same language. Research has highlighted that due to communication failures between patients and doctors results in medical errors, incorrect doses of medicine, and inaccurate diagnoses. 
How important is being able to speak multiple languages? For healthcare professionals who see hundreds of new patients who come from different backgrounds with their unique healthcare needs? Very! This is just one aspect of providing culturally appropriate care, and just as it’s critically important for Providers to be able to effectively communicate with patients who speak English, it’s just as important that we have Providers who are capable of communicating with patients who speak other languages.
Sickness is not the same for everyone. Definitions of what counts as “sick” or “disease” and how to care for it are part of larger cultural norms of what is considered “normal”, mentally and physically. Being sick is not solely a biological phenomenon, or merely the result of someone’s presumed bad choices or wrong lifestyle. Instead, social inequalities lie at the center of people’s continued struggle to get healthy and stay healthy. Adding on a language barrier-makes it even more difficult to build a healthier lifestyle.
What about the option of having an interpreter? While interpreters are useful, it’s important to understand that there is a lot of information and gets lost between the patient and Provider. “Cultural norms around communication, as well as bias, immigration status, systemic racism, and other factors may also play into these discrepancies,” notes Alisa Khan, a pediatric hospitalist and health services researcher at Boston Children’s. Having an interpreter available to patients is the least healthcare systems can do. We must consider ways to take language access to the next step, to language justice.
A study from Boston’s Children’s Hospital highlights 7 tips to breakdown communication barriers in healthcare.
- Accurately and consistently identify and document language assistance needs
- Use certified interpreters, and use them with every communication within the hospital.
- If-in person interpreter services are limited, use technology like a telephone or tablet to connect with families via virtual telephonic interpreter services.
- Use electronic medical records, triggers to obtain interpreter services for error prone procedures.
- Frequently train staff on how to request hospital interpreter services.
- Train staff to encourage families with limited comfort with English to speak up about safety concerns.
- Invest in staff training and workshops regarding anti-racism and bias.
That being said, The Tubman Center for Health and Justice is a multidisciplinary health care center designed to meet the needs of communities marginalized by mainstream medicine by offering culturally appropriate care for the people by the people. Not only will we be providing culturally appropriate care, but we are also working to advance health justice and integrative medicine. TCHF is united with community members who are laying the foundation for innovative community health clinics to specialize in meeting the needs of marginalized communities in the Seattle’s Puget Sound region.
Emely Barragan, came from the Yakima Valley and is currently pursuing a degree in Public Health-Global Health with a minor in Public Policy at the University of Washington. She is passionate about advocating for equal health rights and reducing health inequalities within communities of color. Reach her at emelybdiaz@gmail.com.
