{"id":2182,"date":"2015-12-02T16:15:03","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T20:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/?p=2182"},"modified":"2016-09-24T17:33:01","modified_gmt":"2016-09-24T21:33:01","slug":"hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Carol Velandia<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A<\/span>pproximately 25 million people in the United States are defined as being Limited English Proficient or LEP. A LEP person cannot speak, read, write, or understand the English language at a level that permits them to interact effectively with English speakers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"[image<\/p>\n

In the hospital setting, good communication is crucial; it is actually a matter of life and death. Limited English proficiency and failure to provide professional medical interpretation and translation leads to medical errors based on poor communication during diagnosis and care. The LEP population presents disproportionately longer lengths of stay at the hospital, more surgical delays, surgical infections and falls than the rest of the population[1]<\/a>. They often fail to understand how to take their medications, prepare for surgery or understand what is involved in the procedure that they are about to undergo[1]<\/a>[2]<\/a>[3]<\/a>[4]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Both providers and patients feel frustrated with the communication barrier (…)”<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

Both\u00a0providers and patients feel frustrated with the communication barrier, and they try to work with the resources that they have, such as bilingual family members, machine translation, and their limited language skills. They mean well, but the results of this informal interpretation or translation could be disastrous. It can put patients at risk for medical errors and expose hospitals to very costly lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Language access is an elemental service in every hospital. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act states:<\/p>\n

“No person in the United States shall on the ground of race, color or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”[5]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

Hospitals that receive federal funding, including Medicare and Medicaid, must provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services. These are also referred to as CLAS (Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services) standards. These include but are not limited to professional medical interpretation and translation. Patients and clinicians have the right to receive information in a language that they can understand.<\/p>\n

Hospital administrators often feel burdened by the expense of culturally and linguistically appropriate services. The perception is that these services are an empty cost for hospitals. However, the truth is that it actually saves them money. How? It reduces waste represented by overtreatment and medical errors. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, this waste amounts to 50% of the healthcare costs and it is generated by 5% of the population[2]<\/a>. If hospitals devote some of their efforts in providing appropriate access to information and care, patients will be more likely to follow instructions and take better care of their own health, and hospitals will reduce the costs by increasing patient safety and quality. These elements are highly valued.<\/p>\n

From the hospital perspective, the best strategy to follow is to implement CLAS standards. They offer a clear road map to fulfill Title VI and implement Language Access Plans.\u00a0\u00a0 https:\/\/www.thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov\/Content\/clas.asp#clas_standards<\/a><\/p>\n

From the patients and LEP citizens perspective, they should know that they have a right to receive information in a language they can understand. It sounds simple, but it will require the will of hospital leaders, administrators and language services providers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes<\/strong>
\n[1]<\/a>\u00a02012 National Healthcare Quality Report. June 2013. Agency for Healthcare\u00a0Research and Quality, Rockville, MD,\u00a0https:\/\/archive.ahrq.gov\/research\/findings\/nhqrdr\/nhqr12\/<\/a><\/div>\n
[2]<\/a>\u00a0Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National\u00a0Health Statistics Group, National Health Care Expenditures Data. January 2012.<\/div>\n
[3]<\/a>\u00a0“National CLAS\u00a0Standards”, Office of Minority Health,\u00a0https:\/\/minorityhealth.hhs.gov<\/a>.<\/div>\n
[4]<\/a>\u00a0Improving Patient Safety Systems for Patients With Limited English Proficiency:\u00a0A Guide for Hospitals. September 2012. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.\u00a0https:\/\/www.ahrq.gov\/professionals\/systems\/hospital\/lepguide\/index.html<\/a><\/div>\n
[5]<\/a>\u00a0Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"[Carol<\/div>\n

Carol Velandia<\/strong> M.B.A, C.H.I. P.M.P. is a healthcare and judiciary interpreter and also a Social Work student. In her dual role as an interpreter and as social worker in training, she works with culturally diverse populations, especially the limited English proficient (LEP) population. Her professional goal is to find avenues to bring about adequate Language Access Services and promote the Cultural and Linguistically Appropriate Standards (CLAS) and thus facilitate equal access to justice, healthcare and education to individuals with LEP. As the Administrator of the Interpreters Division at ATA she has advocated to raise the standards for interpreters of all tracks of the profession. She was an expert panelist at the Department of Homeland Security in 2014 on the topic of Language Access where she provided a definition and a profile of the professional interpreter. Simultaneously, she promoted ATA\u2019s position paper on this topic, a team effort. In her role as a healthcare interpreter at Johns Hopkins, she created and directed the video: \u201cSaving Lives in Many Languages\u201d. The video was awarded with the first prize in the Patient Safety National Summit held at Johns Hopkins Institutions in 2013. The video was later endorsed by the institution on their \u201cThe Promise of Medicine\u201d campaign. She is also the recipient of the President\u2019s Fellowship on Cultural Competency at the University of Maryland and is working on a white paper on this topic.<\/p>\n

\n

Image by Shaarc via pixabay.com, modified with Art Serigraphy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carol Velandia Approximately 25 million people in the United States are defined as being Limited English Proficient or LEP. A LEP person cannot speak, read, write, or understand the English language at a level that permits them to interact effectively with English speakers.   In the hospital setting, good communication is crucial; it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[82,28],"yoast_head":"\nHospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death - ATA Interpreters Division<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"e-Voice. By Carol Velandia.\u00a0Approximately 25 million people in the United States are defined as ... Read the full article on our website!\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death - ATA Interpreters Division\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"e-Voice. By Carol Velandia.\u00a0Approximately 25 million people in the United States are defined as ... Read the full article on our website!\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATA Interpreters Division\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-02T20:15:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-24T21:33:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"IDwebmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-content\/uploads\/e-voice\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/lifesaver1.png?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@idelingo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"IDwebmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/\",\"name\":\"Hospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death - ATA Interpreters Division\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-02T20:15:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-24T21:33:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#\/schema\/person\/41954cdd7d481d3194486b08605e0ae9\"},\"description\":\"e-Voice. By Carol Velandia.\u00a0Approximately 25 million people in the United States are defined as ... Read the full article on our website!\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/\",\"name\":\"ATA Interpreters Division\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#\/schema\/person\/41954cdd7d481d3194486b08605e0ae9\",\"name\":\"IDwebmaster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b5fefdd86f7bf70c18ecb0fb82004f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b5fefdd86f7bf70c18ecb0fb82004f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"IDwebmaster\"},\"description\":\"Interpreters Division webmaster.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/idelingo\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/author\/paulatraduterm-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death - ATA Interpreters Division","description":"e-Voice. By Carol Velandia.\u00a0Approximately 25 million people in the United States are defined as ... Read the full article on our website!\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death - ATA Interpreters Division","og_description":"e-Voice. By Carol Velandia.\u00a0Approximately 25 million people in the United States are defined as ... Read the full article on our website!\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/","og_site_name":"ATA Interpreters Division","article_published_time":"2015-12-02T20:15:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-24T21:33:01+00:00","author":"IDwebmaster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-content\/uploads\/e-voice\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/lifesaver1.png?fit=%2C&ssl=1","twitter_creator":"@idelingo","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"IDwebmaster","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/","name":"Hospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death - ATA Interpreters Division","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-12-02T20:15:03+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-24T21:33:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#\/schema\/person\/41954cdd7d481d3194486b08605e0ae9"},"description":"e-Voice. By Carol Velandia.\u00a0Approximately 25 million people in the United States are defined as ... Read the full article on our website!\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hospital Language Access is a Matter of Life or Death"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/","name":"ATA Interpreters Division","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#\/schema\/person\/41954cdd7d481d3194486b08605e0ae9","name":"IDwebmaster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b5fefdd86f7bf70c18ecb0fb82004f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1b5fefdd86f7bf70c18ecb0fb82004f4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"IDwebmaster"},"description":"Interpreters Division webmaster.","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/idelingo"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/author\/paulatraduterm-com\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-content\/uploads\/e-voice\/hospital-language-access-is-a-matter-of-life-or-death\/lifesaver1.png?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lWav-zc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2182"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3510,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2182\/revisions\/3510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/ID\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}