Language Barrier

[Farawyn]

What do you do? I saw a patient on Saturday who did not speak uno word of English. Her son, with whom she lives, worked until 5.

We ended up calling granddaughter in Florida and she stayed on the phone for the entire SOC.

There has to be a better way.

Do you all have a Cyracom, or the equivalent?

[PurpleDaisy🌸]

We have a list of translators we can utilize, however I am guessing that waiting for one to arrive could hold things up by hours.

[toomuchbaloney]

We have access to to a translator by telephone most of the time.

For a spell I worked in Detroit and Ann Arbor Michigan where there were many Middle Eastern immigrants. The company that I worked with required families of nonEnglish speaking patients to provide an English speaking adult in the home during visits for safety and continuity of care. They signed an agreement upon admission.

I worked with a health professional who was Palestinian and who would occasionally schedule time in the home during my nursing visits so that she could translate for one old girl who couldn't remember her American words as her dementia progressed.

[caliotter3]

In my area the agencies run ads for multi-lingual nurses. I have never come across a situation where the agency was prepared to deal with a language barrier, but they are very fast to remove a nurse from a case when the client family demands non-English speaking nurses. Even if they have been communicating in English with assigned nurses for more than a year. The families learn that "non-English" speaking nurses is code for demanding a change in personnel.

[Farawyn]

I want the translator phone. I'm new. I don't remember if they said they had one on orientation, but I cannot imagine NOT having one, especially in NY.

I called the weekend NM and she was fine with what I did with the granddaughter. I feel like I missed a lot of the backstory, and good teaching opportunities, which is kind of the whole point of HH, right?

Luckily the patient was pretty stable.

[mamagui]

You should check into getting language line, or getting your agency to contract them. Using a family member to interpret (not translate, as that is changing a written communication from one language to another) is usually not appropriate in healthcare, given HIPAA, and not knowing what the family member's medical terminology knowledge is in English or their other language. I know language line can be expensive, but I think that certain agencies are able to get grants to offset costs.