Translation

[LydiaNN]

A friend told me that her hospital uses the overhead paging system to request translators. There aren't actually any paid translators on their staff, though. If a page comes through "will the Urdu (Somali, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.) translator please call ICU?", it just means that anyone who speaks that language... cafeteria worker, housekeeping, whatever, call ICU to translate for a patient. These people have no training in medical translation at all, but when a page like that goes out, it makes it sound as if the hospital keeps a fully staffed translation department.

I never heard of this before. Have you?

[Agnus]

A friend told me that her hospital uses the overhead paging system to request translators. There aren't actually any paid translators on their staff, though. If a page comes through "will the Urdu (Somali, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.) translator please call ICU?", it just means that anyone who speaks that language... cafeteria worker, housekeeping, whatever, call ICU to translate for a patient. These people have no training in medical translation at all, but when a page like that goes out, it makes it sound as if the hospital keeps a fully staffed translation department.

I never heard of this before. Have you?

Well I suppose it is better than nothing but...

There is a solution. There are telephone translation services that many hospitals employ. They furnish the hospital with telephones that have two receivers. You talk to the patient face to face in English while holding your receiver. the translator speaks to the patient via the phone. The patient responds speaking to you as you did to them holding their receiver and thus the conversation goes back and forth. The translater translates they do not explain anything. It is up to the pt and doctor to explain themselves and the translator to translate.

Cyanphone is I believe the name of one company that does this. It is very inexpensive there is a transcript of what what said if needed.

You do not have to employ any translators. Everything is very confidential. You do not have the translator adding their own comments which are often inappropriate.

It covers the hospital legally in ways that using the housekeeper or food service person can not.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

AT&T or whomever provides the phone service to the hospital has access to a bank of licensed medical translators. This is accessible 24/7 and every language imaginable (to me) is available. They meet all standards for HIPAA and legal/ethical issues regarding consents, directives, etc. Very practical. They give you a magic number for billing purposes. All our staff is oriented to this and the operator has the info if we forget.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I work at a skilled nursing facility, and most of our translations need to be done from Spanish to English. We'll simply track down any available employee who is bilingual in Spanish and English, and simply hope that they can provide an accurate translation.

[Agnus]

We'll simply track down any available employee who is bilingual in Spanish and English, and simply hope that they can provide an accurate translation.

Magic word "hope" I would not want to be that patient. Not an attack on you just the short sightedness our the hospital where you work

[Agnus]

We have the phone translation service I mentioned. One morning I got report. The Spanish speaking person told her english speaking relative she did not understand what the doctor told her about her surgery and wanted to know about her surgery. So the nurse giving me report said to me to have a staff member ready to translate when the doctor comes in.

Me: HUH? We have the translation phone.

she replied well the doctor won't use it. The doctors do not like to use it.

Me: HUH?

She: They would rather use the house keeper.

Me: NOOOO. That is what the translation service is for. Besides we have no one on today that speaks Spanish. She: Not even a little?

Me:NO. And a little is what got the doctor in trouble in the first place. Has this MD told you he would not use the phone.

She: NO, but he won't.

I placed the phone in the room. (why was it not there in the first place? She did not speak Spanish and the family was not there her whole shift)

I left notes on the chart for the MD to use The phone. I told him the pt did not understand him and needed to know what he was telling her and had questions about her surgery.

I ended up having to hand off this pt. before the doc rounded so I do not know what transpired. But can you imagine the Doc or (at least a nurse preceiving that) not wanting to have proper translation preferring to use a house keeper?

Sometimes an education does not even make some people educated let alone intelligent.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Sometimes an education does not even make some people educated let alone intelligent.

Bingo!

[LydiaNN]

Well I suppose it is better than nothing but...

There is a solution. There are telephone translation services that many hospitals employ. They furnish the hospital with telephones that have two receivers. You talk to the patient face to face in English while holding your receiver. the translator speaks to the patient via the phone. The patient responds speaking to you as you did to them holding their receiver and thus the conversation goes back and forth. The translater translates they do not explain anything. It is up to the pt and doctor to explain themselves and the translator to translate.

Cyanphone is I believe the name of one company that does this. It is very inexpensive there is a transcript of what what said if needed.

You do not have to employ any translators. Everything is very confidential. You do not have the translator adding their own comments which are often inappropriate.

It covers the hospital legally in ways that using the housekeeper or food service person can not.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I think most of the hospitals here do use the language line, but it is meant to be kept as a "last resort" due to the cost. This particular hospital is the only one I know of that uses the overhead paging, but I do believe that most units are encouraged to utilize family members and staff before they employ the language line. I agree that having people who aren't trained or prepared to do this (how would you like to be a housekeeper asked to explain to a family that their child might die???) is far from ideal.

[prmenrs, RN]

Cyracom--great service! We now have them in every pt room, and 2 in the NICU.

The cost is probably cheaper than a really nasty lawsuit because the pt didn't understand the doc/nurse or vice-versa, and some preventable disaster ensued. "but, doc, it was my OTHER leg that was bad! you took off the good one!"

[RN1989]

Sounds like some JCAHO violations to me.

[regularRN]

A qualified translator IS a JCAHO requirement - use the phone.

[jackson145]

Wow, you can tell how far in the sticks I live. We've never had a situation come up where we needed a translator.