In today’s melting pot society, many in the medical industry have a difficult time with those who are non English speakers but who need medical treatments. In order to gain quality medical care there needs to verbal communication between the healthcare workers and the patients who are in their care. One way to ensure that this communication is always available is through the utilization of medical interpretation services. These services provide interpretation from the staff to the patients so the patients understand what care they are receiving, their diagnosis and anything pertaining to the healthcare being provided. The following are some benefits to using medical interpretation for better healthcare.
How it Works
When a medical professional has a non native speaking patient, they simply call the interpretation service that connects them to an interpreter. This interpreter is then put on speak phone so they can translate back and forth between the medical professional and the patient. This means that there is more clarity between both parties through the use of the interpretation service.
Raise the Level of Medical Care
When a medical institution uses medical interpretation services, there is a higher level of medical care of the patients. This also means there is a larger patient pool that they can pull from because there are no issues with language barriers. Not only is this good for the community, but it is also good for the institution because they can service a wider variety of patients. There is no need to turn patients away because there is no on hand interpreter to handle the translations.
Comply with Government Regulations
Some states require public hospitals and medical practices to always offer translation services to their patients. Others require both public and private practices to have the ability to offer healthcare to anyone who needs it no matter the language that they speak. Having an interpretation service on hand is vital to stay compliant with these government regulations and it doesn’t cost a great deal of money since the service is only paid for on an as needed basis.
Reducing the Risk of the Patients
If the patients are not able to understand the physicians and other medical professionals, there is a risk that their condition will not improve. For some patients, this can make the difference between life and death. It can also mean that the proper treatment isn’t given which can hamper the length of time it takes for the patient to recover. With the sue-happy world we live in, it just makes sense to reduce the risk of lawsuits for the physicians as well as the health of the patients.
Any medical practice or facility needs to offer their patients medical interpretation services in order to offer a higher quality of medical care. This allows those patients who do not speak the native language to have the same care as a native speaker. All it takes is a quick phone call and the patient and physician can understand the concerns of the other.