It is a fact that there are language barriers in the United States, more than 14 million people lack basic knowledge of English, an issue that involves the medical service, since people who are limited in this language are affected as patients by not understanding a diagnosis or unable to explain their symptoms correctly, a situation that puts them at risk.
New ways are currently being sought to break the language barrier in the medical field through technology or translator programs, all with the aim of providing a better health service, a situation that brought together a group of medical specialists in a session with the media held by Ethnic Media Services, in which They exposed solutions to this gap and explained the current situation that doctors and patients are experiencing.
Dr. Latha Palaniappan, co-founder of the Stanford Asian Health Research and Education Center, explained that language has been a problem in the medical field for years, which is why doctors and staff need translators to be able to communicate with anyone who requires the service. However, through technology new options have been implemented to solve this difficulty.
«The challenge we have as a group, is that people who have limited English are faced with less quality medical service, so the solution is to use translation services, which are mandated by the government, so I emphasize that this is mandatory.», Palaniappan said.
The doctor explained that the United States is multilingual, the languages spoken in the country are increasingly diverse, where 25.5 million people speak English at a level less than very good and 67.2 million speak a language that is not English at home, and even if there are people who speak English or another language, this does not mean that they can communicate at a medical level.
For Dr. Palaniappan, patients who have limited English run more risks, not being able to understand a medical instruction, diagnosis, treatment or laboratory results, leaving the patient confused and distressed without being able to understand their situation, so it is necessary to have an adequate translator who can sensitively understand the patient through their culture.
«A good translator adds to medical care, because they can really make sure that the patient understands everything that is being said, and also helps the doctor to ensure that the communication is adequate. Many studies say that patients only remember 20 percent of what their doctor tells them, so it's a good idea to always bring someone else to a doctor's visit.», he expressed.
Dr. Ingrid J. Hall of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ?CDC, for its acronym in English?, shared information about a study of preventive medicine showing that Hispanic adults have fewer opportunities to be diagnosed with cancer.
He noted that 84 percent of non-Hispanic whites have said they have a regular doctor, unlike Hispanics who have limited English, where only 69 percent have a regular doctor. This, he said, shows that Hispanics do not regularly attend preventive medical services, putting their health at risk.
In this sense, for Dr. Ingrid, linguistic assistance is essential, however, one must also look at other limitations that are not bringing all people closer to preventive health services.
«Provide more language assistance, service points and that the service is culturally appropriate for the patient, more medical literacy, understanding the importance of patients following the recommendations, but also addressing their limitations and the barriers they experience, for example with people who have difficulty speaking the language. We can address that gap in the world even with English speakers, and that has to do with disparities in education and other resources.», he explained.
Dr. Elena V. Ríos, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, shared her actions to take to reduce the language gap between patients and medical personnel, where she pointed out that one option would be to acquire language services, laws to improve medical access, approach companies that are licensed for medical schools and improve student education.
The specialist pointed out that doctors who come from other countries and who facilitate communication with patients who speak the same language is an option that can be implemented and improved to have more diversity in the medical community.
To this, he added that it is also important to give access to more people with low and fairer prices for those who require medical services.
«There are many barriers in terms of access to health and language, but we must think about systemic barriers. We know that there is discrimination when we go to school, when we study we learn about diseases, but we don't think about the sick, which is the person with diabetes or cancer, so the language, even in our profession, is a problem and the other problem is racism and discrimination", he said.
The language becomes a limitation for people, patients do not feel comfortable, they do not fully understand what is happening and it distances them from medical services. With technology and the human approach, new opportunities are sought to break the linguistic gap from the medical student to the medical staff so that everyone has access to services when required.
You may be interested in: California to give free legal services to undocumented farmworkers
