Without the ability to effectively communicate with under-served minorities, healthy patient outcomes are in peril, say experts at the Pennsylvania Patient Authority. Their agency reported about 232 incidents over a six year period at Keystone State healthcare facilities involving accidents and near accidents that might have been prevented with video interpreters.

Risk-related incidents included patient falls from not understanding care instructions, unwanted circumcisions and surgeon/patient disconnects. In some cases, language barriers made it difficult to obtain patient consent, delaying treatment and jeopardizing outcomes.

Video interpretation services rely on a portable two-way video monitor system easily transported to the ER, bedside or visitor waiting area.  At a cost of about $0.80 to $1.00 a minute, the caregiver or registered nurse simply selects a language and the system conferences in an interpreter live via satellite almost immediately.

For healthcare employers serving large urban communities, video interpretation systems are a godsend.  They alleviate high costs associated with on-site interpreters and enable better patient care through improved communication with Limited English Proficient, Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing patients.

For career nurses on the front lines, a video interpreter means they no longer have to wait for a live interpreter to arrive on-site. In as little as 60 seconds, registered nurses tap into a translation network of more than 150 languages, including American Sign Language.

Millions of previously uninsured foreign-born and disabled American citizens are soon to gain access to patient care in the face of healthcare reform. The flood gates to patient diversity will open and a deluge of non-English speaking citizens will engulf the healthcare system.

These same reform efforts require healthcare employers to ramp up patient safety, improve outcomes, reduce re-admissions and achieve “meaningful use.” None of which can be accomplished if healthcare employers don’t know what their patients are saying.

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