Coronavirus Outbreak: what if a patient is not fluent in English speaking?

With the havoc that has been created across the world, people are just scared, hopeless and confused as to what precautions to take in order to avoid the risk of getting the beer bug, i.e. Coronavirus.

We have been quarantined for the foreseeable future until the pandemic is controlled. Some people are stuck in places that are not their homelands. Some are even tested positive for the virus while their stay in foreign countries and times have never been so tough.

The importance of medical translation comes in the picture here. As a visitor from overseas, some people might not be fluent in English. There are chances that some tourists are totally unaware of the language. What to do in such times? How does medical translation tackle this problem? 

Here's how!

It can be extremely confusing and intimidating to understand and comprehend the medical information, especially when you or your loved ones are facing a medical problem. There are around 25 million people in the US who struggle with speaking and understanding the English language. This vast number leaves a humongous scope for medical mishaps due to misunderstanding in communication. 

A study examined 57 interactions at two emergency departments in Massachusetts. These studies involved patients who spoke Spanish as their everyday language and had minimal proficiency in English. The audiotapes of their visits were analysed. There were word omissions, additions and substitution of words as well as some incidences of false fluency. All these miscommunications hold a significant potential to cause a big mishap. In fact, the study found that around 18 per cent of such miscommunications caused severe medical consequences.

Coming back to the global pandemic, it is a big disaster in itself. Medical miscommunication only adds to it and makes the treatment difficult. As there are no other means to get these patients back to their homelands or find someone to interpret the language for both parties, a professional medical interpreter can take up the responsibility here. However, most of the hospitals lack the facility of medical interpretation. Many people find difficulty in conveying their message and most of the time, someone who knows both languages steps in and helps. But we can't rely on such help in the time of this global pandemic, and hence we need trained medical interpreters.

A trained medical interpreter helps in improving the understanding between the patient and the doctor, helps the patient in complying to the treatment, reduces any risk of miscommunications and wrong diagnosis. This can help in avoiding unnecessary extra visits to the clinic, or even more, extended hospital stays in some cases, and hence also reduces the expenses. Apart from that, communicating with patients through a medical interpreter helps in removing any emotional bias or additional family trauma. Furthermore, the more the patient understands and acknowledges, the higher the satisfaction score.

Thus, medical translation holds a vital part of the medical profession, and it needs to be used more and frequently in medical settings.

Lingual Consultancy has been delivering multilingual compliance solutions to our clients in the medical and surgical device, manufacturing, biotechnology, IVD, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries as well as to clinical research organizations (CROs). 
For any medical translation requirements, drop an e-mail at [email protected] or give us a call at +91 124 2848100.