Speaking The Same Language Health Care s Diversity Debate
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Speaking the Same Language: Health Care's Diversity Debate
In the United States, around 176 languages are spoken, a fact that becomes particularly significant in hospitals where patients and doctors may not share a common language. It's vital for hospitals to be prepared for diverse patient needs. Those that implement language services effectively can reduce costs and wait times for everyone.
CyraCom, a leading language services provider for healthcare, collaborated with Roper Public Affairs to explore the challenges and opportunities of diversity in healthcare. Their 2006 report, "Increasing Diversity: Issues and Opportunities with Providing Health Care," shares insights from industry experts and leverages data from CyraCom's Language Index, which tracks language trends across more than 900 hospitals nationwide.
Key findings from the report include:
- Cross-cultural issues can lead to longer office visits, patient nonadherence, and consent delays.
- Hospitals in Midwestern states like Michigan, Missouri, and Nebraska have experienced the highest percentage increase in language requests.
- Hospital staff need to address language, culture, and communication directly.
- The most requested languages in hospitals served by CyraCom are Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Arabic.
- Over 20% of hospital residents feel unprepared to treat new immigrants and patients with differing religious beliefs that may impact their treatment.
- Emerging languages such as Somali, Bengali, and Haitian Creole are increasingly requested.
Despite minorities making up 25% of the U.S. population, they represent only 9% of nurses and 6% of physicians, according to a Sullivan Commission report. By adopting better techniques to overcome language and cultural barriers, healthcare providers can ensure more equitable care, reduced costs, and improved patient understanding.
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