A recent study, published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, reports that professional translators for non-English speaking patients, while in emergency rooms, reduce miscommunication with medical staff. Minimizing misunderstandings minimizes the chance of hospital errors. Pennsylvania and many other U.S. states have increasing non-English speaking residents, generating a higher risk of miscommunication.

This study displayed that medical errors, with "clinical consequences," were 50 percent less likely with professional interpreters than if no interpreter or an "amateur" translator was present at the time of treatment. Professional translators appear to highly mitigate this dangerous risk.

Around 25 million people in the U.S. speak English "less than very well." Experienced interpreters, in person or on the phone, can offer the effective translation the medical staff needs to treat or medicate patients effectively. Even video translation services can reduce medical malpractice risk.

Along with reducing medical error risk, having professional translators available puts patients more at ease and reduces the frequency of unnecessary tests, saving people money and potential harm. However, until the current study, the benefits of professional interpreters were unclear.

This project included 57 families visiting one of two Massachusetts pediatric emergency rooms. All surveyed families were Spanish speaking, with limited English ability. Of those families, 20 had assistance from professional translators, while 10 had no interpreters and 27 had amateur translators to help.

Experts are now debating the merits of in-person interpreters versus telephone or video translators. They seek the most medically- and cost-effective solutions. The issue of the extent of interpreter training is also under study. For example, communication errors were found in only 2 percent of those translators with 100 hours of training or more. Unfortunately, this is the exception, not the rule, as few training programs currently offer at least 100 training hours.

What are your opinions on this important issue?

Source: Reuters, "Interpreters in ER may limit medical errors: study," April 17, 2012