Non-English speakers can face big communication challenges in medical settings: being unable to convey personal information, understand medical jargon and follow treatment instructions. These challenges can result in misunderstandings, or worse, in misdiagnoses. Phoenix hospitals work at preventing problems like this by providing interpretation and translation services in many different languages.

About 2 million Arizonans speak a language other than English, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, although it is not clear how many would be considered non-English speakers. Over 1.3 million speak Spanish; more than 130,000 speak another Indo-European language; 150,000 speak an Asian or Pacific Island language; and 160,000 speak other languages.

Phoenix hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic, Valleywise Health, Abrazo Health and Banner Health, have established services for interpretation that can cover dozens of different languages. When a hospital’s language department is unable to directly provide interpretation and translation services, third-party providers will step in.

Two medical professionals shared their experiences on how language services change health care accessibility for many underserved people who could fall through the cracks.

Source: https://fronterasdesk.org/

Full article: https://fronterasdesk.org/content/1879270/2-medical-interpreters-phoenix-how-translation-helps-avoid-misunderstanding-and