The Importance of Translation for LEP Patient Safety and Satisfaction
About 25 million LEP individuals live in the United States. These residents speak languages other than English and may have limited or no knowledge of English. Due to this, this population experiences limited access to services that English-speaking populations can access.
LEP populations continuously report lower satisfaction with the healthcare system and lower quality of care when seeking health services. Quality of care issues stem from ineffective or indirect communication and result in higher medication errors and uninformed consent, which decrease LEP patient safety and satisfaction. These issues affect LEP patients of all ages and statuses. The American Academy of Pediatrics discovered that pediatric LEP patients are more likely to suffer from adverse events and longer hospital stays once they are admitted.
How to Increase LEP Patient Safety and Satisfaction
The key to improving LEP patient safety and satisfaction lies in translation. Improving the accessibility of your healthcare organization through meaningful translation decreases risk and increases patient satisfaction.
Many of the avoidable risks of treating LEP patients are caused by miscommunication. If your patient doesn’t understand what they’re being treated for, discharge instructions, or other vital health information, treating them creates significant risk and can result in readmission in hospital settings or revisits in clinic settings.
Similarly, if your patient cannot effectively communicate current health concerns, underlying health issues, medication allergies, or other vital information, the risk of adverse outcomes increases. Translation of vital healthcare documents allows your patients to understand exactly what you need to know to treat them effectively, which improves health outcomes.
In improving health outcomes, patient satisfaction also improves. With fewer medical mistakes and more direct communication, LEP patients report higher levels of satisfaction with their medical care. This benefits these patients, gives your healthcare organization a better public image, and can increase the number of referrals you receive.
You’ll need to hire an experienced and specialized healthcare Language Service Provider (LSP) to ensure your translations are high-quality and accurate in any language. If you want to increase LEP patient safety and satisfaction give us a call at 530-750-2040 or request a free quote today.
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Ash is the Marketing Coordinator at Avantpage, Inc. Ash works to create high-value, targeted content that allows consumers to connect with us at Avantpage. They are a strong proponent of everyone having equal access to communication and information. They have written and created content for a variety of online platforms, and have been published in over 30 online platforms with varying topics. But Ash is other things too! An avid athlete, Ash enjoys spending their free time rock climbing, partaking in aerial circus sports, and practicing acroyoga.