This exchange is now part of the fabric of Martin’s daily routine, but it never gets easier. “We are seeing an overall degradation in the quality of care given to patients who don’t speak English as their first language,” Martin said. Lee said that under normal circumstances, patients who aren’t English-language proficient have family members help with translation and serve as advocates. Betancourt said that in the last month Mass General has created a registry of front-line staff members who speak multiple languages. The health care provider has begun offering discharge instructions in Arabic, Nepali and other languages, expanding beyond the Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole translations already on offer.

Source: bd News24 April 18, 2020 03:22 UTC