Words are to the clinician, what the scalpel is to the surgeon. But this valuable diagnostic tool can be drastically "dulled" by language and cultural barriers and a lack of health literacy.
Amid growing concerns about racial, ethnic and language disparities in health care, The Joint Commission and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights recently released a video to identify alternatve communications methods to improve patient-provider interactions.
In a press release, The Joint Commission and HHS explained that effective communication is a critical aspect of safe, quality patient care. The video will help health care organizations determine the best methods of care for meeting these communication needs.
Language access is a matter of national importance. Many patients of varying circumstances require alternative communication methods -- more than 28 million people with hearing loss, reports the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. And there are about 47 million people who speak a language other than English living in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
For more information on the video, go here. To Watch the 32-minute video, go here.
