You are on page 1of 9

1

Caroline Savage

Mr.Gunsher

24 March 2016

AP Seminar

AP Seminar

Language is defined by Merriam Webster as a system of words or signs a group of people

use to express their feelings to one another. Language is a more complicated concept to grasp.

According to a 2009 study done by the Linguistic Society there are 6,909 distinct languages

present in the world today. Some languages have as little as 1,000 native speakers while others

have upwards of 1,213,000,000 adherents. With this myriad of ways of communication that

globally, people have developed over time, language barriers begin to form. These boundaries

cause cultural barriers and other complications in a global society. A National Geographic

article, Vanishing Voices mentions that 78% of the global populations speak the top 85

languages. This creates over 5,000 languages with less than 30% of the global population to

sustain those languages. The vast number of languages with an inadequate number of speakers

languages begin to disappear.The result of language loss is language barriers , which affects the

distribution of medical care worldwide.

Medical technology is a necessity in order to care for the billions of people that populate

the globe. However the language barriers can change and hinder the distribution of care that

people need. This raises the question to what extent do language barriers affect the

dissemination of medical care in the United States?


2

Communication between a doctor and a patient is essential in order to deliver adequate

and accurate health care to the patient. When a patient's goes to any doctor whether it be in-house

or foreign proper communication is needed for a proper prognosis and diagnosis. When a patient

is being seen the doctor or physician collects data on symptoms from the patient by either talking

to them or a family member, as a well as physical clues and body language. They synthesis a

diagnosis from these conversations as well as possible lab testing is needed. The doctor then tells

the family, caretaker, or patient. Telling the patient can either be through oral communication or

by writing. According to the NCBI the core of medical care is information management based.

This includes relaying correct information to one being treated as well as the patient fully

understands in their language what is going on with their body.The collection of accurate

symptoms results in a proper and specific diagnosis. Looking at this we see the need for accurate

communication in the medical field.

After understanding the need for accurate communication, we can look further and see

how the language of health care can create an unintended language barrier with those being

treated. The health care language is an exclusive language that is not a distinct language that uses

abbreviations for large medical words. Where problems are found in this language barrier that it

affects doctors and patients who are both proficient in the same language.According to the

medical dictionary there are over 100,000 word combinations in the medical language. It’s

comprised of prefixes, suffixes, and root words with different meanings for each word. For

example tendonitis would be the inflammation of the tendon.

The Washington Post released an article on medical terminology and patient-doctor

communication in July of 2014. A doctor visit of a young woman was documented to her
3

cardiologist. The patient took notes on what the doctor prescribed to her with her current

condition. The note read “Your echocardiogram was unremarkable; the ejection fraction was

68%. There was no LVH. All of your laboratory tests were negative. I’ll send a note to your

doctor.” In fact what the doctors note translated into was the her moving image of her heart were

perfectly normal, the amount of blood that her heart pumps out during every beat was a normal

68 percent. Also it showed that her left ventricle in her heart were normal as was as her normal

lab results. The medical advisor who was observing this interaction mentioned that this

miscommunication was excused and should not have occurred. The patient later admitted that

she was confused and did not know what the doctor had said or ment.

Unfortunately this miscommunication between the doctor and patient have been a taught

skill to doctors. The same Washington Post article mentioned previously discusses that this

language barrier was created by medical physicians decades ago. They invented this language to

not only make it easier to write down appointment notes but to also lessen the blow of a severe

diagnosis. This language is constructed to cloud a patient's knowledge. As we can see this

communication barrier can be detrimental to a patient's health. The medical language inhibits

patient-doctors information from being passed between both parties. The need for transparent

communication was mentioned previously and shown again in the medical language.

Foreign doctors are another source language barrier complications. The language

differences not only affect the communications between a doctor and a patient but also the

understanding of a culture between the two parties. The lack of communication in the medical

field creates a cultural barrier making the distribution of medical services to low-income

countries by foreign doctors very difficult. Countries worldwide have cultural customs when it
4

comes to medical treatment. Even top interpreters rarely have the cultural connection that comes

with fully understanding a culture and its customs. Mentioned by the NCBI countries and

religions may can have problems with modern doctors and rely on local healers in their

community as well as possibly witchcraft. When these immigrants travel to the United States this

is when complications can arise. Religions such as Hindu do not allow men to touch other

women unless they are married. This can create conflict in emergency situations in the United

States when male doctors might try to care for a female hindu patient. A study done by the NCBI

gave a field report on a 2 year medical mission trip to bangladesh by korean doctors to stop and

aid the spread of chronic and noncommunicable diseases.

The author of the field note volunteered at a hospital and treated patients. When

discussing his issue with medical mission language barrier he mentioned it as one of the largest

problems that he faced. Not only the lack of language knowledge but also the volunteers

understanding of the culture and understanding the situation that the patient is in. They are also

unaware of how far local medical facilities and healthcare programs can go. Because of this

foreign doctors are unable to understand and efficiently carry out medical procedures without

being able to communicate and understand the patient's situations. The lack of communication in

the medical field creates a cultural barrier making the distribution of medical services to

low-income countries by volunteers very difficult. Cultural barriers can also cause both parties to

stereotype against the other without a complete understanding that goes along with the

understanding of their language.

A primary example of foreign doctors miscommunications in healthcare fall under

immigrants being treated in the host country. According to The Atlantic 21% of the United States
5

population do not speak english in their home life. This data is according to a 2011 census. The

older population are the most likely to lack fluency in the english language. Because of this high

number of non-english speaking population immersed in the United States health care, a federal

law was passed that gave funds to patients who needed language assistance. Health care services

are required to have either an interpreter, or staff members who are bilingual. Despite the efforts

less than half of the patients who would benefit from an interpreter receive assistance , this

information found from the Commonwealth Fund. Spanish immigrants being misunderstood is a

common occurrence within the walls of the United States. A story released by the New England

Journal of Medicine stated that a florida spanish speaking man called the ambulance with a

consistent medical problem. He described his symptoms to the paramedic interpreter as being, in

spanish, intoxicado, which means dizzy in spanish. The paramedic read that as being intoxicated

and treated the man as though he was drunk. The real problem that was going on was then

ignored and the man ended up a quadriplegic and sued the hospital.

Unfortunately these examples are common in the United States and happen with some

degree of regularity. Other examples from the New England Journal of Medicine include a

woman who was trying to explain that the daughter had fallen off her bike and “hit herself.” The

interpreter understood that the mother had hit her child and reported her for child abuse. 46% of

encounters in emergency situations that require an interpreter, and interpreter are not being used.

The lack of interpreters and sufficient ways of crossing the barrier leads to an increased rate of

nonadherence to medicine in non-english speaking patients in the United States.

Seeing that the language barrier in medicine is a very strenuous reality for over 49.6

million americans. Due to this strong issue in the United States awareness has been raised and
6

solutions have been presented. Laws have been passed in federal legislature as well as

technology being invented to eliminate the detrimental barrier. Telemedicine has been a major

aid to this problem. While telemedicine does offer solutions the patient to doctor personal

communication is still not there. The Atlantic released an article in March of 2014 discussing the

use of medical apps and technology to eliminate language barriers. We can draw comparisons

from other countries that have used technology to aid in this process. Some health care centers in

Russia and at home treatment use an app where you tap different faces on a tablet to signal a

nurse about the amount of pain you are in. If you are in moderate pain you hit the frowny face

and a nurse is alerted immediately. This innovative app was created in New York. While this

does provide temporary communication, as spoken before, more information is needed to be

passed from patient to doctor. Once symptoms and side effects of drugs need to be

communicated, this system falls short.

Even though vast advancements have taken place in technological communication there

is yet to be a fully bilingual interpreter device that can benefit the cause. The Atlantic gives an

insight from Dr.Glenn Flores on the topic of downfalls in telemedicine. "If you just have a

simple tablet that asks, do you have pain or not, that's going to give people a false sense of

security,You're going to end up putting people at risk." The personal connection that comes with

talking face to face with a doctor about your past medical history, allergies, and you symptoms is

simply not there when the use of telemedicine is in place.

The Atlantic ran a report on a chinese immigrant by the name of Tan invented a software

called Canopy to assist and train medical professionals in spanish speaking communication and

to help bridge the gap between the two. This app include of 1,500 audio clips that are sentences
7

of phrases in another language. These sentences include what the doctor might say to a patient

such as “I am going to check for an ear infection.” The software allows the medical sayings to be

translated in up to 11 languages. When complicated conversations need to be made this software

has a button that calls a phone interpreter for the impending conversation. Again,while this

provides a temporary solution the connecting is simply put, not there.

In conclusion the need for the extinguished language barrier is great. Confusion in the me

dical field caused by the lack of knowledgeable interpreters is creating great casualties and

malpractice sue in the medical field. While telemedicine has been a proposed solution to this

issue the only practical solution that will fully eradicate this barrier would be trained medical

professionals available in all languages. However, this solution is not plausible in any of the

coming years. For the present we must rely on new technological advancements that can bridge

the gap and make a false personal connection through technology.

Works Cited

1.)Quinton, Sophie. "Speaking the Language of Health Care." ​The Atlantic​. Atlantic Media Company,

19 Mar. 2014. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

2.)Saha, Somnath, and Alicia Fernandez. "Language Barriers in Health Care."​Journal of General

Internal Medicine​. Springer-Verlag, 9 Oct. 2007. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

3.)Ondash, E'louise. "Overcoming Language Barriers Faced in Health Care."​Nursing Feature

Stories- Nursing Features and Profiles​. Nurse Zone, 2008. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

4.)Flores, Glenn. "Language Barriers to Health Care in the United States — NEJM." ​New England

Journal of Medicine​. New England Journal of Medicine, 20 July 2006. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
8

5.)Min, Jinsoo. "International Medical Mission Facing Global Increase of Chronic Disease: 2-Year

Experience in Bangladesh." ​Journal of Korean Medical Science​. The Korean Academy of Medical

Sciences, 26 Jan. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

6.)Schyve, Paul M. "Language Differences as a Barrier to Quality and Safety in Health Care: The

Joint Commission Perspective." ​Journal of General Internal Medicine​. Springer-Verlag, 24 Oct. 2007.

Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

7.)"Medical Dictionary, Medical Terminology." ​Medical Dictionary​. Medilexicon, 25 July 2004. Web.

23 Mar. 2016

8.)Thompson, Carol Lynn. "Doctor-Patient Communication: Is Patient Knowledge of Medical

Terminology Improving?" ​Taylor & Francis​. Taylor and Francis Online, 10 Dec. 2009. Web. 23 Mar.

2016

9.)"What Is Telemedicine?" ​What Is Telemedicine​. American Telemedicine Association, 15 Aug.

2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.

10.)Majerowicz, Anita; Tracy, Susan. "Telemedicine: Bridging Gaps in Healthcare

Delivery."​Journal of AHIMA​ 81, no.5 (May 2010): 52-53, 56.


9

You might also like