Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #106718

Pat Hickey, RN, BSN, MS, DrPH, Palmetto Health Richland, Three Richland Medical Park Drive, Suite #150, Columbia, SC 29203 and Deborah Parra-Medina, MPH, PhD, Department of Health Promotion, Education, & Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 220 D Health Sciences Building, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-7096, Dpmedina@gwm.sc.edu.

The inability of Latinos with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and health care providers to communicate effectively can have a detrimental impact on health. In response to the increased utilization of medical services by LEP clients, a public non-profit hospital in South Carolina initiated a system-wide Interpreter Program. The purpose of this study was to evaluate provider awareness, utilization, and satisfaction with the Interpreter Program. Self-administered surveys were distributed to healthcare providers and clinical staff (N=166) in eight ambulatory care centers. After 2 weeks, 143 completed surveys were returned(57%); 63% of the respondents were Medical Doctors; 30% reported speaking a language other than English and 46% reported having cared for an LEP patient in the past week. Awareness of available translated materials, interpreter resources and knowledge of how to access interpreters were compared for Medical Doctors and clinical staff. Results indicate that compared to MDs, clinical staff were more aware of translated materials (p<.001) and knew how to access an interpreter (p<.001) and were more likely to have used the hospital interpreter program (p<.01). No differences were observed between MDs and clinical staff on their levels of satisfaction with the program except clinical staff rated the “helpfulness” patient relation staff in providing interpreters significantly higher (mean = 3.14, s.d.=0.06) than the MDs (mean = 2.85, s.d.=0.42). Results of this study indicate that clinical staff rather than doctors are more likely to interface with the interpreter program and as a result are more familiar with the program resources and procedures for securing interpreters. Results also showed that specific resources that were available (i.e, ATT language line, patient relations dept.) were underutilized. Overall, the findings demonstrated a greater need for provider education related to the awareness, access, and utilization of interpreter services.

Learning Objectives:

• List what healthcare providers know about interpreter program resources.
• Describe how healthcare providers utilize interpreter program.
• Describe how healthcare providers are satisfied with interpreter program?

Keywords: Interpreters, Health Care Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.