31 May Things to know about medical interpreting in hospitals

The use of professional medical interpreters can positively impact patient care. In fact, the use of professional interpreters is associated with improved clinical care more than the use of ad hoc interpreters, and professional interpreters appear to raise the quality of clinical care for LEP (Limited English proficiency) patients to such a degree that it approaches or equals that for patients without language barriers.

Telephone interpreting is an on-demand, remote interpreting service that offers a fast response when urgent or unexpected language barriers come up. Telephone interpreting offers a cost-effective interpreting solution and is perfect for most spoken language interpreting situations that do not require non-verbal cues or visual contact with the interpreter.

Available at a low per-minute rate, Telephone Interpreting allows medical professionals to connect to a certified medical interpreter in seconds, in over 300 languages.

Hospitals must move quickly to resolve language barriers and Okomeds provides the fastest connection times in the industry (average time is 7 seconds).

Video Remote Interpreting

Video Remote Interpreting is an on-demand interpretating solution that bridges the gap between over-the-phone interpreting and on-site interpreting. It can also be extremely cost-effective in healthcare settings because no minimum hours or mileage reimbursement are needed to gain access to the interpreter (as might occur with an in-person appointment).

Medical documents

Medical documents and patient care instructions can be confusing for a patient, but when the patient does not speak English, such documents must be provided in the patient’s preferred language. Okomeds has the capacity to translate documents from English to over 100 target languages and vice versa.

Communication is a critical component of patient care. Language interpretation in hospitals allows healthcare professionals to resolve language barriers quickly, for every patient encounter.