Advancing language concordant care: a multimodal medical interpretation intervention
Background Ensuring language concordant care through medical interpretation services (MIS) allows for accurate information sharing and positive healthcare experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a regional halt of in-person interpreters, leaving only digital MIS options, such as phone and video. D...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2024-03-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open Quality |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/13/1/e002511.full |
| _version_ | 1827167424034635776 |
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| author | Pamela Mathura Narmin Kassam Yvonne Suranyi Amanda Mac Nazia Sharfuddin Emily Ling Merve Tan Emad Khatib |
| author_facet | Pamela Mathura Narmin Kassam Yvonne Suranyi Amanda Mac Nazia Sharfuddin Emily Ling Merve Tan Emad Khatib |
| author_sort | Pamela Mathura |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Ensuring language concordant care through medical interpretation services (MIS) allows for accurate information sharing and positive healthcare experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a regional halt of in-person interpreters, leaving only digital MIS options, such as phone and video. Due to longstanding institutional practices, and lack of accessibility and awareness of these options, digital MIS remained underused. A Multimodal Medical Interpretation Intervention (MMII) was developed and piloted to increase digital MIS usage by 25% over an 18-month intervention period for patients with limited English proficiency.Methods Applying quality improvement methodology, an intervention comprised digital MIS technology and education was trialled for 18 months. To assess intervention impact, the number of digital MIS minutes was measured monthly and compared before and after implementation. A questionnaire was developed and administered to determine healthcare providers’ awareness, technology accessibility and perception of MIS integration in the clinical workflow.Results Digital MIS was used consistently from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020) and over the subsequent 18 months. The total number of minutes of MIS use per month increased by 44% following implementation of our intervention. Healthcare providers indicated that digital MIS was vital in facilitating transparent communication with patients, and the MMII ensured awareness of and accessibility to the various MIS modalities.Conclusion Implementation of the MMII allowed for an increase in digital MIS use in a hospital setting. Providing digital MIS access, education and training is a means to advance patient-centred and equitable care by improving accuracy of clinical assessments and communication. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T13:30:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c9d34878b25e4744838c89dbd44945cd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2399-6641 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-21T02:04:04Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open Quality |
| spelling | doaj.art-c9d34878b25e4744838c89dbd44945cd2024-08-02T20:15:15ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open Quality2399-66412024-03-0113110.1136/bmjoq-2023-002511Advancing language concordant care: a multimodal medical interpretation interventionPamela Mathura0Narmin Kassam1Yvonne Suranyi2Amanda Mac3Nazia Sharfuddin4Emily Ling5Merve Tan6Emad Khatib7Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaDepartment of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaAlberta Health Services, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaTemerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaTemerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaMedicine, Koc Universitesi, Istanbul, TurkeyInonu University School of Medicine, Malatya, TurkeyBackground Ensuring language concordant care through medical interpretation services (MIS) allows for accurate information sharing and positive healthcare experiences. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a regional halt of in-person interpreters, leaving only digital MIS options, such as phone and video. Due to longstanding institutional practices, and lack of accessibility and awareness of these options, digital MIS remained underused. A Multimodal Medical Interpretation Intervention (MMII) was developed and piloted to increase digital MIS usage by 25% over an 18-month intervention period for patients with limited English proficiency.Methods Applying quality improvement methodology, an intervention comprised digital MIS technology and education was trialled for 18 months. To assess intervention impact, the number of digital MIS minutes was measured monthly and compared before and after implementation. A questionnaire was developed and administered to determine healthcare providers’ awareness, technology accessibility and perception of MIS integration in the clinical workflow.Results Digital MIS was used consistently from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020) and over the subsequent 18 months. The total number of minutes of MIS use per month increased by 44% following implementation of our intervention. Healthcare providers indicated that digital MIS was vital in facilitating transparent communication with patients, and the MMII ensured awareness of and accessibility to the various MIS modalities.Conclusion Implementation of the MMII allowed for an increase in digital MIS use in a hospital setting. Providing digital MIS access, education and training is a means to advance patient-centred and equitable care by improving accuracy of clinical assessments and communication.https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/13/1/e002511.full |
| spellingShingle | Pamela Mathura Narmin Kassam Yvonne Suranyi Amanda Mac Nazia Sharfuddin Emily Ling Merve Tan Emad Khatib Advancing language concordant care: a multimodal medical interpretation intervention BMJ Open Quality |
| title | Advancing language concordant care: a multimodal medical interpretation intervention |
| title_full | Advancing language concordant care: a multimodal medical interpretation intervention |
| title_fullStr | Advancing language concordant care: a multimodal medical interpretation intervention |
| title_full_unstemmed | Advancing language concordant care: a multimodal medical interpretation intervention |
| title_short | Advancing language concordant care: a multimodal medical interpretation intervention |
| title_sort | advancing language concordant care a multimodal medical interpretation intervention |
| url | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/13/1/e002511.full |
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