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VoIP Helps to Overcome Language Barriers in Hospitals

Three California hospitals (San Joaquin General Hospital, San Mateo Medical Center, and Con- tra Costa Health Services) have found a way to overcome a common language barrier between doctors and patients, by means of a creative use of voice and video over IP. The Health Care Interpreter Network connects doctors and patients with Spanish-language translators in a call center, or to people with jobs elsewhere in the hospital for less-common languages.

The calls are usually answered in less than five minutes, and most are connected within 40 seconds. They`re prioritized so that emergency situations jump to the top of the line. The network supplies several interpreters who speak Spanish, the most common foreign language spoken at the hospitals. For languages including Cambodian, Hindi, Hmong, and Tongan, doctors are connected to hospital employees who speak those languages and have been trained by the network for medical interpreter services.

Markella Kordoyanni, a health industry analyst at a research firm says: "This is the first time I`ve seen technology being used in this way to address a difficult communication problem between patient and doctors". Two more California hospitals plan to connect to the network in the near future.