Treating Patients with Language Barriers

TREATING PATIENTS WITH LANGUAGE BARRIERS
Risk of healthcare in case of patients with language barrier
In this study a patient with abdominal pain has been chosen as
target group. The targeted patient is an individual
from Nepal who is currently 48 years old. As she has
been recently migrated from Nepal to Australia, the
major issue is her inability to speak in English
fluently while availing healthcare services. The risks
associated with the situation are listed below:

1. Due to the language barrier, she can be diagnosed wrongly or the
procedure of diagnosis can consume longer time than usual. This
can cause an unnecessary delay in starting the treatment
(Vermeir et al. 2015, p.1258).
2. The inability to convey her health issues can directly impact on
psychological health as well that can make her depressed and
frustrated
3. On the other hand, it can also be seen that her family as well is
not fluent in English that can create certain obstacles for the
clinical team to update the family about the current status of the
patient.

Clinical Errors
Clinical Errors
Types of Errors Error Rate Result
Diagnostic 50% Delay in diagnosis
Unable to implement required
tests
Treatment 35% Error in administering the
treatment
As worst case scenario error in
process of using specific drug and
medication
Improper care due to
communication gap
Preventive 15% Failing in providing prophylactic
treatment
Irregular observation and follow
up overall medication process