Translated medical documents help your healthcare facility reduce readmission rates, improve satisfaction for limited-English proficient (LEP) patients, and comply with federal regulations. However, prioritizing your medical translation projects can be challenging among your many other responsibilities.
Propio’s translation and localization experts are here to help you focus on the most vital translation projects and inspire you to expand your translation library over time with lower-priority projects.
Let’s dive in:
Highest-priority medical translation projects
Notices of free language assistance
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act requires healthcare providers to post a notice of nondiscrimination and taglines—short statements advising that language services are available—in the state’s or hospital’s top 15 languages.
This is one of the easiest requirements to fulfill, as Propio provides a complimentary and customizable “Interpreters are available” poster that you can easily complete with your top language translation needs.
Intake forms
Bilingual intake forms streamline the flow of information between your staff and LEP patients. Propio helped a healthcare client eliminate the need to review forms with an interpreter present, improve patient accessibility, and reduce the time its staff spent on the intake process by translating its forms into multiple languages.
Informed consent documents
Translating consent forms into your LEP patients’ primary languages helps them better comprehend their upcoming procedures and any risks they may encounter. In addition to improving patient understanding, translated consent documents can help protect your team and organization from discrimination or medical malpractice claims.
Discharge instructions
Did you know that LEP patients are readmitted at a significantly higher rate than the general population? Translating critical discharge information, such as home care instructions, treatment summaries, and medication information, can help your LEP patients avoid readmission or adverse effects from medications.
Lower-priority medical translation projects
Contact and process information
Presumed communication barriers can prevent LEP patients from scheduling appointments or asking questions, limiting the help you can provide once the patient leaves your facility. Providing clear contact instructions in multiple languages can remove this obstacle.
Create a translated resource explaining whom patients should contact for different types of information, such as scheduling an appointment, asking follow-up questions, obtaining medical records, or understanding a bill. Whenever possible, provide contact numbers that use interactive voice response (IVR) technology—for example, “Press or say 2 for Spanish”—to connect LEP callers with an interpreter before the call connects to your staff.
Providing translated process information can also create efficiencies for your team. For example, the healthcare client mentioned above worked with Propio to create welcome cards in multiple languages. The welcome cards explained the check-in process step by step, ultimately eliminating a bottleneck at the front desk.
Health education materials
Allowing LEP patients to take information home and read it in their primary language on their own time empowers them to play a more active role in their health journey. Whenever possible, translate health education materials into your region’s top languages to increase understanding and awareness.
In-room documents
For LEP patients experiencing extended hospital stays, translating in-room information can improve their experience and sense of agency. For example, translating your hospital’s cafeteria menu helps LEP patients become less reliant on in-house or remote interpreters for simple conversations.
Inventory the instructions, procedures, signs, and other written information patients will find in their rooms. Then consider whether an LEP patient would have access to the same knowledge as an English-speaking patient. Translate the most important information into your hospital’s top languages.
