Breast Cancer Physicians Have Limited Access To Trained Interpreters
December 26, 2011
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In a new survey of physicians who treat breast cancer patients, only one-third stated they had excellent access to trained medical interpreters or telephone language-interpretation systems when they needed it. Poor access to interpreters can compromise physician-patient communication that is critically crucial in cancer care.
The survey of 348 physicians took place inside the Los Angeles location, exactly where 27 percent of residents – roughly two.five million people – have limited English proficiency (LEP) compared with 9 percent in the rest of the United States. Spanish and Asian languages are the predominant first languages for LEP patients in the LA region, but there are many others, said lead study author Danielle Rose, Ph.D.
Rose worked on the study while at the Cancer Prevention and Manage Investigation in the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. The study appears online inside the journal Health Services Investigation.
Forty-two percent of respondents stated they utilised a trained medical interpreter, 21 percent utilised a telephone interpreter service (exactly where an interpreter is accessed by phone) and 75 percent reported using untrained interpreters, which could include bilingual office staff or the patient’s friends or family.
“Because of the wide diversity of the Los Angeles population, we had been not surprised that many physicians utilized more than 1 interpreting option,” Rose stated. Physicians at large medical facilities, such as HMOs or large hospitals, were far more likely to have better access to trained interpreters or interpreter services.
One of the recommendations of the study is that Medicare reimburse for interpreter services, Rose said. “This way the doctors’ additional costs would be covered.”
The study stressed the importance of interpreters trained in dealing with medical issues. “Somebody who speaks the language only is not enough. You have to have some medical background to understand the terminology, to explain towards the patient what is happening,” said Georgeen Newland, project manager and health educator with Celebremos la Vida – Clinica Nuestra Salud of the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center.
Although patients and physicians often use family or friends as interpreters, Rose warns of pitfalls. “There is a greater error rate with friends and family or other untrained interpreters,” she stated, and there is risk of the family member advocating for 1 therapy over another or withholding information. Newland, who interprets for Spanish-speaking patients at Lombardi, concurred. “Sometimes the family does not tell the truth to protect the patient. I have witnessed that.”
Health Services Research is the official journal of the AcademyHealth and is published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. on behalf of the Health Analysis and Educational Trust.
“Use of interpreters by physicians treating Limited English Proficient (LEP) women with breast cancer: results from the provider survey of the Los Angeles Women’s Health Study.”
Rose DE, et al
Health Services Research online, 2009.
Source
Health Behavior News Service
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