UCHealth has recently reached a significant milestone by adding its 1,000th qualified bilingual staff team member. This achievement highlights the healthcare organization’s commitment to providing exceptional patient care through effective communication in multiple languages. The partnership with ALTA Language Services has been pivotal in assessing bilingual staff and training medical interpreters across various healthcare settings.
The Powerful Partnership with ALTA Language Services
Years of Collaboration
For years, UCHealth and ALTA Language Services have worked together to enhance language access by validating the language skills of bilingual staff and training medical interpreters. ALTA provides language assessments for many healthcare roles and medical interpreter training programs that focus on building skills in real-world healthcare scenarios. This partnership has allowed UCHealth to evaluate candidates’ abilities accurately and build a robust bilingual workforce. As one UCHealth leader noted:
“The high-quality bilingual fluency assessments, specialized tests, and user-friendly portal that ALTA Language Services provides have allowed UCHealth to capitalize on its providers’ and staff members’ language skills in a safe and effective way. This, in turn, has enabled UCHealth to increase ‘language concordance’ between patients and care teams, improving clinical outcomes, patient experience, and operational efficiency.”
Importance of Language Concordance in Healthcare
Enhancing Patient Care
Language concordance—the ability of patients and providers to communicate in the same language—is crucial in healthcare environments. Language concordance improves patient care by reducing misunderstanding, improving patient trust and satisfaction and improving health outcomes. It ensures that patients fully understand their diagnosis, treatment options, and medical instructions.
Impact on Clinical Outcomes and Patient Experience
Studies have shown that language concordance leads to better health outcomes and higher patient satisfaction. Patients are more likely to comply with treatment plans and less likely to experience complications when they understand their healthcare providers. This also increases operational efficiency by reducing the need for interpretation services.
The Role of Medical Terminology in Effective Communication
Understanding and using medical terminology correctly is essential for qualified bilingual staff. ALTA’s assessments test candidates on their knowledge of medical terms in both English and the target language. This ensures that staff can accurately convey complex medical information to patients.
Building a Qualified Bilingual Workforce
The Assessment Process: Evaluating Candidates’ Abilities
Candidates participate in assessments to validate their language skills. Various skills can be tested, depending on how language is used within their role. ALTA’s testing can evaluate speaking, listening, reading, and/or writing abilities.
Utilizing Technology in Language Assessments
ALTA provides a user-friendly computer portal where candidates can complete their assessments. This technology allows for efficient score evaluation and quick feedback. Candidates can begin tests at their convenience and receive scores promptly, facilitating a smooth onboarding process.
Scoring and Feedback
Candidates’ performances are scored based on their proficiency in the target language and their understanding of medical terminology. The scores help UCHealth determine whether the person meets the required standards to become part of the qualified bilingual staff.
Interpreter Training and Qualification Programs
Besides assessing language skills, ALTA also works with organizations to obtain bilingual staff as medical interpreters. They complete courses and practice materials focusing on interpreting different healthcare scenarios. Once training is completed, students say they are qualified medical interpreters, ready to assist in various healthcare environments.
Translation vs. Interpretation
Understanding the Difference
One thing to note is the difference between translation and interpretation. Translation involves converting written material from one language to another, while interpretation deals with spoken language in real time. Qualified bilingual staff are trained in both areas, allowing them to translate documents and interpret phone conversations as required.
Expanding Language Access Across Healthcare Settings
Qualified bilingual staff are integrated into various roles within UCHealth, from doctors and nurses to administrative personnel. This integration ensures that patients receive consistent language support throughout their healthcare journey, whether during treatment, registration, or follow-up care.
Meeting Regulatory Standards
By expanding its qualified bilingual workforce, UCHealth meets and exceeds regulatory standards for language access in healthcare companies. This commitment not only fulfills legal requirements but also demonstrates a dedication to health equity and patient-centered care.
Leading the Way for Other Healthcare Organizations
UCHealth’s success serves as a model for other healthcare organizations aiming to improve language access. Their approach showcases how strategic partnerships, thorough assessments, and dedicated training programs can build a competent bilingual workforce on a large scale.
Future Plans: Carrying the Torch Forward
Continuing the Mission
UCHealth plans to continue growing its qualified bilingual staff program. Additionally, they aim to explore new languages to serve an even broader patient base. The organization is committed to adapting to the evolving needs of its diverse patient population.
UCHealth’s milestone has broader implications for elevating language access across the healthcare ecosystem. As one of the nation’s pioneering health systems tackling this issue, UCHealth offers both inspiration and practical guidance to peers looking to drive similar change.
With language discordance fueling stark health disparities for non-English speaking populations, UCHealth recognizes that diverse language capabilities are imperative for 21st century healthcare institutions. Studies reveal how language barriers routinely obstruct care delivery today—from inaccurate patient histories to poor comprehension of discharge instructions, to subpar core measures performance.
UCHealth’s milestone of reaching 1,000 qualified bilingual staff members is a testament to their dedication to effective communication and patient care. Through rigorous assessment, training, and continuous development, they have created a workforce capable of meeting the linguistic needs of patients in today’s multicultural world.
Together with committed partners like UCHealth, ALTA aims to spearhead an industry-wide culture shift. One that focuses not just on checking legal boxes, of course, but on fostering genuine language access—moving healthcare one step closer to achieving health equity across diverse communities.