Healthcare

A Spanish-speaking woman told a resident that her two-year old had “hit herself” when she fell off her tricycle; the resident misinterpreted two words, understood the fracture to have resulted from abuse, and contacted the Department of Social Services (DSS). DSS sent a worker who, without an interpreter present, had the mother sign over custody of her two children. Clearly, catastrophes can and do result from such miscommunication.

Obstacles faced everyday by health care providers in dealing with Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients include cultural misunderstandings and miscommunications with patient populations whose language, experiences, and backgrounds are different from those of the provider.

Language and cultural barriers in health care compromise quality of care; contributes to medical errors; is expensive, and produces lost business opportunities.

When needs are changing, actions are needed.

CulturaLink partners with health care systems and providers to help improve patient care and eliminate health disparities by enhancing a provider’s cultural competency as it relates to diverse and multilingual populations.

We work with organizations to reach cultural competence to better understand the new industry rules such us pay-for-performance, managed care network’s model of referring customers to provider’s according to cultural competence performance and their commitment to reduce disparities, etc.

CulturaLink can help your organization:

Increase patient satisfaction
Decrease unnecessary cost of patient care
Improve health for diverse populations
Be a cultural competent organization

Be in compliance with Federal mandates and industry diversity standards and practices
Improve patient understanding of follow up care
Decrease workforce frustration
Create an inclusive workplace