I recall when I began my career over two decades ago in Hispanic media in New York City working for large publishing houses on national Spanish-language magazines like People en español, Glamour en español, Vogue en español, and a series of other Latino-specific print offerings. Back in 2000 we tried our darndest to persuade big brands to advertise and promote their products and services in Hispanic publications because Latinos had become 12 percent of our nation’s total population—one of every ten people! It was safe to assume that there was a need to reach this growing segment of the U.S. marketplace. Part of our pitch was forecasting what the future demographic profile of the U.S. would look like, and here we are.
The recent release of the 2020 U.S. Census numbers revealed that 19 percent of the U.S. population today is Hispanic—one in every five people! Just in the last ten years the U.S. Hispanic population grew 23 percent, compared to 4.3 percent of all other ethnic groups combined. Having worked directly with hospital networks for the past 14 years as a consultant and owner of a communications agency focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, I have become very familiar with the challenges faced by English-language learning Hispanic families, and the critical roles that language proficiency and cultural competency play in delivering patient-centered care, especially during crisis situations.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has established National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards (CLAS) of care that provide a blueprint mandated by federal law for healthcare providers. I first learned about these standards over a decade ago while working with a local hospital in Orlando, Florida, which had just completed a community assessment unveiling that 40 percent of patients who entered their emergency room were Hispanic. They had no idea how to address this growing base of Latino patients. And so, URBANDER came to the rescue.
First, we had to ensure that we could garner feedback from Hispanic patients by speaking to them in their language of preference. Hospitals have exit surveys that are administered to patients when they are discharged, such Press Ganey and HCAHPS, to rate the level of care received based on patient satisfaction. If a hospital receives poor patient satisfaction scores, their federal funding might be compromised. This hospital had not offered Hispanic patients the option of completing the surveys in Spanish which resulted in low patient satisfaction scores. So, we made available dual language survey forms.
Then, once we received proper feedback, we started to implement cultural competency training for the emergency staff, created a series of Spanish language resources, and identified bilingual staff and volunteers that could help better engage with Hispanic patients throughout the continuum of care.
In the end, the results were impressive after only 18 months. Hispanic patient satisfaction scores improved by 45 percent because the hospital was better equipped to tend to their medical needs with an increased level of linguistic and cultural proficiency.
In my experience, it is of paramount importance to highlight the safety risk posed by not having bilingual or multilingual healthcare professionals within a healthcare system with the level of proficiency needed to support patient-centered care. Different roles and tasks require varying levels of language proficiency. For example, in the case of a Hispanic patient the person from Environmental Services that maintains and sanitizes their room does not require the same level of proficiency in Spanish as the nurse; the person handling medical billing doesn’t require the same level of proficiency as the surgeon, etc. Bilingual staff members across the continuum of care can be assessed for language proficiency in direct correlation with the job they preform, and this will help determine whether an interpreter is needed.
According to a 2019 study entitled “Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers.”, 41 percent of healthcare and social assistance employers say they rely “a lot” on employees with foreign language skills, and 65 percent are significantly more likely than employers in any other sector to say they have a higher demand for foreign language skills than they did five years prior. With U.S. Census forecasts predicting that by 2045 ethnic communities will become the majority of the population, it’s imperative to establish a reliable team of multilingual professionals to stay competitive in the healthcare industry, and more importantly, create equitable pathways to quality care in alignment with CLAS standards.
Language Testing International, the exclusive licensee of ACTFL and leader in language proficiency assessment delivery, has been assisting companies in utilizing the language skills of their employees for 30 years across all industries. Reach out to them today for expert guidance on how to Identify and cultivate a pipeline of multilingual healthcare professionals for your hospital or clinic.
Sources
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Lead with Languages Campaign commissioned Ipsos Public Affairs, with the support of Pearson LLC and Language Testing International. (2019). “Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers.” https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/report
2020 U.S. Census: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045221
Department of Health and Human Services: https://thinkculturalhealth.hhs.gov/clas
Press Ganey: https://www.pressganey.com
