As a healthcare provider, are you easy to understand?

Are the signs and educational literature that you use readable and clear? Do you take into account different cultures and languages when communicating?

As you know, health care personnel speak their own language ? the language of medicine. This language is full of precise terms and descriptions, and hundreds of acronyms.

When speaking with a colleague, this language is the most useful and efficient. When speaking with your patients and their families, your medical language may be confusing and at times frightening.

Example: A nurse told a patient that she was going to have a resection of her intestine. The patient?s eyes widened and she asked if there would be any intestines left! When the nurse explained that the surgeon was just going to remove a portion of it, she breathed a sigh of relief.

This is just one example of a misunderstanding that can occur. There are several studies which indicate that medical jargon can be very confusing to patients.

Speaking plainly does not mean talking down to the patient. When we name diseases and procedures it is advisable to use technical terms, as long as there is further explanation in understandable terms.

Speaking clearly also helps ensure that your vital information is communicated when talking to a patient whose primary language is not English, and when using interpreters. It is also useful to have visual aids and handouts that are straightforward, comprehensible and properly translated into other languages.

Plain-talk initiatives are popping up everywhere because speaking and writing in an understandable way produces better outcomes and just makes smart business sense.

Information on how to better communicate and improve service is available on the Internet.

Written by Linda Joyce, health care interpreter and patient advocate. You can reach Linda at healthletter@languageline.com.

Take a look at all the tools Language Line Services offers its clients and their patients.

It?s that time again!

The California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) will hold it's 7th Annual Conference on March 2 and 3

Excellent Speakers, Wonderful Lineup, Exhibitors, and more! At historic and beautiful Dolce Hayes Mansion in San Jose, California.

To learn more, view and print out this application to register.

Please register within the next couple of weeks by FAX with CC information, or by mail with payment by check. All details are below, and in the application linked above.

Mail Registration Form to Don Schinske CHIA Conference, 1020 -12th Street, Suite 308 Sacramento, CA 95814

FAX Registration Form To CHIA: (916) 444-1501- Attention Don

Confirmations. Registrations received before February 23, will receive a confirmation by email or fax.

Join Us!

From CHIA's website:

Haewoon Lee, a language coach with City College of San Francisco?s Health Care Interpreter certificate program, and Louis Provenzano, President and Chief Operating Officer of Language Line Services, have been elected to two-year terms on CHIA?s Board of Directors.

The CHIA, whose members live across California and even out of state, meets bimonthly via conference call and face-to-face at least once per year.

The organization welcomes Haewoon and Louis, and appreciates the experience and dedication to improving healthcare language services that each brings to the Board.

You can reach Louis at healthletter@languageline.com.

Language Line Services now makes highly skilled, professional interpreters available as ?Pimsleur Practice Partners for people learning new languages.

This unique program allows language learners to practice newly acquired language skills with native speakers of that language. Now language learners all over the world can try out their newly acquired language skills by talking with experienced native speakers easily and comfortably anywhere at anytime, from any phone in the world.

?We know students will call on Language Line Services for the exact reasons they choose the flexibility of premium Pimsleur language training: because they can expect immediate results, at any time, place or pace a student requires,? said Cartwright Reed, president of iofy Corporation, which operates PimsleurDirect. ?Pimsleur Practice Partners extends our offerings of self-paced spoken language courses with a concept of ?office hours,? except this door is always open to students, 24/7, whenever they want extra help.?

Click here to read the entire Language Line Services press release on Yahoo! Finance.

Language Line Services welcomes PimsleurDirect as a valued partner.

If your company offers an established, quality product or service that supports limited English speakers and those that serve them, contact us at pr@languageline.com. Thank you!

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