| Language
Line provides 24-hour access
Mostly Spanish, with a few for Vietnamese and Chinese—that's how the AT&T Language Line requests have been tracked during the past 11 months the system has been operational. The Language Line provides 24- hour access to 144 languages. If a non-English speaking patient is admitted during normal working hours—8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.—access to the line is provided by the social worker for that service. If the patient is admitted after normal working hours, access is through the hospital service coordinator. The use of the language line is tracked on a monthly basis. “We are also trying to obtain data through the Keane System on the number of patients coming into the inpatient and outpatient areas whose first language is not English,” said Margaret M. Duffy, Ed.D., R.N., patient education coordinator. “The Latino population is the largest growing population both nationally and in South Carolina.” She said the most frequent area requesting use of the line has been in obstetrics. The Clinical and Patient Education Department has also greatly increased its supply of patient education materials in Spanish. The department learned recently, however, that with a Spanish-speaking patient, speaking Spanish is no assurance for reading Spanish. Illiteracy exists in all populations. Other resources include the Charleston translators list. People on the list have agreed to assist the community with translation, free of charge. This list may be found on the Clinical and Patient Education Website, http://www.musc.edu/medcenter/education/cpeducation/under Other Links. There is also a category under Patient Education Materials called non-English patient education which includes sites with Spanish and English materials including the New York On Line Access to Health (NOAH) and the National Center for Farmworker's Health. The Micromedex system, available through Center for Computing Information Technology, provides medicine information and aftercare instructions in English and Spanish. Also, there is a list of faculty and staff who speak other languages, which is updated annually and maintained by the President's Office. |