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Translation service improves communication, ensures care 

by Cindy Abole
Public Relations
Ensuring that all patients receive the same level of quality medical care is the aim of the MUSC Clinical and Patient Education Department’s expanded Spanish interpretation service. For many, the service provides a helpful solution in improving communications among patients and translating information concerning their care and needs. 

For several years, MUSC has managed to provide full-time Spanish translation services to Hispanic patients. Today, that service has increased threefold and includes part-time support to assist patients during evening hours and on weekends.

“It’s all about combining good health care with sound communications,” said Karen Rankine, R.N., coordinator of patient/family education and interpretation services. “What we needed was to create a system that allowed us to track, collect and maintain data concerning patient translation services throughout the medical center.” 

Rankine supervises full-time Spanish interpreters Emma Mendez, Sam Cogdell and Josie Silvagnoli who handle all areas within the medical center and clinics including Charleston Memorial Hospital and McClennan-Banks. The staff is also supported by a half-dozen part-time interpreters.

The service follows federal and industry-driven mandates to accommodate the medical needs of South Carolina’s growing Hispanic population. Title VI of the Civil Right Act of 1964 ensures the rights of individuals and prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin. U.S. Census figures estimate more than 110,000 Hispanics live in South Carolina, almost quadrupling their population recorded in 1990. 

At MUSC, Spanish-speaking patients account for almost 8.5 percent of the patient population. Working with evolving workplace education programs, community resources and a newly established hospital cultural competency task force, Rankine and her staff can stay on course by responding to needs and providing the right level of assistance for patients. 

“Previously, we knew that we were meeting patients' needs,” said Lynne Nemeth, director of care management, research and evaluation. “But as demand began to exceed our capabilities, we realized the importance of establishing a task force to address specific issues and guide us in our efforts. I admire the work that Karen and her staff have accomplished by meeting these demands head-on.”

The task force is composed of an interdisciplinary team and is a resource and formal process of care. Their aim is to evaluate hospital system processes, analyze data and trends, staff education and provide community support. In August, the group completed a hospitalwide survey which allowed the task force to make staff education recommendations, evaluate the hospital’s need to post Spanish language signage and address other cultural competency issues. 

“Charleston has experienced a big influx of Hispanics with new families relocating to the Lowcountry and South Carolina daily,” said Mendez, a native of Puerto Rico, who possesses a graduate linguistics degree from New York University and is also a member of the task force. “That’s why our institution and other Lowcountry businesses and communities are focusing on the value of cultural competence.”

Improvements with the hospital’s IDX patient information system has made it easier for the translating staff to coordinate with patient scheduling, clinics and hospital departments to support patient visits and their needs. 

Each morning, Mendez, Cogdell and Silvagnoli check the patient rosters confirming the day's appointments and activities. The group also maintains their own patient database that documents specific needs, location and time spent. But responding to an average of 25 to 30 pages a day in addition to completing eight to 10 hour work days reflect the hospital’s growing demand for their services. 

“People realize that this service exists but don’t realize when is the right time to use an interpreter,” said Cogdell, who assumed this role after working as a volunteer Spanish interpreter for the hospital. Cogdell has previously taught Spanish at the University of Kansas and most recently at the College of Charleston. “Helping our hospital staff recognize this, while providing people with quality patient care is the real issue.”

Generally, staff throughout the hospital are supportive to the service and its changes within the hospital environment. Nemeth and Rankine anticipate that as the program grows so will the need for the task force and service to address other patient and staff issues. Outside in the community, MUSC’s reputation among Hispanics and Latinos continues to grow as a supportive and caring medical care provider. 

“When it comes to making choices, Hispanics and Latinos are traditionally loyal in their decisions and beliefs,” Mendez said. “Defining this level of loyalty can affect generations—parents, children and other extended family—when it comes to their decision-making. We hope to be continually changing and improving our support to this patient base and groups of other origins through continuing education programs, community partnerships and services.”

Silvagnoli loves job, helping patients 

Newcomer Josie Silvagnoli loves her job and the ability to help and care for so many people who speak little or no English.

A native New Yorker, Silvagnoli was raised in a family where Spanish was spoken primarily over English. After completing her education in New York and Puerto Rico, she turned to a variety of work interests before arriving in health care. Silvagnoli tried politics (She worked as a staff translator interpreting for New York State Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. of South Bronx) and paralegal work before returning to the lure of medicine and responding to the industry’s growing need for Spanish translators.

“I love what I do and recognize what I do is so rewarding,” said Silvagnoli. “The ability to assist and calm patients and their families suddenly caught in the confusion of a medical emergency, helping a parent understand specifics during a patient care conference or whether it’s just holding a patient’s hand during a difficult time, it’s all important to me and the patients that I serve.”

Last January, she joined the Clinical and Patient Education Department as a full-time Spanish interpreter along with fellow staffers Emma Mendez and Sam Cogdell. Each day, the trio, charged with a can-do attitude and boundless energy, set off to provide whatever assistance they’re called for throughout the medical center. Most importantly, they offer patients a reassuring presence.

“Sure, it can be difficult sometimes to separate emotions with the reality of the job, but I know I’ve found my niche is here helping others,” she said with a smile. 
 
 
 

Friday, Nov. 12, 2004
Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.