Do your patients not speak your language?

Posted by NoTime_author in News, Tips on Apr 15th, 2010 | one response

If your health care setting sometimes has you working with patients who don’t speak the same language as you, you know how frustrating it can be for everyone involved. What to do until the interpreter arrives?

Well, the Department of Human Services of the State Government of Victoria, Australia, is sharing their intervention to meet this need. They have posted on their website downloadable cue cards with pictures and captions in English and a number of foreign languages. These can be used to facilitate brief point-to-the-picture communications, like “I need to go to the bathroom” or “I need to pray now.” I can’t begin to list all the languages available, but they include Spanish, Burmese, Karen, Macedonian, Dinka, and Croatian. There’s also a cue card in English only, just in case they don’t have a language you need, or if that language is not written.

I ran these cue cards by two professional interpreters who found a few typos and errors. The cue card labeled as Yiddish is actually in Hebrew. Some pictures are not clear. I think the tired picture looks more sick than tired, and the water is a tad too orange for my taste. But the interpreters and I still felt these could be better than using nothing.

Here’s the link:

Health Translations Directory Cue Cards
http://www.healthtranslations.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcht.nsf/PresentDetail?Open&s=Cue_Card