A new study finds that millions of U.S. residents with limited English skills are at risk when they go to a hospital or a doctor's office.
Dr. Glenn Flores of the Center for the Advancement of Underserved Children in Milwaukee looked at a number of studies as well as statistical data for his report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
He detailed incidents where patients endured hardships because of language difficulties. One example was a Spanish-speaking woman who lost custody of her children when a resident in a hospital emergency room thought she was admitting hitting her daughter -- when she said, in Spanish, that the 2-year-old had fallen off her tricycle and hit herself.
While 8.4 percent of U.S. residents have limited English skills, one study found that interpreters are available in fewer than half the cases in which they visit emergency rooms. Only 23 percent of teaching hospitals train medical students on working with interpreters.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
Asthma inhalers to go 'green' on Dec. 31
(AP) -- Last warning: Asthma inhalers go "green" on Dec. 31, forcing patients still using the old-fashioned kind to make a pricey and even confusing switch. The medicine inside these rescue inhalers - the albuterol that quickly opens airways during an asthma attack - isn't changing. But the chemicals used to puff that drug into your lungs are.
Wait times for surgical repair of hernias among infants and young children
Longer wait times for surgical repair of inguinal hernias in infants and young children under the age of 2 were associated with more emergency department visits and a greater risk of incarcerated hernia, found a study published in
CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg1001.pdf. There are few studies on wait times for surgery in children as most focus on adults.
Post-cardiac arrest care key to survival
The urgent need for treatment doesn't end when a person regains a pulse after suffering sudden cardiac arrest — healthcare providers need to move quickly into post-cardiac arrest care to keep a person alive and ensure the best outcome.
What we 'know' may not be so, when it comes to the uninsured and ERs
The 47 million Americans who lack health insurance are the reason emergency departments are crowded all the time – right? And only the uninsured visit the emergency department for minor complaints, because it's easier than going to a doctor – right?
Pandemic flu models help determine food distribution and school closing strategies
The 1918 flu pandemic killed more than 40 million people worldwide and affected persons of all age groups. While it is difficult to predict when the next influenza pandemic will occur or how severe it will be, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed models to help organizations like the American Red Cross and Georgia Department of Education prepare emergency response plans.
Children's experts say doctors and parents can sort out symptoms with a checklist
A young child arrives at the emergency room after several days of abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea and is sent home with a diagnosis of viral gastritis and treatment for the symptoms. The child seems better for a while, only to return to the ER with worse symptoms and a ruptured appendix, a life-threatening complication of appendicitis.
Flu vaccine not associated with reduced hospitalizations or outpatient visits among young children
Use of the influenza vaccine was not associated with preventing hospitalizations or reducing physician visits for the flu in children age 5 and younger during two recent seasons, perhaps because the strains of virus in the vaccine did not match circulating strains, according to a report in the October issue of
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the
JAMA/Archives journals.
New test could help catch serious infections in babies
A simple blood test may help detect serious bacterial infections (SBIs) like urinary tract infections and blood stream infections in young infants who come to the emergency department (ED) with fevers that have no clear cause.