Healthcare Professionals Share Translation Must-Haves

Helping Healthcare Heroes

Translation in healthcare comes in many forms. Whether it is a language service line, a bilingual nurse, a professional interpreter, or a family member, healthcare has been impacted by inefficient, inaccurate, and often expensive translation solutions. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified what was already a major issue in healthcare – providing efficient, accurate, and cost-effective translation services to patients regardless of language.

When assessing the need for a translation device in healthcare, we found that there were five things these providers couldn’t live without.

Safety & Security

HIPAA compliance is of the utmost importance for all healthcare professionals and organizations. Ensuring their patient’s information is safe and secure needs to be reflected in translations. This is why Pocketalk became the first HIPAA-compliant translation device – to keep those personal conversations private.

Ease of Use

The user experience of any translation solution is a crucial part of the overall professional-patient relationship. Nurses often complain that language lines are often slow, inaccurate, and expensive. Human interpretation whether it is from a bilingual nurse, a family member, or an on-site translator, is hard to come by. Having a translator that is fast, accurate, accessible, and reliable with translations at the press of a button allows healthcare professionals to create connections quickly.

“The use of the Pocketalk devices has been helpful for our staff in our health clinics, during environmental health inspections, and in service coordination meetings for early intervention/children with special medical needs visits,” stated Tracy Fricano Chalmers, Director of Public Health Planning and Emergency Preparedness / Public Information Officer. “These devices have empowered our staff to be more effective in their communications with non-English speaking clients and families.”

Cost of Service

Similarly to ease of use, language lines and human interpreters can be decent options, but ultimately cause more harm than good. With language lines racking up high costs per use, and human interpretation being both time and financially costly, especially for family members who are taken out of school or work to translate, ineffective translation costs healthcare organizations thousands of dollars each year.

Number of Languages

Although nearly half of the world’s population speaks roughly one of the same 10 languages, there are over 7,000 languages spoken across the globe according to Ethnologue. This can leave a large discrepancy between the language the patient speaks with what the organization has access to. Access to more languages and dialects allows patients to speak clearly and freely regardless of their language. Pocketalk’s All Spoken Here allows patients to know that spaces, where Pocketalk is present, will allow them access to language inclusivity.

Creating Connection

Finally, the last thing that healthcare professionals note when it comes to the need for translation goes beyond technicalities. Patient care equality has been cited as a top reason why healthcare professionals choose Pocketalk over language lines and human interpretation services. If a patient doesn’t speak the language, they realize that the person isn’t receiving the same care. Providing equal care to each patient increases the overall trust not only in the healthcare professional but the systems at hand.

But don’t just take our word for it. Last summer, Pocketalk was reviewed by Healthcare Business Today to judge the pros and cons of the device.

“For healthcare professionals and institutions striving for excellence and seeking to expand their global footprint, Pocketalk is more than a worthy investment; it’s a necessity,” wrote Daniel Casciato, founder of Healthcare Business Today. “In a domain where every word can impact a life, Pocketalk ensures that language is no longer a hurdle but a tool for enhanced understanding.”

To see how Pocketalk can make a difference in your organization, we’d love to hear from you.

Let’s Get Social!

Check out our X, LinkedIn, and Instagram for more behind-the-scenes content, and share your thoughts using #Pocketalk and #AllSpokenHere for your language inclusivity stories. Let’s explore how we can transform language barriers into bridges for educational success.