Language Barriers in Healthcare

Communication errors in healthcare due to primary language discordance between patients and healthcare staff are likely to increase in modern globalizing and linguistically diverse societies. In the existing literature, language barriers lead to miscommunications between healthcare professionals and patients, contributing to reduced satisfaction among both groups, decreased quality of care, and reduced patient safety. Language interpretation services are effective in improving care and are available in most large healthcare organizations, but may be absent in resource-limited settings and, when used, can increase the cost of care and the length of healthcare visits. Healthcare professionals may be tempted to forego interpreters in service of saving time; however, understanding the health impacts of suboptimal language and the ethical obligation of linguistic equity is central to providing competent healthcare.