Review Literature And Theories Experiences Of Communication

Review Literature and Theories
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Review Literature and Theories
Literature Analysis
Ahmed, S., Lee, S., Shommu, N., Rumana, N., & Turin, T. (2017). Experiences of communication barriers between physicians and immigrant patients: A systematic review and thematic synthesis. Patient Experience Journal, 4(1), 122-140.
The authors indicate that immigration to any country presents challenges to any healthcare system. The healthcare sector is among the affected sectors. The article indicates that a communication gap develops between physicians and the immigrant patients. On the one hand, the article demonstrates that physicians are concerned about the fidelity of their conversations with the immigrant patients. On the other hand, the immigrant patients are concerned about the inability of the physicians to understand their culture because of the language barrier. While the article does not provide mortality and morbidity rates because of the language barrier, it indicates that it has adverse effects on the quality of care.
Ali, P. A., & Watson, R. (2018). Language barriers and their impact on provision of care to patients with limited English proficiency: Nurses' perspectives. Journal of clinical nursing, 27(5-6), e1152-e1160.
The article demonstrates that language barrier remains a major hindrance towards access to healthcare for immigrant patients. Using data collected from 59 nurses, the research demonstrates that language barrier has adverse effects on the ability of nurses to communicate with their patients. While interpreters are critical in reducing language barrier, they raise the issues of privacy, confidentiality and patient comfort.
Singleton, Kate, and Elizabeth Krause. "Understanding cultural and linguistic barriers to health literacy." OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing 14.3 (2009): 4.
Despite the cultural and linguistic barriers, nursing literature offers minimal assistance in integrating linguistic considerations to nursing efforts. Given that nurses are in a better position to ensure the interconnectedness between patient culture and language, there is a need to focus on how they can work towards addressing the problem of language barrier. Cultural beliefs determine how individuals interpret healthcare messages. Hence, knowing about the language of patients is critical in determining how they interpret healthcare information in a particular situation.
Flores, G. (2014). Families facing language barriers in healthcare: when will policy catch up with the demographics and evidence?. The Journal of pediatrics, 164(6), 1261-1264.
Flores demonstrates that the language barrier has adverse effects on access to care, the use of health services, patient-physician communication and the quality of care. The inability of physicians to communicate effectively with the Hispanics due to language barriers increases the length of hospital stay and makes patients more vulnerable to overdoses. According to the author, 61.9 million Americans reside in a non-English primary-language household and 25.1 million have limited English proficiency. Addressing the issue of language barrier would require an increase in the number of bilingual clinicians. Students in medical schools should receive foreign language instruction to enable them to deal with patients who do not understand English well.
Fernández, A., & Pérez-Stable, E. J. (2015). ¿ doctor, habla español? Increasing the supply and quality of language-concordant physicians for Spanish-speaking patients.
The authors maintain that the number of Spanish-speaking Limited English Proficiency (LEP) is in the U.S. is high. About 16 million individuals in the U.S. speak Spanish at home and they have LEP. Close to 9 million Hispanics do not speak English at all or speak it “not well.” Such a large number of Hispanics who are unable to speak English makes it challenging for them to access healthcare services. A majority of the Spanish speakers have basic language skills hence they are unable to communicate well when dealing with complex communication required by routine clinical care.
Andreae, M. H., Nair, S., Gabry, J. S., Goodrich, B., Hall, C., & Shaparin, N. (2017). A pragmatic trial to improve adherence with scheduled appointments in an inner-city pain clinic by human phone calls in the patient's preferred language. Journal of clinical anesthesia, 42, 77-83.
The research examines the adverse effects of poor adherence with scheduled appointments. The authors examined various causes for missed appointments. The study identified language as a barrier to access to healthcare services among the Hispanics. The first generation of Hispanic immigrants to the U.S. is vulnerable to discouraging experiences when they visit healthcare facilities. The inability of many of the Hispanics to communicate well makes them feel that the physicians are discriminating them. Where patients feel discriminated, there are more likely to fail to attend scheduled appointments. The results of the study demonstrate that making phone calls in the preferred language of the patients increases the probability of adhering to scheduled appointments.
Steinberg, E. M., Valenzuela-Araujo, D., Zickafoose, J. S., Kieffer, E., & DeCamp, L. R. (2016). The “battle” of managing language barriers in health care. Clinical Pediatrics, 55(14), 1318-1327.
The article demonstrates that offering safe and high-quality care to children with limited English proficiency (LEP) remains a challenge. Minority populations like the Latinos and the Hispanics have problems when accessing healthcare services due to their inability to communicate well the care providers. The situation is worse for children from LEP families. Their parents report poor communication with healthcare professionals which often leads to dissatisfaction. The author advocates the need to have interpreters to facilitate communication between the patients and the providers. The problem is that some families tend to distrust the interpreters. Healthcare professionals need to ensure that LEP parents develop trust with their interpreters.
Meuter, R. F., Gallois, C., Segalowitz, N. S., Ryder, A. G., & Hocking, J. (2015). Overcoming language barriers in healthcare: a protocol for investigating safe and effective communication when patients or clinicians use a second language. BMC health services research, 15(1), 371.
The authors maintain that miscommunication in healthcare can be harmful to patients. With the rising number of migrant patients and foreign-trained healthcare workers limits communication between providers and their clients to the use of a second language. Language-discordant conversations are of interest because they present a degree of risk. While the article does not provide statistical information to demonstrate the gravity of the matter, it indicates that failure to communicate accurately may cause a patient to fail to comply with instructions or fail to choose a life-saving treatment.
Squires, A. (2017). Evidence-based approaches to breaking down language barriers. Nursing2019, 47(9), 34-40.
The author indicates that increasing immigration into the U.S. has caused a challenge since healthcare professionals have to deal with a diverse population. According to the author, the largest group of immigrants in the last 30 years speaks Spanish. Despite the increasing Hispanic population, only 5% of the nurses in the U.S. identified as Hispanic or Latino. As a result, patients in this group are more likely than any other group to encounter a language barrier. While some Hispanics have tried to learn English, others have lost English skills as they age. Age-related neurologic events cause some older adult Hispanics to lose those skills hence the need for an interpreter. While using family members to interpret is cost-effective for healthcare facilities, it increases the risk of medical errors. These interpreters often lack basic medical knowledge which makes it possible to make mistakes while describing complex medical terms.
Dobbins, E. (2015). Non-language barriers to Effective Care of the Hispanic Population. East Tennessee State University.
In this article, Dobbins seeks to go beyond the issue of language while trying to establish healthcare issues that exist in the Hispanic population. She writes that research indicates that the Hispanic population reports a lower healthcare satisfaction rate. She continues to say that policies and guidelines have mainly focused on enhancing cultural competency of the healthcare professionals. However, Dobbins believes that focus should shift from the language issues often highlighted, to the healthcare providers. She reveals that language can indeed be a major problem but can never be considered as the only issue. Apparently, there are other challenging problems that impact healthcare. Dobbins indicates that a problem like the shortage of nurses is one that goes beyond the issue of language. In her recommendations, she notes that basic nursing education programs need to be improved.
Moissac, D., & Bowen, S. (2018). Impact of language barriers on quality of care and patient safety for official language minority Francophones in Canada. Association for Patient Experience, Vol. 6, Issue 1, pp. 24-32.
Even though directed at Francophones, this article does offer some insight on the topic of language barrier and its impact on the quality of care. Minority groups all over the world experience problems that emanate from their cultural or ethnic backgrounds. In this article, multiple method study involving online and paper-based surveys with patients and interpreters were used. As per the results, language barrier was said to lead to poorer patient assessment, misdiagnosis and/or delayed treatment, incomplete understanding of the patient condition and prescribed treatment, and impaired confidence in services received. The authors thus sought to communicate that the risks of language barriers need attention.
Bowen, S. (2015). The Impact of language barriers on patient safety and quality of care. Societte Santee n francais.
Bowen takes a direct approach as she seeks to provide an understanding of how language barrier continues to be a problem in healthcare provision. Her aim is to offer evidence that sheds light on the negative impact of language barrier on access to healthcare, patient satisfaction and experience, and disparities in healthcare provision between English proficient patients and others. She reveals that patients facing language barrier issues are also highly likely to face an increased risk of medication errors and complications, and adverse events. Bowen then reveals that there is low awareness of the risks or issues associated with language barrier because of research publication issues. Harmonization of the research resources can indeed be of great help if the issues associated with language barrier are to be considered and acted upon.
Chaufan, C., Chesla, C., Fielding, H., & Fernandez, A. (2013). Language barriers and diabetes care among urban, underserved Latinos in a teaching hospital in northern California.
In this article, Chaufan and her colleagues start by offering the reader an overview of the situation regarding diabetes and how language barrier affects its care. Latinos, they say, are disproportionately affected by diabetes mainly because at least 21 million of them are not proficient in English. This study delves deeper into the issue of interpreters and their effectiveness in helping solve the issue of language barrier and its eventual effect on diabetes patients especially Latino patients with limited English proficiency or LEP. This study was conducted in San Francisco General Hospital General Medical Clinic and mainly used interviews and observation methods in data collection. The researchers concluded that the recruitment of more Spanish speaking physicians is central to the success of doctor-patient communication and concomitant success of diabetes care among LEP Latinos.
Artiga, S., Young, K., Cornachione, E., & Garfield, R. (2015). The role of language in healthcare access and utilization for insured Hispanic Adults. Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation.
In the U.S., Hispanics account for the largest population of LEP individuals and as indicated in the summaries before, these individuals are susceptible to poor healthcare. Language barrier continues to be a major issue for LEP individuals. However, Artiga and her colleagues note that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may have helped to increase healthcare coverage to all communities. However, access and utilization of care are still major issues for LEP individuals. The data collected and analyzed in this article is for English and Spanish-speaking Hispanic adults with insurance. Between these two groups, the study revealed that Spanish-speaking insured Hispanic adults face challenges with their health plans compared to their English-speaking counterparts. Additionally, the study reveals that Spanish-speaking Hispanic adults also face major issues when it comes to meeting the financial demands of healthcare.
Castellanos, K. (2016). Communication methods in healthcare for Latinos with limited English proficiency: Physician language concordance and children as translators. Portland State University.
In this study, Castellanos seeks to examine the primacy methods of communication used by LEP Latinos. The two main methods are children as interpreters and the use of physician language concordance. For children, the study reveals that the use of children often leads to misdiagnosis and lower patient satisfaction. There is also the potential for miscommunication, especially when dealing with children. However, Physician language concordance are said to lead to higher patient satisfaction and improved health outcomes. The researchers thus seem to indicate that physician language concordance is the better option when it comes to dealing with LEP Latinos and healthcare issues.
An Applicable Theory
The psycholinguistic approach studies the psychological and neurobiological factors that facilitate the acquisition and use of language. The theory covers the cognitive processes involved in the generation of a meaningful sentence out of vocabulary structures and the processes that enable the understanding of utterances and words (Meuter et al., 2015). The theory advocates that the use of unfamiliar language terms makes it impossible for listeners to understand the intention of the speaker.
The psycholinguistic theory is critical in addressing language barriers between healthcare professionals and Hispanics. The theory indicates the way in which speakers can focus the attention of their audience to key elements of their messag...