Patient Forms in Their Native Written Languages
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Publication Date
2025
Keywords
oregon, oaa 2025, diversity
Disciplines
Medical Education | Public Health
Abstract
Problem Statement: Patients who speak languages other than English lack access to forms in their preferred language. Current translation methods (using interpreters) are time-consuming and may influence patient responses. At our clinic in Southeast Portland, approximately half of our visits involve translators for non-English-speaking patients. While we strive to use translators to assist patients with their English forms, this creates a disparity in the care we can provide for the following reasons. Firstly, the in-person translators we employ are part of the same small communities as most of our patients, leading to potential inaccuracies in describing social or sexual health concerns. As a large health system, we should aim for inclusivity and in accommodating patients’ diverse language skills. Written forms in patient’s native language is a good first step toward alleviating the language barrier all our patients face 1. Providing written information in the patient’s native language in addition to translators help with discussion of care can enhance the care received from providers.2 Objectives: Project Objective: How to obtain wellness forms, PHQ-9 and GAD-7 in our top 5 languages and exploring a clinic workflow to ensure these are appropriately given out. Methods: 1. Translate standard adult wellness forms ages 18-64 to written Chinese, Spanish, 2. Vietnamese, and Russian. AI translation services was used instead of Linguava due to the cost of about $200 per page. 3. Obtaining approved PHQ-9 form translations in Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Russian. Found this on OR Dial. 4. Explore workflow for optimization so that language congruent written forms are given to non-English speakers appropriately. Made protopage that links to Sharepoint 5. documents for all the forms we routinely use in other languages. Results: See Figures in the poster for website created and forms translated. Survey to show staff of this new website showed that having a clinic discussion in about 5 minutes increased awareness by > 40% (see Figure 3 and 4) Discussion/Conclusions/Next Steps: An overview of SE clinic patient population demographics and visit types indicated a potential for making care provided more equitable by having forms in patient’s native language. This is important because studies have shown that having these forms increases response rates3 and quality of information to allow the clinician to provide better care2. It is currently not cost effective for a single clinic such as PMG Southeast to pay for human translation of all the forms regularly used, but preliminary translation with the use of readily available AI translation such as Deep L showed that this technology can be fairly accurate and cost effective. Future Plans: • Consider adding more forms such as patient education documents, pediatric forms, and instructions for FIT tests • Dual language forms for MA interpretation of all the forms • Work with local leadership in getting formal translation of all forms • Consider piloting AI translation for After Visit Summaries • Formalizing a workflow in Southeast for PRRs and medical assistants to find the necessary forms for our patients.
Specialty/Research Institute
Graduate Medical Education
Specialty/Research Institute
Population Health
