Background: Encounters with families and patients that speak a language other than English (LOE) are at high risks for worse outcomes: higher readmission rates, less health education, and increased adverse events. In contrast, concordant language use is associated with increased patient satisfaction, treatment adherence, and decreased adverse events.
Purpose: To address outcome inequality for LOE, a curriculum comprised of a didactic session and an Interpreter Champion initiative was created. The Interpreter Champion badge buddies served multiple purposes within the initiative: an ongoing educational tool to reinforce principles learned during the didactic session, exploration of different teaching techniques, and awareness and advocacy for language access.
Description: A needs assessment at an academic children’s hospital (N=62) revealed that only 50% of participants report using interpreters 75-100% of the time with 73% receiving no formal interpreter service-related education, with no difference among training levels. The didactic session covers the importance of concordant language use, the role of interpreters, accessing them, and best practices. The didactic session evaluation (N=11) used a Likert scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree. All learners felt they learned something (27% agree, 73% strongly agree) and felt the session would change their clinical practices (45% agree, 56% strongly agree). Most felt better prepared to use an interpreter. Comments about the session included “clear, evidence-based” and “great topic, engaging conversations.” The didactic session was paired with the Interpreter Champion Initiative, which includes badge buddies with teaching scripts and a literature repository, accessible through a QR code. Teaching scripts include a high-yield topic, supporting literature, and a brief teaching script. When the participant identifies a trigger based on the patient’s situation, they can solidify the knowledge learned during the didactic session, apply it to a real-world encounter, and help in education propagation. The inclusion of supporting literature and different teaching modalities allows participants to practice and explore different teaching modalities, such as using a visual aid or think-pair-share. With the visual representation of the “Interpreter Champion” on the badge and the use of teaching scripts for timely and relevant educational sessions, participants create awareness and advocacy for language access. Identification as an Interpreter Champion also creates social accountability to ensure proper interpreter access and utilization. Engagement of the Interpreter Champion Initiative was tracked by the number of QR scans and demonstrated 18 total scans from 15 unique users from August 2023 – May 2024.
Conclusions: Despite the challenges of evaluating the curriculum given the limited responses and ongoing need to evaluate the impact of the Interpreter Champion Initiative, a positive impact on knowledge acquisition and expected practice improvements was observed. The Interpreter Champion Initiative has the potential for enduring impact as it fosters education, provides resources for leading discussions, allows users to explore different teaching techniques, and lets individuals self-identify as Interpreter Champions, promoting social accountability and advocacy. Ongoing utilization of the curriculum and continued evaluation will allow for continued progress in addressing inequality for LOE patients.
