Improving Safety for Patients With Limited English Proficiency
Hospitals
of all types can engage in a systematic approach to better identify and prevent
medical errors and adverse events that occur commonly among patients with limited English proficiency
(LEP). Research available from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
makes these 5 key recommendations to improve detection of medical
errors across diverse LEP populations and prevent high-risk scenarios from
becoming safety events:
- Foster
a supportive culture for safety of diverse patient populations.
- Adapt
current systems to better identify medical errors among patients with LEP.
- Improve
reporting of medical errors for patients with LEP.
- Routinely
monitor patient safety for patients with LEP.
- Address
root causes to prevent medical errors among patients with LEP.
For
hospitals with resource or other limitations that preclude a full rollout of
these strategies at once, the authors suggest beginning incrementally by
choosing any strategies that can be readily implemented and, at a minimum,
focus on addressing the root causes that lead to high-risk scenarios for
medical errors among patients with LEP.
A case
study, Bringing It to Life, highlights a breakdown in communication involving
hospital staff and a 45-year-old Spanish-speaking man with type 2 diabetes who
goes to the emergency department accompanied by his wife.