Adam is the Language Services Manager at a large hospital in the Southwest…
Adam was having a rough morning. He arrived late for his 9am meeting, missed an important conference call and his computer crashed. What Adam didn’t know was that his morning was about to get worse, much worse. It was just before noon when Adam got the call from his supervisor, James, requesting he report to his office immediately. Adam nervously made his way to the executive wing of the hospital. “We have a problem,” James announced. “I’ve just been notified that the hospital is being sued for malpractice from a former patient for not providing a qualified medical interpreter. Do you know anything about this?” [rfm-reveal title=”Read More”]The rest of the meeting was a blur as Adam tried to comprehend everything. As it turns out, the bilingual doctor who was caring for the patient (and who had assumed the role of interpreter) made a major mistake. He misinterpreted the dosage instructions. As a result, the patient was taking twice the amount of medication he should have been taking, which led to kidney failure and then emergency surgery. Adam knew this was his fault and the guilt was eating him alive. He was the hospital’s Language Services Manager. It was his responsibility to make sure every single non-English speaking patient received the best medical care possible. As the severity of the situation settled in, Adam couldn’t keep his mind from racing. Is the patient going to be okay? Will I lose my job because of this? How can I make sure something like this never happens again?
Adam was relieved to hear the surgery was a success; the patient was going to be okay. But he knew if he wanted to keep his job he would have to make some changes…and fast. Adam stayed up all night drafting a revised language assessment plan for the hospital. In the plan, Adam proposed a new policy that requires all dual-role bilingual employees to be assessed by a third party before being able to interpret for a patient. The new plan was unanimously approved by the hospital’s leadership committee. Adam was going to get to keep his job after all. And he was going to do everything in his power to make sure a mistake like this never happened again.
LSA helps people like Adam.
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“We are very happy with LSA. The staff is friendly and attentive to all of our needs. Through their language assessment program, we have been able to measure the language proficiency and interpreting ability of some of our dual-role bilingual employees, ensuring our diverse patients consistently receive the highest quality of care, while meeting Joint Commission compliance standards.”
– Timothy Meeks, Administrative Director
Las Palmas Medical Center, El Paso, TX
How Does It Work?
When meeting the needs of your diverse patients, completely accurate and effective communication is the key to delivering safe, quality care. Our language assessment program has been designed with this goal in mind. We’ll help you properly assess the language proficiency and interpreting ability of your dual-role bilingual employees and medical interpreters. What does this mean for you? It means your patients will receive the highest quality care every time, regardless of the language they speak. And it means you can relax knowing patient safety is not being compromised. Visit our language assessment quick facts page to learn more.
Who's Using It?
Some of the nation’s leading hospitals and healthcare organizations have put their employees and medical interpreters through our language assessment program…Learn More.
Why Should I Use LSA's Language Assessment Solutions?
When you choose us for language assessments, you’re guaranteed a consultative, hands-on approach and exceptional customer service support. And if you’re taking advantage of our other solutions, you’ll have the unique opportunity to manage your hospital’s entire language access plan through one vendor. Learn more about what a partnership with LSA means for you below.
Package I – Language Proficiency
Evaluates the dual-role employee’s ability to communicate in both English and a foreign language
Package II – Interpreting and Specific Skills Assessment
Evaluates the candidate’s competency and ability to apply accepted interpreting skills, protocols and standards of practice in both languages, while measuring knowledge of general medical terminology
Package III – Preparation and Training for Medical Interpreter Certification
Provides candidates with a customized 40-hour, in-person training in preparation for taking the national medical certification exam
We’ll also send you a customized report for each examinee. These reports will include the final ranking received on the language skills and interpreting ability scales, along with a brief description of the candidate. We encourage you to use these reports for Joint Commission surveyor visits, and for language assessment planning and implementation.
- A dedicated Client Services department that’s devoted to providing professional, caring and timely support
- 24 / 7 live customer service support
- A streamlined 8-step Client Services Feedback Process designed to document, investigate and resolve all client feedback
- A robust 8-step Implementation Process for new clients
- Refresher training and re-inservicing for existing clients
- User education materials and interactive tutorials available on our Client Education Web Portal
- The ability to contact a member of our Client Services team by phone, e-mail, live chat or social media with an average response time of 30 minutes (during standard business hours)
How Do I Get Started?
Getting started with LSA is easy! Call us at 800.305.9673 X55305 or contact us online. Have your dual-role bilingual employees and medical interpreters been properly assessed? Are you confident in their ability to interpret in a high-risk medical situation? If you answered “no” to either of these questions, then contact us today!
Still not convinced we’re the right partner for you?
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