Language Access in Healthcare
ClaimC-0050Initial AI draft

A multi-component quality-improvement bundle raises appropriate interpreter use and documentation for LEP patients

2026-06-050 out · 1 in

CLMs this claim informs (→ CLM—informs→CLM by sync_relations.py). The under-provision claim motivates this intervention claim: closing the documented gap is what a QI bundle attempts.

  • C-0034

Narrative synthesis #

This is an intervention-contrast process claim: a structured quality-improvement program can lift the rate of appropriate interpreter use and documentation (AIUD) for LEP patients well above baseline. In a pediatric ED, a multi-component bundle (an electronic tracking-board LEP icon, a standardized 3-click LEP documentation form, and icon color changes for situational awareness, over three PDSA cycles) raised mean AIUD for Spanish-speaking LEP patients from a 35.7% baseline to 64.5% (Martinez 2021). The outcome is a process/documentation measure — it confirms that an appropriate professional interpreter was recorded as used, not that every conversation was interpreted, and the gain followed sequential PDSA cycles with a Hawthorne-effect contribution the authors note. As a single-site QI project, this is directional evidence that the under-provision gap is movable rather than a generalizable effect size; the certainty/GRADE appraisal is left for expert review.

"The mean of LEP-SS patients with AIUD improved from 35.7% to 64.5% without significant changes in balancing measures." (Martinez, 2021, p. 1)

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