Evaluation of Patient Access to Spanish-Language-Concordant Care on a Postpartum Unit

Abstract results

Each result the abstract reports — is it captured as evidence?

• Access to a clinician certified in medical Spanish or an interpreter was offered to 12 of 50 (24%) couplets upon admission to the unit and to 7 of 50 (14%) of couplets for daily maternal and newborn medical rounds.

  suggested · 28% In a chart review of 50 Spanish-preferring postpartum birthing parent–newborn couplets, access to a clinician certified in medical

  Covered Promote Not a result

• Clinicians reported long and unpredictable wait times to access interpreters, which led them to rely on hand gestures, broken Spanish, and smartphone apps to "get by" when communicating with patients without certified interpretation services.

  suggested · 30% In semistructured interviews, postpartum clinicians described long and unpredictable interpreter wait times — driven by interprete

  Covered Promote Not a result

• Participants described low usage of interpreters for "noncritical" encounters.

  Covered Promote Not a result

• Interpreters and other forms of Spanish-language-concordant care were underused on the postpartum unit.

  Covered Promote Not a result

• This deviation from national standards may put families at risk for harm.

  Covered Promote Not a result

• Recommendations from this study include advancing a culture of respectful care, improving the interpreter request workflow, addressing safe staffing, facilitating direct patient access to interpreters, and providing ongoing evaluation and support.

  Covered Promote Not a result

Tables & figures

Map each object to the evidence it grounds (one object can ground several), add anything missed, or flag a gap.

• Table 1

  p6
  • Clinicians strongly preferred in-person interpreters over phone and video for engagement and continuity
  • Clinicians triaged encounters as noncritical and withheld interpreters reserving them for consents
  • Interpreter or bilingual-provider access was offered to only 24% of postpartum couplets at admission and 14% for daily rounds
  • Long unpredictable interpreter wait times led clinicians to get by with hand gestures broken Spanish and phone apps
  • Median wait for an in-person interpreter after clinician request was 17 minutes (range 0-75)
  Add evidence Flag gap Nothing to capture

• Table 2

  p7
  • Clinicians strongly preferred in-person interpreters over phone and video for engagement and continuity
  • Clinicians triaged encounters as noncritical and withheld interpreters reserving them for consents
  • Interpreter or bilingual-provider access was offered to only 24% of postpartum couplets at admission and 14% for daily rounds
  • Long unpredictable interpreter wait times led clinicians to get by with hand gestures broken Spanish and phone apps
  • Median wait for an in-person interpreter after clinician request was 17 minutes (range 0-75)
  Add evidence Flag gap Nothing to capture
• 

  Table 3

  p8
  • Clinicians strongly preferred in-person interpreters over phone and video for engagement and continuity
  • Clinicians triaged encounters as noncritical and withheld interpreters reserving them for consents
  • Interpreter or bilingual-provider access was offered to only 24% of postpartum couplets at admission and 14% for daily rounds
  • Long unpredictable interpreter wait times led clinicians to get by with hand gestures broken Spanish and phone apps
  • Median wait for an in-person interpreter after clinician request was 17 minutes (range 0-75)
  Add evidence Flag gap Nothing to capture