Communication barriers in healthcare

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More than one in three people have additional communication needs, yet being able to communicate with a nurse or doctor is taken for granted. When communication gaps between healthcare professionals and patients exist, they negatively impact the quality and safety of care. Also, patients take longer to be triaged, take longer to be admitted, stay in hospital longer, and are more likely to be readmitted. This all adds to the ever-increasing pressures on patient flow and outcomes.

If healthcare providers and patients aren’t able to understand each other, inevitably patient experience will be hindered. And, depending on the situation and message needing to be communicated, the outcomes for patients could be much more severe.
Professional human interpreters are considered the gold standard, but face-to-face or telephone-based third-party intermediary solutions are intermittently available and expensive, and vary in clinical accuracy.

CardMedic provides an instantly available, 24x7x365 solution at a fraction of the cost, which helps healthcare make sense for people experiencing communication barriers.

Why alternatives to third-party intermediary interpreter solutions are needed

Why do communications barriers between healthcare providers and patients exist?

We live in a multicultural society and healthcare systems around the world treat a diverse range of patients every hour, of every day. A communication barrier exists when a patient is not able to fully understand what a care professional is telling them, or fully able to communicate their needs back to the person providing their care. Language differences are an obvious example but other significant communication barriers include visual impairment, hearing impairment, cognitive ability, learning disability and cultural nuances.
More recently, COVID-19 presented a different challenge, as the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) increased the likelihood of communication barriers occurring.
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How do communication barriers impact patient care?

Communication barriers have serious implications in healthcare settings and contribute significantly to widening health inequalities.
If patients aren’t able to understand healthcare staff it can contribute to increased mortality, poorer medication compliance, and an increase in anxiety and fear felt by patients.

Lower quality care​

Wasted resources​

Decreased patient and
staff satisfaction

Increased costs​

Less engaged patients​

Avoidable strain on the wider
health and care system

How can healthcare providers overcome communication barriers?

Interpreters play a crucial and invaluable role in ensuring effective communication in healthcare settings. Their expertise is essential for providing equitable care to patients with limited English proficiency. However, access to interpreters can sometimes be limited due to resource and buget constraints.

Our customers have shared that, despite interpreters’ critical importance, availability can be a challenge, with interpreters sometimes being accessible for only one hour during a 12-hour shift. This often requires healthcare staff to seek alternative solutions, redirecting valuable time away from patient care.

Telephone and video-based interpretation services can be effective in many cases, but they come with their own challenges, particularly in emergency or critical care situations where every second counts. In such cases, healthcare teams may resort to using friends, family, other staff, or machine-translation tools as a last resort. While these alternatives can help bridge communication gaps in the moment, they also carry certain limitations and risks.

This highlights the ongoing need for innovative solutions to support interpreters and enhance accessibility, ensuring that patients receive the highest standard of care while reducing the burden on healthcare staff.

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“On a 12-hour shift, we would normally only
have an interpreter on the ward with us for
one hour to help us have the most important
conversations about a patient’s care. For the
other 11 hours, at times it could be really
difficult to communicate.”

Bethany Allen, Oncology Staff Nurse and Digital Nurse
Implementer at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Read Christie Case Study


Read UHL Case Study

“I’ve been blown away by the potential that CardMedic
holds to improve patient experience and safety.”
Sarah HainesHead of Patient Experience and Engagement for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
“We have the app downloaded on our tablets and phones
and it’s very helpful, especially out-of-hours where we
often have to wait for a translator.”
Rhona Haydena lead out-of-hours nurse at Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
“Our CEO thought the product was brilliant, and we
wanted to collaborate with CardMedic to integrate their
app in our unique rural setting to help us reap the benefits
of communicating effectively with our diverse patients and
deliver the best possible patient experience”
Jordan BenardDirector of Business Development and Community Relations at Nor-Lea Hospital District
“Since using CardMedic, we can be reassured that we are
communicating with patients effectively and sensitively,
which is essential in cancer care.”
Bethany AllenOncology Staff Nurse and Digital Nurse Implementer at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
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How can technology help improve clinician to patient communication?

Digital frontline tools, like CardMedic, that are instantly available at the point of care are a safer, more efficient solution for patients and healthcare staff than other methods resorted to when professional interpreters are simply not available.
CardMedic provides a library of pre-prepared content to guide common clinician-to-patient interactions, written by healthcare professionals, and human translated into over 50 languages including British Sign Language, as well as easy read, read aloud and live translate formats. And when interpreters are needed for more nuanced conversations or digital consent is required, CardMedic instantly connects users at the point of need. CardMedic offers an affordable fixed price solution for all members of staff and patients – giving unlimited access to the app on any device at any time, at a fraction of typical interpretation and translation spends.

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CardMedic benefits include:

For Patients

• Safer, higher quality care
• Less time waiting
• More confidentiality and privacy
• Improved health literacy
• Improved understanding
• List Item

For Healthcare Staff

• Instantly available – 5 x faster than using a 3rd party intermediary
• Clinically nuanced, pre- prepared dialog
• More time to care
• More informed patients
• Enhanced medication compliance

For Healthcare Providers

• Enhanced patient safety
• Improved patient understanding
• Reduced health inequalities
• Optimised interpreter access
• 
  Improved patient outcomes
  
• 
  Staff efficiency
  

Book a 30 minute demo to discover how CardMedic is transforming care

See how our clinically powered platform makes care delivery faster and more understandable for everyone.

• Provide equality of experience to patients
• Enable consistency of service for providers
• Improve efficiency of outcomes for hospitals

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