Lost in Translation

The use of written educational materials, such as brochures and instruction sheets, is a fundamental and important part of any medical practice. Without them, effective communication with patients is jeopardized.

Developing written materials can be an expensive and time-consuming process, but it can become even more costly if patients find the materials confusing or hard to understand, leading them to misinterpret the information or not use it at all.

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy, a large survey conducted in 2003 by the National Center for Education Statistics, estimated that 14 percent of U.S. adults have a “below basic” level of “prose literacy,” defined as the ability to use “printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.”

The Joint Commission and the National Committee for Quality Assurance have both adopted guidelines specifying the need for patient education information and consent documents to be written in such a way that patients can understand them. Some legal experts indicate that providers and hospitals can be held liable for adverse outcomes suffered by patients who do not understand important health information needed for diagnosis and treatment.

All healthcare providers can best serve their patient populations by providing patients with easy-to-understand information, but it needs to be recognized that translating, like interpreting, is a highly complex skill. Simple, temporary documents, such as flyers, can be successfully translated by a skilled volunteer; more substantive medical or legal documents should be translated by a professional.

While a centralized clearinghouse of translated health materials does not yet exist, national healthcare associations, pharmaceutical companies, and immigrant and refugee community-based organizations are often good sources of translated health-related patient materials.

Useful resources for translated materials can be found at the Resource Center of the Cross Cultural Care Program (www.xculture.org) or at the Health and Literacy Compendium (www.worlded.org).