A rich and informative guide to making hospitals accessible to all is available for download from The Joint Commission.

The Joint Commission is a not-for-profit organization that accredits thousands of hospitals and health care organizations in the USA. In 2008, it published One Size Does Not Fit All, a 60-page document presenting the results of a study which sought to clarify “how the challenges associated with cultural and language (C&L) barriers are being addressed at 60 hospitals across the country.”

One Size Does Not Fit All also offered a self-assessment tool so that health care structures can evaluate how well they are meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse population. But what is an establishment to do if they are not up to speed?

This year, the same Commission released Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals. Also available for free download, this work can serve as a guideline for hospitals striving to improve all types of communication with patients.

Although A Roadmap for Hospitals doesn’t limit itself to cultural and linguistic communication, the 102-page guide repeatedly refers to these issues and their relation to every stage of a patient’s hospital experience, from admissions to discharge or end-of-life care.

This document will certainly land a spot on my next list of top online medical translation resources, and I look forward to exploring some of its content in future posts.

Betty Carlson

See Also

• Language Translation, Inc.
  A leading language translation and interpretation service provider for more than 20 years.