Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q) have recently published research results about the impact of language barriers on access to healthcare in Qatar.
Qatar’s rapidly growing multicultural population is presenting new challenges to the healthcare system. The research was carried out in order to find out more about patients’ perspectives about language barriers and the strategies used to overcome them.
WCM-Q researchers conducted interviews with participants in four language groups (Arabic, English, Hindi and Urdu), all of whom were living in Qatar and utilizing the Hamad General Hospital-Outpatient Clinics.
Published in the Journal of Health Communication, the research found that English is by far the most dominant language in hospitals and that poor English skills were presenting users with problems in terms of getting the right healthcare.
Hindi and Urdu speakers especially reported coming across language barriers more than Arabic and English speakers. In order to get around the lack of a common language the research found that patients were using other ways to communicate such as through friends, nurses, body language and mixing languages.
Dr. Michael D. Fetters, The Principal investigator, Professor and Co-Director of Mixed Methods Research and Scholarship Program at the University of Michigan said in article that, “In this paper we wanted to identify how language barriers diminish access to healthcare from the perspectives of patients themselves, as this information can be used to develop strategies to transcend linguistic differences and enhance healthcare access for all.”
The findings will be used to inform stakeholders of the importance and value of interpretation services in healthcare institutions.
The research offers recommendations such as the need to generally raise awareness of the critical need for professional interpretation in Qatar, offering written information translated into multiple languages, adding patients’ language preferences to their medical records and systematically reviewing language service standards in Qatari hospitals
