People with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) confront multiple obstacles when trying to access health care. They report decrease in satisfaction, quality of care and often poor outcomes. There is a strong sentiment among American institutions that immigrants should learn English and that langauge barriers should not be the problem of hospitals and staff. This project evaluated policies and procedures already in place at the clinic, benchmarked these against standards of federal and state regulations of practice, with the goal to improve operations for staff and improve access and standard of care for patients with LEP. The purpose of this capstone project was to answer the question: For the Hispanic patients of limited English proficiency at this clinic will improvements in communication lead to improvements in access to care? The primary intervention was to increase the availability of medical interpretation either face to face or through mechanical devises. Everyday operations when serving patients with LEP were benchmarked against regulation standards. The staff was surveyed for suggestions. Signage, language services and medical information handouts were made available to patients with LEP. After Institutional Review Board Approval, Hispanic patients were asked to return a satisfaction survey. Results identified medication issues and after office appointment communication as areas that still needed resolution. Easier access to appointments and better understanding of provider instructions at the time of an appointment were viewed as positive accomplished outcome goals. This project was the catalyst for the short term goal of improving communication between staff and patients with LEP at a New Jersey clinic. Continued monitoring, revisions and updating must be an organizational goal in an effort to benchmark evolving practice change. Long term goals of this project will be to improve and continually monitor cost-effective ways to communicate with patients who identify themselves as having Limited English proficiency. Failure to do so will negatively affect the quality of care accessible to patients with LEP. This in turn will put increased demands on a broken healthcare system that is unable to financially support itself. Eventually, this organization will be the basis for community support to not only Hispanic patients with LEP, but all peoples of different cultures.
