A report by the Joint Commission titled Hospitals, Language, and Culture: A Snapshot of the Nation, is a qualitative cross-sectional study designed to provide a snapshot of how sixty hospitals across the country are providing health care to culturally and linguistically diverse patient populations. This report sought to answer the following question:

What challenges do hospitals face when providing care and services to culturally and linguistically diverse populations?

Two major subjects included the provision of language services and the process for obtaining informed consent.

As a physician, I have to address the provision of language services in my daily practice. Occasionally I am called to the emergency room to provide a consultation on a child from another country, such as Laos. There are many cultural differences when working with a Laotian family that I must take into consideration, but the first is to overcome the language barrier if they do not speak any English. Many hospitals use the AT&T and Language Line Services to provide translation. This service offers professional interpreters skilled in more than 170 languages that can be reached 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  A consultation will take twice as long through an interpreter and sometimes much longer if the family has questions due to the cultural differences. Laotians may have only utilized traditional medical practitioners, known as healers, who use medicinal plants for common illnesses in Laos. These language and cultural barriers are important to overcome as a Joint Commission study found that inpatients with limited English experience more frequent adverse events.