Increasing Language Interpreter Services Use and Documentation: A Quality Improvement Project.

Background/purpose: Based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, hospitals receiving funding from the Department of Human and Health Services must ensure adequate language assistance via a qualified interpreter for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients. Despite availability at our institution, official interpreter services were underutilized with inconsistent documentation of use. Baseline data over a 6-week period revealed a median of 43% of LEP parents reported use of official interpreter services, with a median of 0% documentation of use. We aimed to improve both over a 3-month period.

Methods: This quality improvement project was conducted at a children's hospital between April and August 2020. Surveys were provided to inpatient LEP families. Four intervention periods were implemented with ongoing data collection for 12 weeks. Interventions included developing best practices, incorporating language identification into daily workflow, empowering families, and standardizing documentation. Data were analyzed by run chart and descriptive statistics.

Results: After interventions and several plan-do-study-act cycles, a median of 73% reported use of official interpreter services, and a median of 59% were documented.

Conclusions: After multiple interventions, specifically noted after intervention period #2, improvement of official interpreter service use and documentation were identified in all inpatient units.