The entrepreneurial physician's approach to Hispanic patients

An article in the Washington Post yesterday reminds us of how the US healthcare system is failing many of this country's 44.3 million Hispanic patients.

"Compared to whites, Spanish-speaking Hispanics reported less favorable experiences when talking with health care providers or getting help from office staff, the study found. This suggests that these patients face more language barriers in doctor's offices, hospitals and other clinical settings, (researcher) Weech-Maldonado said."

When it is challenging enough for English-speaking to adhere to medical recommendations and treatments, how much worse must it be for a non native-English speaker?

I was fortunate to be fluent in Spanish whilst in practice, having spent a year in a student exchange program living with a family and attending high school in Costa Rica. My subsequent ability to communicate in Spanish proved a draw for many Hispanic patients -- a lucky move as I formed many rewarding and enduring bonds.

Moral of this anecdote: become fluent, at least in your ability to communicate about health, in the predominant "other" language of your region. This will prove to be a significant attraction to an inadequately served, and probably very grateful, market segment.

Here's another entrepreneurial thought:

What if you reviewed your most frequently proffered advice (how to take diabetic medications, how to use an asthma inhaler, what this surgery entails, prostate cancer treatment options, use of sunscreens for babies and children - you get the story!) and hired a translator to prepare easy-to-understand materials, including CDs or videos, for your patients?

Sounds pricey? Not in this age of global connection.

An excellent and less-expensive resource for services such as copywriting, translation, educational material preparation etc. is Elance. This site provides access to numerous freelance services delivered by talented and qualified service providers from all over the world.

There is an informative little YouTube video on the home page explaining how you put a project out to bid (spend some time describing accurately what you want the project to be). You can specify that your provider be fluent in English, and what region of the world they should come from. Follow the steps in the project submission process. Then let the bids roll in!

You can assess the prior performance of the service providers by seeing feedback others have provided. Here is a useful article by an experienced user of Elance (and the other similar service providers - Rentacoder and Guru -- Guru actually specifies a "translation" category).

So....let's get practical, with a here's-how-to-do-it piece.

1. Decide what you want translated.
2. Decide on the medium of communication - a flyer, a CD, a DVD.
3. Go to Elance. com or Guru.com and hire a) a translator and b) someone to create your flyer with graphics etc, or c) someone who can create an audio product or audiovisual product.

You may spend a couple of hundred dollars producing these patient-friendly communication tools, but I suspect you'll be handsomely rewarded with a new stream of appreciative patients in return!

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PS: I am going to lay low for ten days as I am going on vacation with my family to enjoy a "first" -- my first experience of fall foliage -- North Carolina and the Blue Ridge mountains in this case! This is special for a South African who has only lived in California since arriving 23 years ago in the US.

Comments

[Mark Ingles]

Thanks for the link! I hope the article helped your readers.