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Does a Video-Interpreting Network Improve Delivery of Care in the Emergency Department?

  1. Elizabeth A. Jacobs1,*,
  2. Paul C. Fu Jr.2,
  3. Paul J. Rathouz3

Article first published online: 18 OCT 2011

DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2011.01329.x

Issue

Health Services Research

Health Services Research

Volume 47, Issue 1pt2, pages 509–522, February 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Jacobs, E. A., Fu, P. C. and Rathouz, P. J. (2012), Does a Video-Interpreting Network Improve Delivery of Care in the Emergency Department?. Health Services Research, 47: 509–522. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2011.01329.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI

  2. 2

    David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and UCLA School of Public Health, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Torrance, CA

  3. 3

    Department of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI

*Address correspondence to Elizabeth A. Jacobs, M.D., M.P.P., Associate Professor and Associate Vice Chair for Health Services Research, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 800 University Bay Drive, Suite 210, Madison, WI 53705; e-mail: eajacobs@medicine.wisc.edu.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 12 JAN 2012
  2. Article first published online: 18 OCT 2011

Funded by

  • The California HealthCare Foundation

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Keywords:

  • Interpreters;
  • language barriers;
  • Emergency Department;
  • policy;
  • safety net

Objective

To measure the impact of a policy change from use of telephonic and face-to-face interpreting to use of a video-interpreting network on Emergency Department (ED) care.

Data Sources/Study Setting

Observational study of ED care at two California hospitals.

Study Design

We compared tests ordered, time in the ED, and admission rates for English- and Spanish-speaking patients presenting with chest pain and abdominal pain before and after the policy change.

Data Collection/Extraction Methods

Data were extracted from electronic medical and billing records.

Principal Findings

Mean time in the ED, mean number of laboratory tests, radiology services, electrocardiograms, and echocardiograms, and rates of hospital admission for both language groups at both hospitals went down in the post-video-interpreting network period compared with the pre-video-interpreting network period. The percentage of patients leaving the ED against medical advice (AMA) increased in one hospital for both language groups; this increase was statistically significantly smaller in the Spanish-language group compared with the English group (p = .04).

Conclusions

The studied video-interpreting network had minimal impact on health care outcomes in the ED.

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