Mälarsjukhuset were often surprised by the translation needs of referred patients. Now they can ask important safety questions and save valuable time.
Mälarsjukhuset in Eskilstuna is the largest hospital in Södermanland County and is run by Region Sörmland. The hospital has 22 clinics, a maternity ward, an intensive care unit, and a cardiac intensive care unit.
Roberth Johansson is a radiology technician and section manager for MRI in the radiology clinic.
The patients are referred to the radiology clinic by doctors. Often, there is no information in the referral that a patient doesn't speak the language or needs an interpreter. In those situations, they could not ask the necessary security questions before the scan, and patients had to be sent home without an important scan.
Roberth and his colleagues are not substituting interpreters with Care to Translate. If they know beforehand that there is a need for an interpreter, they will book an interpreter. If not, they can use Care to Translate to do the scan, instead of canceling the appointment. It saves time for the staff and the patient.
“It is mainly used for safety questions before the scan. We have a pretty thorough playlist with the questions we need answers for. We also inform about what will happen, that they will get contrast fluid, that there is a button they can press if they need our attention, etc.”
He continues: "In theory, we could probably use it for instructions during the scan as well. Playing phrases in the microphone so that the patients can hear it in their headphones."
Mälarsjukhuset had tried other solutions, such as Google Translate, body language, showing images of what can be dangerous in your body, and more. But it felt difficult for the information to reach the patient. "With MRIs, communication is so important because we need to know if they have anything in their body that is a contraindication, i.e., dangerous for the patient." says Roberth.
A radiology colleague in another organization recommended Care to Translate and Roberth and his colleagues decided to try it.
" What we love is that it is so all-encompassing, with playlists that fit our clinic. And Care to Translate keeps adding new phrases."
The patients get really happy to hear their own language. I try to learn some phrases myself because it means so much. It's very positive. Sometimes they just want to keep talking with the app.
Roberth has seen some noticeable savings by using the app because interpreter translation services are expensive in comparison. But also because it makes it possible to scan a patient even when we can't get an interpreter.
Additionally, we save time. The pressure is high on radiology, and many patients waiting to get an appointment for a scan. Now we can give more patients that opportunity and not have to reschedule.
We are happy that we can support Mälarsjukhuset with their urgent translation needs. It means a lot to us that Roberth and his colleagues can see such a positive difference in their work environment as well as the patients. Thank you Mälarsjukhuset for a great collaboration!
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