LANGUAGE BARRIERS IN MEDICINE DO MORE THAN CAUSE CONFUSION, THEY COULD INCREASE YOUR RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR ISSUES.
Imagine visiting a doctor who doesn’t speak your language fluently. Now imagine trying to explain your symptoms, understand medical advice, and make important health decisions, all through a language barrier. Frustrating, right? Beyond just being frustrating, it turns out that language barriers in medical environments could have detrimental effects on heart health.
When patients with hypertension get care from a physician who speaks their preferred language, they are 36 per cent less likely to experience a serious heart complication such as a heart attack, heart failure, or stroke), found in a recent study undertaken by researchers from the universities of Ottawa and Manitoba.
Even better, they have a 28 per cent lower chance of dying from heart disease than people who see a doctor who doesn’t understand their language. Adding a language barrier to the already complicated healthcare system makes it even more difficult for patients to communicate their problems and comprehend diagnoses.
“If there was a new medication that decreased the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events by 36 per cent or all-cause mortality by 28 per cent, this medication would immediately be offered to our patients.
We need to start thinking about language barriers in our healthcare systems in a similar way,” explained Michael Reaume, a resident in the Faculty of Medicine’s department of nephrology and the lead researcher of this study.
124,583 Canadians with hypertension who spoke almost 100 different languages had their data examined for this study. Researchers looked into the outcomes of patients treated by physicians who spoke their native tongue against those who did not.
For instance, although French-speaking patients now have better access to healthcare thanks to federal policies, Indigenous language speakers still suffer major challenges when trying to get care in their preferred language.
To battle this issue, the research team stresses the need to diversify the medical workforce by encouraging people from minority language communities to pursue careers in healthcare. And when a direct language match isn’t possible, professional interpreters should be easily accessible to help with the barriers. They say that in order to ensure that all patients can successfully convey their health problems and receive the best care possible, these steps are crucial.
To ultimately lead to better health outcomes, it’s important to have effective communication to build trust, which also ensures accurate diagnoses. So, while we often think of advanced treatments and groundbreaking medications as the holy grail of medical advancements, sometimes the most powerful solution is as fundamental as language itself. Speaking the same language? It might just be the best medicine.
