Diversity
What are the two official languages of Canada?
English & French
What is the difference between an interpreter and a translator?
Interpreters translate spoken language orally, while translators translate the written word
What emergency department patient-flow process is highly dependent on accurate communication of symptom acuity, chronology, and red-flag features across languages?
Acuity stratification
What are the top 5 languages at AHS?
(Note: does not include English or French)
Arabic, Punjabi, Tigrigna, Spanish, Cantonese
Name at least 3 different ways by which professional interpretation can be accessed?
E.g. Over the phone, video, in-person, interpreter on wheels, Zoom, computers, tablets, smartphones, ipads
What evidence-based communication strategy is used to verify functional patient comprehension by requiring information to be restated in the patient’s own words?
Closed-loop communication
Name three different indigenous languages or dialect?
e.g. Cree, Dene, Blackfoot
A mom and dad are both deaf and are from Syria and are seeking care for their baby who needs care in the emergency department. How would you support this family?
A mom and dad are both deaf and are from Syria and are seeking care for their baby who needs heart surgery. How would you support this family?
What sociolinguistic phenomenon may cause clinicians to incorrectly assume adequate medical comprehension based on a patient’s conversational proficiency in the dominant language?
False fluency bias
What term describes the use of simplified language, visual aids, and confirmation strategies in emergency medicine to improve communication with patients who have limited understanding of the dominant language?
Plain language
In emergency medicine, what term describes a patient leaving with an incorrect understanding of discharge instructions due to language barriers?
Miscommunication (other answers acceptable)
What patient-safety phenomenon occurs when linguistic discordance contributes to a systematically lower emergency severity classification than clinically warranted?
Language-mediated undertriage
In the emergency department, what term describes biased assumptions about a patient’s intelligence, compliance, or credibility based on their accent or English proficiency?
Linguicism
In the emergency department, what term describes relying on a patient’s family member to interpret instead of a trained medical interpreter?
Ad hoc interpretation
What interpretation-related communication failure involves the unintended exclusion of clinically meaningful information during multilingual emergency encounters, potentially altering diagnostic reasoning or management decisions?
Clinically significant omission