Bridging the Communication Gap: The Role of Language in Complex Care

In this Complex Care Journal Club podcast episode, Drs. Marcella Luercio and Bianca Quiñones-Pérez discuss a qualitative study of barriers to communication perceived by Spanish-speaking families with children with medical complexity admitted to the hospital. They describe the importance of multilingual representation in research, individual and systems-level changes to improve communication with families who speak languages other than English, and next steps from this work. SPEAKERS Marcella Luercio, MD Pediatric Hospitalist Boston Children's Hospital Bianca Quiñones-Pérez, MD Pediatric Hospitalist, Complex Care Services, Boston Children's Hospital Instructor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School HOST Kathleen Huth, MD, MMSc Pediatrician, Complex Care Service, Division of General Pediatrics Boston Children's Hospital Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School DATE Initial publication date: December 9, 2024. JOURNAL CLUB ARTICLE Luercio M, Quiñones-Pérez B, Castellanos A, Ngo T, Elder B, Blaine K, Haskell H, Lopez K, Luff D, Mallick N, Mercer AN, Williams DN, Baird JD, Khan A. Communicating With Spanish-Speaking Families of Hospitalized Children With Medical Complexity. Hosp Pediatr. 2024 Aug 1;14(8):612-621. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2023-007700. PMID: 39069815. OTHER REFERENCES Ames SG, Delaney RK, Houtrow AJ, Delgado-Corcoran C, Alvey J, Watt MH, Murphy N. Perceived Disability-Based Discrimination in Health Care for Children With Medical Complexity. Pediatrics. 2023 Jul 1;152(1):e2022060975. doi: 10.1542/peds.2022-060975. PMID: 37357731. Khan A, Baird J, Kelly MM, Blaine K, Chieco D, Haskell H, Lopez K, Ngo T, Mercer A, Quiñones-Pérez B, Schuster MA, Singer SJ, Viswanath K, Landrigan CP, Williams D, Luff D. Family Safety Reporting in Medically Complex Children: Parent, Staff, and Leader Perspectives. Pediatrics. 2022 Jun 1;149(6):e2021053913. doi: 10.1542/peds.2021-053913. PMID: 35615941; PMCID: PMC11088436. Nelson K, Huth K. Choice and Voice: Family Perspectives on Decision-making for Children with Medical Complexity. 8/2024. OPENPediatrics. Online Podcast. https://youtu.be/WN5u0T4UnEU, https://soundcloud.com/openpediatrics/choice-and-voice-family-perspectives-on-decision-making-for-children-with-medical-complexity Ragavan MI, Méndez DD, Caballero TM. Promoting Language Justice for Children With Medical Complexity and Their Families: An Urgent Call to Action. Hosp Pediatr. 2024 Aug 1;14(8):e358-e361. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2024-007792. PMID: 39069818; PMCID: PMC11287058. "Strategies for Working Effectively With Interpreters", a free course on OPENPediatrics.org https://learn.openpediatrics.org/learn/courses/5662/strategies-for-effectively-working-with-interpreters/lessons TRANSCRIPTS English: https://cdn.bfldr.com/D6LGWP8S/as/7zjc5vr6xxgqmsmn87pbfm/120924_CCJCP__Bridging_the_Communication_Gap__The_Role_of_Language_in_Complex_Care Spanish: https://cdn.bfldr.com/D6LGWP8S/as/7zjc5vr6xxgqmsmn87pbfm/120924_CCJCP__Bridging_the_Communication_Gap__The_Role_of_Language_in_Complex_Care?position=3 Clinicians across healthcare professions, advocates, researchers, and patients/families are all encouraged to engage and provide feedback! You can recommend an article for discussion using this form: forms.gle/Bdxb86Sw5qq1uFhW6 CITATION Luercio M, Quiñones-Pérez B, Huth K. Bridging the Communication Gap: The Role of Language in Complex Care. 12/2024. OPENPediatrics. Online Podcast. https://soundcloud.com/openpediatrics/bridging-the-communication-gap-the-role-of-language-in-complex-care.