Lost Without Translation

Sandy Montalvo walks into a recovery room at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and the first thing she says is her name, in Spanish. She is the hospital's medical interpreter, and she has been doing the job for more than thirty years. On a normal day she sees twelve patients, from a routine scope to a delivery room where a baby's heartbeat drops and the whole team runs to surgery with her right behind them.

She carries two phones because she is called constantly, and she can only be in one room at a time. When she is busy, doctors roll in a cart with a screen and an interpreter on video. It is faster to get, and the doctors say it is worse, because talking through a screen is not the same as having a person beside the bed. The Spanish-speaking population around the hospital keeps growing, so the calls keep coming, and someone has to decide who gets Sandy and who gets the screen.

Your Task: Imagine you run language services for the hospital, and Sandy's day is yours to manage.

1. The Rule
Sandy cannot be everywhere. Write the one rule for when a patient must get a person in the room instead of the screen. It does not have to be about emergencies. It could be the moment someone signs a form they cannot read, a routine checkup for a patient who is scared of hospitals, or a family being told bad news. Then explain why you drew the line there and who ends up with the screen because of it. (Your rule, plus 3 sentences.)

2. The Screen
The video cart is what patients get when Sandy is busy, and doctors say it is a worse experience. Change one thing about how the screen interpreter works so it feels closer to having Sandy in the room, and say what problem your change fixes. (2 to 3 sentences.)

3. The Hire
You get to add one person to Sandy's team. Say what the job posting is, whether that is a second Spanish interpreter for nights, an interpreter for whatever language people speak in your own neighborhood, or a bilingual nurse who does not need one. Explain why that person, then admit what still goes wrong on a twelve-patient day. (3 to 4 sentences.)

This Skillbuilder is in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

There's still time to join the KnoPro Challenge: Healthcare is Hiring.