Translations for patient safety communication

Abstract

Clear communication is essential to ensure patient safety and quality care, and written communication and translated documents play a crucial role in their provision. Therefore, it is critical to create a list of vital documents and to ensure that they are language accessible for patients who do not speak the local language. The purpose of this study is to identify documents created within the Hungarian health sector, which contain health or legal information that may have important implications for patients’ health, and are also essential for the provision of safe and high-quality health care, and which would also need to be made accessible to foreign patients. The study involved seven health professionals and a medical lawyer. Data was collected using qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews and an online questionnaire. The data obtained was subjected to basic thematic and frequency analysis. The results show that health professionals consider six documents to be vital for Hungarian health care. In addition to this, a few other non-treatment related documents were identified, whose translation would greatly contribute to effective communication with foreign patients. This study provides a solid basis for the creation of an official list of vital documents for the Hungarian healthcare system and can serve as a guide for other linguistic environments as well.

Keywords

• vital documents
• medical translation
• clear communication
• patient safety
• language assistance