Lost in Translation: The Impact of Language Barriers in the Emergency Department.

Key Points

• This research investigates how language barriers affect patient care in emergency departments.
• Observational study design
• Assessment of communication practices in emergency settings
• Evaluation of interpreter use and communication aids
• Language barriers lead to significant issues in history taking and treatment explanation.
• Inconsistent use of communication aids linked to information loss.
• Rare use of interpreters contributes to adverse patient outcomes.