Telemedicine Leaves Behind Non-English Speakers, Study Shows
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Telemedicine leaves behind non-English speakers, study shows:
People who speak limited English struggled to access telehealth services in the US. "That was really a concern of ours - who is getting left out?" says Denise Payan, an assistant professor of health, society, and behavior at the University of California, Irvine, who worked on the study. The researchers spoke with 15 clinic workers and nine patients. Clinic patients who spoke limited English struggled to set up and use platforms like Zoom for health visits, the researchers found. "Things like not being able to read FAQs," Payan says. People who speak limited English are at risk of bad health outcomes without them because they can't understand their medical providers as well. The findings of the study show how important it is for telehealth platforms to consider their most vulnerable users while developing tools. People who speak languages other than English should be included in pilot tests, for example, Payan says.
"Increasingly, the focus in Silicon Valley is on diversity, equity inclusion, this is clearly it - are you actually meeting the needs of a diverse set of patients?" she says.
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