Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

It is estimated close to 5 million people in Canada primarily speak a language other than English or French with around one million who are unable to have conversations in either official language. Children of families who use languages other than English (LOE) for healthcare communication have worse health outcomes from hospitalization, including significantly increased risk of experiencing harmful events and longer hospital stays as demonstrated in studies in the US. Studies have also shown that healthcare provider rates of interpreter use are poor for LOE families. Inconsistent ways of identifying and documenting language needs and preferences for patients and caregivers play a significant role in this. In Canada, we have a gap in information on health outcomes for this patient group, for example, we are not able to consistently report on the number of patients who use LOE and who require interpreters in hospitals. As a result we also don't know detailed information about their hospitalization rates, harmful event rates and other important data in comparison to other members of the population.The overall goal of our research is to improve data collection and health outcome data reporting for children and caregivers who require LOE. Our project aims to improve the way we identify patients and caregivers that have LOE preferences and needs in healthcare. This will involve developing a new tool and process to collect this information so that we can better document, use, and track the data when a patient goes to hospital. We will partner with patients to co-develop these processes. Ensuring that this information is accurate and up to date leads to more patients and families receiving care in the language that they need, improving patient safety and their care experience. This will also help us better understand the health outcomes for this patient group and drive our efforts in addressing health disparities and marginalization that the population experiences.