Bridging the language gap: A co-designed quality improvement project to engage professional interpreters for women duing labour

J Yelland; MA Biro; W Dawson; E Riggs; D Vanpraag; K Wigg; J Antonopoulos; J Morgans; J Szwarc; C East; S Brown

Journal article

Bridging the language gap: A co-designed quality improvement project to engage professional interpreters for women duing labour

J Yelland, MA Biro, W Dawson, E Riggs, D Vanpraag, K Wigg, J Antonopoulos, J Morgans, J Szwarc, C East, S Brown

Australian Health Review | CSIRO PUBLISHING | Published : 2017

DOI: 10.1071/AH16066

Abstract

Objective The aim of the study was to improve the engagement of professional interpreters for women during labour. Methods The quality improvement initiative was co-designed by a multidisciplinary group at one Melbourne hospital and implemented in the birth suite using the plan-do-study-act framework. The initiative of offering women an interpreter early in labour was modified over cycles of implementation and scaled up based on feedback from midwives and language services data. Results The engagement of interpreters for women identified as requiring one increased from 28% (21/74) at baseline to 62% (45/72) at the 9th month of implementation. Conclusion Improving interpreter use in high-inte..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Elisha Riggs Author

Stephanie Brown Author

Related Projects (1)

BRIDGING THE GAP: ADDRESSING REFUGEE INEQUALITIES THROUGH PRIMARY HEALTH CARE SERVICE REFORM

This proposal will develop and test interventions to reform maternity and maternal & child health systems to tackle known inequalities in he..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

The authors thank the members of the 'language in labour' working group Katrina Vincent, Monika Goudge, Sue Seamer and Natahl Ball; midwives at Dandenong Hospital who participated in the project; the women who shared their experiences of communication and interpreters in labour; and Farida Bezhan, who assisted with interviews. Bridging the Gap is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC; Grant no. 1056799). The partner organisations have contributed substantial in-kind resources. The authors acknowledge the support of the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program. Jane Yelland is supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (2014-17); Chris East is supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (2012-15); and Stephanie Brown is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2011-15) and an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (2016-20).