Emergency communications with limited-English-proficiency populations.

Objective: We investigated 9-1-1 telecommunicators' perceptions of communication difficulties with callers who have limited English proficiency (LEP) and the frequency and outcomes of specific communication behaviors.

Methods: A survey was administered to 150 telecommunicators from four 9-1-1 call centers of a metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest to assess their experience working with LEP callers. In addition, 172 9-1-1 recordings (86 of which were labeled by telecommunicators as having a "language barrier") were abstracted for telecommunicators' communication behaviors and care delivery outcomes.