What is needed in culturally competent healthcare systems? A qualitative exploration of culturally diverse patients and professional interpreters in an Australian healthcare setting.

Background: Culturally competent health care service delivery can improve health outcomes, increasing the efficiency of clinical staff, and greater patient satisfaction. We aimed to explore the experience of patients with limited English proficiency and professional interpreters in an acute hospital setting.

Methods: In-depth interviews explored the experiences of four culturally and linguistically diverse communities with regards to their recent hospitalisation and access to interpreters.

The experience of interpreter access and language discordant clinical encounters in Australian health care: a mixed methods exploration.

Background: Current evidence highlights that language discordant clinical encounters seriously compromise patient quality of care and health outcomes. We aimed to characterise patterns of interpreter service use in medical inpatient wards use and explore clinician experience of language discordance.

Methods: Participants included medical students, residents, attending physicians, nursing and allied health professionals working in General Internal Medicine wards across two tertiary referral hospitals servicing a large Australian health care area.