Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar;104(3):534-553.
doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2020.09.017. Epub 2020 Sep 18.

Language barriers between nurses and patients: A scoping review

Lauren Gerchow  1 , Larissa R Burka  2 , Sarah Miner  3 , Allison Squires  2
Affiliations

Language barriers between nurses and patients: A scoping review

Lauren Gerchow et al. Patient Educ Couns. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: Global migration and linguistic diversity are at record highs, making healthcare language barriers more prevalent. Nurses, often the first contact with patients in the healthcare system, can improve outcomes including safety and satisfaction through how they manage language barriers. This review aimed to explore how research has examined the nursing workforce with respect to language barriers.

Methods: A systematic scoping review of the literature was conducted using four databases. An iterative coding approach was used for data analysis. Study quality was appraised using the CASP checklists.

Results: 48 studies representing 16 countries were included. Diverse healthcare settings were represented, with the inpatient setting most commonly studied. The majority of studies were qualitative. Coding produced 4 themes: (1) Interpreter Use/Misuse, (2) Barriers to and Facilitators of Quality Care, (3) Cultural Competence, and (4) Interventions.

Conclusion: Generally, nurses noted like experiences and applied similar strategies regardless of setting, country, or language. Language barriers complicated care delivery while increasing stress and workload.

Practice implications: This review identified gaps which future research can investigate to better support nurses working through language barriers. Similarly, healthcare and government leaders have opportunities to enact policies which address bilingual proficiency, workload, and interpreter use.

Keywords: Communication barriers; Culture; Health care quality; Language; Nursing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest

Authors LG, LRB, and SM declare no conflicts of interest. Author AS declares the following:

  1. 2019 Consultant, Qualitative Methods, National Council of State Boards of Nursing, USA.

  2. 2016–18 Consultant, International Nurse Migration, Kings College London, London, UK.

  3. 2018 Consultant with travel grant, Survey Instrument Translation, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.

  4. 2018 Conference speaker honoraria, Yonsei University School of Nursing, Seoul, South Korea. −2015 to present, Principal, ABC Education Consultants LLC, New York, USA.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Search Screening Process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Betancourt JR, Renfrew MR, Green AR, Lopez L, Wasserman M, Improving Patient Safety Systems for Patients with Limited English Proficiency: A Guide for Hospitals Washington D.C, (2012).
    1. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2018, (2019).
    1. Chen Jacobs, Karliner Agger-Gupta, Mutha, The need for more research on language barriers in health care: A proposed research agenda, Milbank Q. 84 (2006) 111–133, doi:10.1111/j.1468-0009.2006.00440.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pippins JR, Alegria M, Haas JS, Association between language proficiency and the quality of primary care among a national sample of insured Latinos, Med. Care 45 (2007) 1020–1025, doi:10.1097/MLR.0b013e31814847be. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mangione-Sith Arthur, Meischke Zhou, Strelitz A, Garcia Brown, Impact of English proficiency on care experiences in a pediatric emergency departmen, Acad. Pediatr 15 (2015) 218–224, doi:10.1016/j.acap.2014.06.019. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources