Bradford Teaching Hospitals’ drive to innovate and improve communication between healthcare staff and patients has moved even further ahead with the introduction of a new language translation app.
The Trust has adopted CardMedic to boost its existing interpreting service, providing help with translation where it wouldn’t be convenient or appropriate to call for an interpreter or where an interpreter is unavailable.
CardMedic is a language translation app available on Trust iPads, clinical desktops and available for clinical staff to download onto Trust mobiles. It is an A-Z collection of digital flashcards written by clinical experts, simply and succinctly.
It replicates conversations around common healthcare topics with simple questions and explanations to guide the interaction between patient and carer. It is already in use at several other NHS hospitals across the country.
The Trust has been able to use CardMedic as part of its ‘Clinical Insite’ membership of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme. It is currently piloting the app on several wards at Bradford Royal Infirmary and in A&E.
Chief Nurse at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Karen Dawber, said:
This app will be of great benefit to patients and staff to help communication in a variety of accessible formats, providing an additional support alongside our interpreting service.
Content can be translated into 49 different languages, and each translation has been ‘human-reviewed’ for accuracy. Some cards have sign language videos, and many provide an ‘Easyread’ format intended for use with patients who have learning difficulties or cognitive impairments such as dementia.
We’re continually looking to improve patient safety, experience and quality of care and reduce health inequalities, so this latest innovation is a great addition to the many different ways we communicate with our patients.
