Found In Translation: Bridging the Language Gap

By Miranda Martinez-Moad, DO

I still remember one of the experiences that changed how I practice medicine: watching my grandmother try to communicate with her ophthalmologist during a routine glaucoma follow-up. I realized that an ongoing misunderstanding had been interfering with her treatment for months. That moment lit a fire in me. It reminded me that language access isn't a courtesy, it's a matter of patient safety.

All too frequently, patients with limited English proficiency face misunderstandings in their diagnoses, unintentional medication errors, and a breakdown in the patient-physician relationship simply because we haven't properly bridged the communication gap. As family physicians we are at the front line of care, and we have both the opportunity and the obligation to fix this.

I've seen the solution take shape in three powerful ways:

Professional medical interpreter services—phone, video, and in-person—remain the gold standard. Institutions like the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) offer training and standards to help bridge this gap.
Bilingual and bicultural physicians bring irreplaceable trust and nuance, which is why programs that recruit diverse medical students matter so much.
And now, AI-powered translation tools, when used in conjunction with human oversight, are helping us communicate discharge instructions and health education materials faster and more clearly than ever.

But technology alone won't solve this. It takes continued intention.

Here's what you can do, starting today:

Audit your clinic's interpreter access. Is it fast, visible, and actually used at every encounter, not just "when time allows"?
Train your staff to use telephone and video interpreter services effectively (many clinics own them but rarely use them correctly).
Advocate for reimbursement policies that fund language services. Contact CAFP’s advocacy team.
Pilot AI translation tools for written materials, but always pair them with human review for clinical accuracy.

Every patient deserves to be understood. Let's make sure they are.

Join us at 2026 Family Medicine POP! to learn more with UCSD’s Natalie Rodriguez, MD.

Resources:

National Council on Interpreting in Health Care

MedicalSpanishCME.com

CME Telehealth Resources Center, Limited English Proficiency and Translation Resources

EthnoMed: Navigating Telehealth in Limited English Proficiency Populations

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