Effects Of Communication Challenges on Healthcare

Abstract

Through language, a patient accesses the health care system, gets to learn about available services, so as to make decisions about her or his health. Language is also the means by which the health care provider accesses a patient’s beliefs about health and illness, and thus creates an opportunity to address and reconcile different belief systems. In essence, communication between nurses and patients is the heart of nursing care. Communication between patients and chemists is also key to their access to healthcare. Such patients visit chemist for self-medication or to procure medicine for themselves or their families. The multilingual situation in Kenya and many African countries can complicate communication between healthcare providers and their patients. Such complications can cause language barriers that can impair access to healthcare. This is due to low literacy levels and challenges in understanding languages of wider communication such as English and Kiswahili for the case of Kenya. Under these circumstances, translation and interpretation become key to alleviating or eliminating communication barriers. This paper discuses linguistic challenges in access to healthcare in Kenya and proposes translation and interpretation as a way of dealing with the challenges. It argues that in a highly multilingual situation as is the case in Kenya, Translation and interpretation is a significant way of addressing challenges in medical access.