Case Study: Eliminating Communication Barriers in Emergency Care
About The Urgency Room
The Urgency Room specializes in treating severely injured and ill patients. Their dedicated physicians provide exceptional medical services in a comfortable environment to their patients throughout Minnesota.
⦿ Details
Urgent care for over 100,000 patients annually
The Urgency Room, owned and operated by EPPA, provides emergency treatment for severe injuries and illnesses with the support of advanced-practice medical professionals for patients of all ages. They provide their patients with modern medical care and are the preferred destination for Minnesota emergencies, with their busiest departments in Woodbury, Eagan, and Vadnais Heights.
Understanding that each patient may need a different type of care, staff and physicians offer scheduled, walk-in, referral, and online consultations to ensure everyone receives timely, professional care. In 2023 alone, The Urgency Room provided care to more than 100,000 patients.
The Urgent Room often assists foreign patients who have difficulty communicating in English. Before The Language Doctors, The Urgent Room’s staff frequently experienced long wait times on the phone or delays in interpreter arrival—hindering the quality of care.
⦿ Problem
Language barriers to effective care
As most of The Urgency Room speak English, treating non-English speaking patients presents an additional challenge to complicated medical emergencies.
Urgency is vital to ensuring patients get the care they need, but to get high-quality medical translations, either over the phone or in person, would take too much time. These delays put patients in danger, increasing wait times while adversely impacting the quality of care staff could provide while waiting for a translator.
The Urgency Room wanted to reduce these delays and find a medical translation service provider capable of delivering fast translations—primarily, American Sign Language, Spanish, Somali, and Hmong.
Effective medical translations from The Language Doctors
The Language Doctors designed a bespoke solution to solve The Urgency Room’s translation issues with a modern solution using technology. We strategically placed iPads with The Language Doctor’s proprietary software throughout The Urgency Room’s emergency rooms.
The Urgency Room staff could access these iPads anytime to instantly contact interpreters and translators in over 200 languages, including the much-needed American Sign Language, Spanish, Somali, and Hmong.
The Language Doctors significantly reduced wait times, often connecting The Urgency Room with an interpreter or translator in under 30 seconds—for video and audio translations. Staff no longer experience translation delays and provide every patient, no matter their language, with high-quality, urgent care.
⦿ Outcome
Results
Interpreter access in under 30 seconds. With the help of The Language Doctors, The Urgency Room dramatically reduced interpretation wait times, often connecting staff with an interpreter or translator in under 30 seconds for both video and audio calls. Physicians and nurses no longer experience translation delays and can provide every patient, regardless of language, with high-quality, urgent care.
A workflow that fits emergency care. The staff at The Urgency Room no longer wait on the phone or for an interpreter to arrive. They grab an iPad, and support is ready within 30 seconds. That immediacy has changed how the team delivers care in time-sensitive situations across every shift.
Coverage across 200+ languages, including the four most requested. The Urgency Room now has instant access to certified interpreters in over 200 languages, with particularly strong support for American Sign Language, Spanish, Somali, and Hmong. No patient walks in and finds themselves unable to communicate with staff during a medical emergency.
Stronger patient trust and loyalty. Thanks to TLD’s fast, high-quality translations, physicians easily find a common language with their patients, which builds trust and loyalty to The Urgency Room. Language is no longer a barrier to timely emergency treatment, and staff can focus fully on what matters most – patient care.
