Over the last few decades, the percentage of bilingual population in the United States has steadily increased — and Phoenix is not an exception. Statistics show that Phoenix is the 8th most bilingual city in the entire country, and approximately 20% of people in Arizona come from households where Spanish is spoken at home. Across the country, 20 percent of Americans are bilingual, and nearly a tenth of Americans don’t speak English well.
This increase in diversity has an effect on how we conduct healthcare — after all, communication is one of the biggest factors in any doctor-patient relationship. But when it comes to providing great service to your non-English speaking patients, what can you do?
Read on to learn more about the benefits of bilingual Phoenix-based answering services.
Why are bilingual answering services important?
When a patient is seeking medical assistance, it’s incredibly important to ensure that they can communicate easily with their healthcare providers. Miscommunications can lead to frustration, disappointment, and in some cases, it can increase the risk of medical complications.
Going to the doctor is already a vulnerable experience, but not being able to fully understand what you’re hearing can make the situation a lot worse for patients who don’t speak English fluently.
Even the tiniest task, such as scheduling a medical appointment on the phone, can become difficult if you don’t understand English well. Just imagine if you were trying to do the same in Japan or Germany — it’s easy to understand how this would be stressful.
But overcoming this obstacle isn’t always easy for healthcare providers. Unless you already have bilingual members of staff that can help with translation services, hiring additional employees can be complicated and cost-prohibitive. And if another local medical practice does prioritize bilingual services, your practice could start to lose patients and gain a poor reputation amongst members of the community.
An easy and affordable solution for bilingual customer service
Virtual answering services allow you to outsource your customer service department. And if needed, you will be able to customize your virtual call center to include bilingual operators who can handle inquiries from patients who don’t speak English well. There are also patients who can speak English, but don’t feel confident enough in the language to use it in a medical setting.
Bilingual operators working from Phoenix, AZ can be a great asset for medical practices that want to improve their communication with non-English speaking patients. When a patient calls your practice, they will be able to talk directly to someone who can understand them perfectly and help guide them through different processes. Operators can take care of multiple tasks, such as scheduling appointments, forwarding messages, and answering inquiries.
This strategy can also reduce the risk of mistakes caused by language barriers, and it will make patients feel more valued and comfortable at your practice. Over time, this simple addition to your services will improve your reputation in your community, and ensure that all patients receive the highest possible standard of care.
