Intervention Title:
Assessing Provider and Staff Satisfaction with Different Modalities of Interpreting – Regions Hospital; St. Paul, Minn.

Goal:
Assess satisfaction and utilization of different methods for interpreting among various staff.

Innovation:
Staff developed a simple annual survey to assess satisfaction of providers and other staff with three sources of interpretation: in-person staff, contractors and telephones.

Result:
Overall satisfaction for all three modes of interpretation has increased each year for three years.

Institution:
Regions Hospital
640 Jackson Street
St. Paul, MN 55101

From the experts:
“The annual survey significantly helps us improve the quality of our interpreter services and that's because we're measuring how we're doing and really using the results. Too often, surveys are conducted and the results sit in a binder on the shelf. We conduct this survey so that we can improve quality, target actions for the future and see if our interventions are making a difference. It's working, because we're seeing improvement in the survey scores every year.”

Sidney Van Dyke, M.A.
Director, Interpreter Services

Profile:
Regions Hospital is a full-service, 427-bed, nonprofit private hospital in St. Paul, Minn.

Clinical areas affected:

• Interpreter Services
• Inpatient Care
• Outpatient Care

Staff involved:

• Interpreter Services
• Clinical providers
• Clinical administrators
• Frontline clerical staff
• Appointment staff

Timeline:
Staff spent one month developing the survey (the process of developing distribution lists and obtaining e-mail addresses can take considerable time.)

Contact:
Sidney Van Dyke, M.A.
Director, Interpreter Services
640 Jackson Street
St. Paul, MN 55101
P: (651) 254-3067
sidney.e.vandyke@healthpartners.com

Innovation implementation:
Regions Hosptial is part of the HealthPartners integrated delivery system, which includes 26 outpatient medical and dental clinics, in addition to the hospital and a health plan. In an attempt to get more information regarding how staff across the organization felt about different ways of providing interpreter services for patient communications, the organization-wide Interpreter Services Work Group developed a simple online survey. They designed and implemented a survey through Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) for staff to assess satisfaction with three modalities of interpretation: contractors, in-person staff and telephones.

The survey asked select staff to rate satisfaction with each modality of language services for:

1. Timeliness
2. Quality
3. Professionalism
4. Overall

To identify respondents for the survey, Interpreter Services worked with management at the hospital and clinics to develop a list of inpatient and outpatient staff members who have significant contact with patients. They focused on high-volume clinics and language services users from a variety of disciplines—clinical providers, administrators, frontline clerical staff and appointment staff. Focusing on a range of worksites and occupations allowed them to review data based on location or job function and tailor interventions accordingly.

The first survey in 2005 provided valuable baseline data that allowed the work group to assess language services and improve upon them. For example, the first survey showed a relatively low level of satisfaction with the quality and professionalism of contracted interpretation. Regions and HealthPartners then shared the findings with their contracted vendors and discussed strategies for improvement. Subsequent surveys have shown steady increases in satisfaction.

The survey has been conducted every year since 2005. Approximately 500 people receive it, with about one-third of them responding.

Advice and lessons learned:

1. Target your sample. Narrowing the list of survey recipients helps ensure that the respondents are “the right people” to complete the survey: those who use or could potentially use interpreter services.
2. Keep it simple. Providers do not have time to complete a complicated survey. Keeping it simple increases the likelihood that people will respond.
3. Time it right. Think ahead to be sure that recipients are not bombarded with too many surveys or competing information from Interpreter Services.

Cost/benefit estimate:
Aside from minor costs in staff time to develop and analyze the survey, as well as registering for Survey Monkey, the survey carries no costs. The Interpreter Services Work Group believes the survey has significantly helped them improve their offering. Overall satisfaction for all three modalities of interpretation has increased every year for three years, with significant jumps among some staff and clinics.