INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Language barriers can affect anyone’s life, but one University of Indianapolis graduate dedicated her honors project to understanding how language barriers impact patients in health care settings.

Mary Burton and Maribel Campoy, assistant professor of Spanish at UIndy, joined Daybreak to discuss more.

“I really wanted to do something that would impact my future career. One day I was just in a hospital, and I saw a sign that has translation for different languages. I was like, I wonder how it works, being in the U.S. and not speaking English as your primary language. I really wanted to look into it,” Burton said.

In Burton’s research, she discovered that there was little known about language barriers in the health industry. She learned that most patients are happy with the care they receive, but physicians are not.

Several patients are pleased to have access to health care, but language barriers impact the depth of the care they receive.

“It’s very rewarding to see students develop quality and meaningful projects like this. Not only because they’re gonna help them in their future career, but also because it addresses important issues such as health disparities, access to medical care service and cultural competence,” Campoy said.

Campoy says that this project can inform practices and policies to improve patient care and promote health equity for patients with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Many health care facilities, including those in Indianapolis, offer digital translation and interpretation services due to advancements in technology.

However, Burton encourages facilities and physicians to advertise more, so non-English speaking patients feel comfortable receiving care.