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CATEGORY: Manpower and Personnel

ISSUE ITEM #:

SUBJECT: Foreign Language Requirement

BACKGROUND: Several patients seen in the 609th Contingency
Hospital did not speak English. To meet language needs,
especially Spanish, native speakers within UTCs need to be
identified to provide for the communication needs of non-
English speaking patients. Had we received several coalition
forces caualties we would have had a difficult time
communicating.

DISCUSSION: Inability to communicate with several patients
jepordizes the medical care we are able to provide, as well
as our ability to provide for the non-medical needs of our
patients.

ACTION RECOMMENDED: A method of early identification of
staff members fluent in another langauge should be standard
procedure at contingency hospitals. Also need to identify
language requirements based on expected patient workload and
ensure the facility is augmented with the required language
specialist.

SUGGESTED OPR: HQ USAF/SGHR, HQ USAFE/SGAX

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