OAA survey #53 The translation needs of the OAA membership Rachel Collis, Mike Kinsella, Mike Wee on behalf of the Information for Mothers Subcommittee, Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association

Introduction Providing validated and readable information for mothers has been a long term aim of the OAA. The “Pain relief in labour” and “Caesarean section anaesthesia: your choice of anaesthesia” leaflets are extremely successful. A number of translations are available on the OAA web site. The Information for Mothers Subcommittee are developing Obstetric Anaesthesia Vocabulary Translation Cards, designed to allow verbal communication with women who do not speak English in emergency situations and in the absence of an interpreter. Foreign language versions of these and the Epidural Information Card will be available to download from the OAA web site as required, but could also be kept on the epidural trolley or theatre as laminated cards for regular use. To find out whether the OAA membership would find this useful, as well as the most common translation requirements, we sent a questionnaire in November 2005 to the 235 obstetric anaesthesia lead clinicians on the OAA database.

Results 128 returns were received from Dec 2005 to Feb 2006 The response rate was 54.5% Most units give some information about epidurals to mothers in the antenatal period: –Local leaflets 54% –OAA leaflets 51% –OAA video/DVD 11% –Epidural information cards 20% Other information given: –Midwives –Parent craft –MIDIRS leaflets –Pregnancy book –2 stated that no information was given

Results 74% of units have access to translation services –4% use staff –11% use language line 32% are satisfied with translation services or state that there is no need. 8% of units are not satisfied with available translation services. 40% state that translation is not available on a 24 hour basis. Other comments were that translators have to be booked in advance and the service is language dependent and expensive. Most thought that simple translation cards might be useful to help overcome some of these difficulties. Difficulties with interpreting / translating 37 different languages were reported.

Language needs - Asian Urdu 45% Hindi 30% Bengali 26% Punjabi 19% Gujarati 17% Tamil 14% Dali Pushto Farsi

European languages French 21% Portuguese 11% Spanish 9% Greek Dutch Welsh Gaelic Polish 18% Turkish 10% Russian 10% Croatian 10% Albanian 7% Kosovan 7% Romanian 7% Kurdish Lithuanian Czech

Other languages Somali 26% Arabic 24% Mandarin 23% Cantonese 16% Japanese Thai Ethiopian Chad Philippines

Some general comments Translation has to be free English version for the deaf Pictures would be better/not too many words Translations on web site very good Liked the language on MIDIRS info

Conclusion Interpretation and translation needs are common in many units when inserting epidurals for labour and providing anaesthesia for Caesarean section Interpretation provision is poor in many units The most common problems are encountered with the Asian [Indian subcontinent] languages, Somali, Arabic, Chinese, African patients who speak a variety of European languages and Eastern European languages.